Whiplash, they tell me, ROCKED. Last Saturday's concert featured Sword of the Spirit, Serenity Dies – billed as Maldives' only thrash metal band – and Stigmata, and the trio brought down the house. But you gotta ask, since when is this anything new? It's been 8 years and Stigmata have long since made the transition from earnest schoolboys to home-grown heavy metal gods. Their latest concert, however, was evidence that the group is focused on upping the ante – and they're not short on collaborators. With more concerts planned with Serenity Dies in particular, it's becoming an alliance of the greats, one that's determined to see metal take its rightful place on the world's playlists. Could heavy metal win the War on Pop?
Of course, excitable journalism aside, I'd have to concede that the outcome of the fight – Rihanna Vs. Suresh De Silva, Tennyson Napoleon, Andrew Obeysekara, Vije Dhas and Ranil 'Jackson' Senerath would be a foregone conclusion. For one, Stigmata are still made up of really nice guys. For another, the pop icon has a veritable army of marketers that number in the gazilions and a slavish global audience. But World Dominance à la Britney Spears may be a thing of the past. A growing trend sweeping across Asia – a passion for all things metal – is fuelled not by the usual hype machine, but by the fans themselves.
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The web is rife with articles, reviews and videos that celebrate the band's music. A few sites will actually allow you to listen to them. It's how I heard Serenity Dies before they even played their first gig in Sri Lanka. "It's lucrative; we know that – we've got 40,000 hits on YouTube. We've got 12,000 on our MySpace site. Our album was reviewed in Australia's top heavy metal site metalforge – and right now it's at number 14 in the top 50 reviews of all time," says Suresh counting off; he's amazed that more people aren't seeing how much demand there is for this kind of music. He adds later that Stigmata themselves spend hours surfing the web, checking out new tracks.
An interesting effect of this revolution is that despite being banned from radio stations or not accorded much in the way of airtime in mainstream media, bands like Serenity Dies and Stigmata are seeing their fan base expand exponentially with every passing year. Plus, they're getting well known far from their own hunting grounds. "Everyone is catching up with the music," says Tenny, noting that almost any school worth its salt boasts a heavy metal band. Of course, the degrees of expertise vary dramatically, and that's where we come to another one of the band's favourite themes – educating audiences.
"The South Asian scene is exploding," says Chippe, lead guitarist of Serenity Dies. With him are band members Xiao, Fai and Chuck and they all agree on one thing – audiences just aren't as enthusiastic about the band's originals. "Metallica is Metallica, and Megadeath is Megadeath – but don't expect us to play it all the time," he says. Listeners should consider cultivating a palate for more adventurous, original compositions. "People will only like what they know," says Suresh (and at this point what they know is Coldplay, says Andrew.) "We're all working really, really hard. We're all pushing against the pull, and swimming against the tide here," says Suresh. "We judge ourselves as musicians and players, and we have to keep constantly pushing the envelope."
One would think that the band would be ready to throw in the towel, to maybe take a few afternoon naps; but now that they are no longer the new kids on the block, Stigmata are really taking stock of the local music industry, and the result of this is a leaner, meaner vision of what they want for themselves. "We don't compromise our formula, we don't compromise our energy, we don't compromise who and what we are and who we stand for, just so we can sell a few more records," says Suresh.
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Both bands emphasise their belief that playing heavy metal is Serious Business. The musicians themselves need to be extremely skilled to pull off those crazy riffs and beats, and for all that their lyrics and music are often described with the same terms that you would apply to a slasher movie (try brutal, ferocious, twisted brilliance), Stigmata have always strived to stay thought provoking, keeping their lyrics an honest reflection of the artists' concerns. Chuck who writes the lyrics for Serenity Dies says that he is inspired often by what's happening in the world at large – war is a big theme lyrically in their new album 'Violent Shattered Ecstasy.' Stigmata, on the other hand seem to be turning away...and inwards.
'Silent Chaos Serpentine' was a brutal record, and it beat you up and left you bruised and battered. That record - in a way it was a premonition, it dealt with all the stuff that is currently going on, as did 'Hollow Dreams' with the new record, we wanted to move away from all those themes," says Suresh. He describes the as yet unnamed album as "intense, tripped out...dealing with some very interesting themes like psychic voyages and time travelling."
The band says that maturity has meant that they're more open to a whole range of musical genres now – including baila. "Musically we don't constrain ourselves to any genre...we don't believe that extreme heavy metal is the only stuff – you know, you listen to Judas Priest and you die," says Suresh, but they still draw some very firm lines. A lot of the music out there "is so shallow, it's so contrived, the music is so well produced. You can see it's like coca cola – it's just for the masses." And to stretch a metaphor, Stigmata are never going to be a fizzy drink, pre-packaged in a cute bottle.
But it's a formula that works, as is evidenced by the band's growing popularity in places like the Maldives, India and Japan. While the infrastructure required to nurture such bands locally might not be quite up to par, the band is fairly philosophical about it. "Music that's very accessible and commercial is not difficult to make. And we have the satisfaction of knowing that both bands could do that and make money... but we've paid our dues, we're still paying our dues, we'll probably be paying our dues ten years from now."
Only a devoted fan base and other bands like Serenity Dies and Sword of the Spirit make the going worth it. "We were eating each other's energy," says Chippe when I ask him if sharing the stage with Stigmata gave him an energy boost. And it's the kind of unholy alliance that means great things for fans – both bands are busy scheduling more gigs both in the Maldives and over here.
Meanwhile, with the hard earned wisdom of many years in the field, Stigmata remain unrelentingly passionate about their music and increasingly sure about how they want it made. "Heavy metal is the only form of music that caters to all five human senses," says Suresh, it's an art form, it's a lifestyle...and it's certainly not about imitation"
The bands would like to thank the sponsors of Whiplash. From the Maldives: Island Music, Bandos Island Resort, Evincs, Baywatch, and Sugar. From Sri Lanka Art TV and The Sunday Times.
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