Heavy metal against all odds

The SAARC Bands Festival was held at Central Park in Delhi and was organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian government along with the ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations). It showcased some of the leading bands from the eight SAARC member nations. It also just so happened that from all these bands, there was one band from Sri Lanka and they also happened to be the only Metal in the festival. Stigmata took to the stage of the festival with a confirmed crowd of 20,000 people (not all of them metal fans) at their mercy.

What are they currently up to? Well inside sources reveal that the Stigs are currently working on composing new material for their third upcoming album. It was confirmed that sixs tracks are currently complete and that they are now working on song number seven, which is titled "Purer." They have also been expanding with their choice of covers in the past 6 months covering songs of giants such as Nevermore, Judas Priest, Evergrey, Alice Cooper, Opeth, Lamb of God and Decapitated. "So it's fun live and also versatile," said Suresh.

Stigmata's internet presence is currently thriving. With over 8700 views on their myspace profile (www.myspace.com/stigmatasrilanka), their youtube bootlegs and jazz theory live video having a combined number of over 30,000 views and are currently number 14 on Australian website www.metalforge.com in their top 40 album reviews list with over 2,480 views.

When asked how they found out that they were playing at the SAARC Festival, Suresh told me that they received a mail asking if they wanted to play for this festival which was a government organised festival, after which they called and carried out the initial negotiations.

"We saw this as another milestone for Stigmata," said Andrew, adding that this was their second international gig. "We had no idea what the capacity for this would be," said Suresh. "We knew it was a pretty big place and there would be quite a few people but we had no idea that it would be that big a venue or there would be that many people," he added. He also said that it was overwhelming the moment they got it confirmed. Initially they took it calmly because people call them all the time for overseas gigs but you never really know till they confirm.

The experience? What happened after the Stigs landed in India? It was just the five of them in an alien country. "We did not perceive this but communication proved to be an issue," stated Suresh. He went on to say that certain people expected them to converse in their native dialect and when they didn't, some were hostile and some just didn't respond. He summed up the whole situation by saying "the entire trip went wrong except for the 45 minutes that we performed on stage." "We were told by one of the organisers to not expect a reaction from the crowd," said Andrew "but they responded in a way we couldn't have imagined!"

This was the first time the SAARC countries were having an event like this. And Stigmata was what was asked to represent Sri Lanka. Despite that, the SAARC desk in Sri Lanka had no idea about it and the media was not at all interested. When asked what they thought about that, Suresh said "well I guess that was because we're a Metal band." He also said it's also because of the fact that the wider majority of these countries don't really view what we do as a commodity that is sellable here. But whether they like to admit it or not, the Rock n' Roll industry has contributed a lot to kids meeting up and rehearsing and actually having a plan and getting themselves out there for people to hear them. "That's more than what any musician in this country has done for centuries" said Suresh concluding his explanation.

The set list? I was fortunate enough to see the footage of the entire concert and was personally requested to write what I thought of it. Well the Stigs started with their Hollow Dreams cult classic "Andura," which gave the whole thing a Sri Lankan flavour. The response they received from the crowd is really something to marvel at, considering the fact that most of the people there were not Metal heads and still less would have heard Stigmata's music.

From "Andura," they move in to what Suresh likes to call the "Pit song.""My malice," from their second album 'Silent Chaos Serpentine' was next on the list. Then they got into the new songs. "The Summoning Cry of Aries" is a melodic, yet intense piece of music that has the power to make anyone listening intently enough to go crazy. This was the first of the new songs they played. After that they moved in once again to something from Serpentine. "Solitude" was the next song they played and by this time, the band was in full form and parts of the crowd were starting small moshpits. The hair raising new composition "Spiral Coma" really does make one's hair stand on end. Andrew's guitar solos, Tenny's intense riffing and Jackson's drum work in this song, not forgetting Vije's crazy bass lines and Suresh's vocals does really have the ability to take one on an out of the body experience, which is what the song is about.

As usual the Stigs ended with their new instrumental track titled "If Alpha meets Omega" (listening to this track really makes me feel this probably would be what happens if the beginning met the end) followed by already favourite new diddy "March of the Saints." This probably is one of the most memorable moments as a vast part of the crowd actually started marching together for the intro of this song.

Leaving the songs aside and talking of the stage act, well what can I say? Suresh's energy as a front man and the way the rest of the guys dissolve into their respective instruments and throw in their own personality displays the amazing chemistry this band has.

They went and were asked not to expect a good response and the organisers were severely mistaken. They came, saw and conquered and quoting Suresh, who was quoting Pantera, "It was goddamn electric."