Night of old fashioned rock music
View(s):Classic Rock night returns on May 24 at La Fiesta, fittingly titled Classic Rock at El Rancho. With a line-up of musicians including Angel Down, Prabodhya and Chathurika Fernando, Sam Dayaratne and Ravin David.
“I think the cool thing about the line-up this time around is that we’re all very, very different musicians,” says Lasith Fernando of Angel Down. “I mean, we’re all huge lovers of classic rock music, but we’ve all got our different styles and ways of interpreting the music. First off we’ve got Ravin, who’s probably one of the best guitarists. And he has a huge funk/blues influenced, dirty rock and roll sound going on, which is always a blast to listen to. Then we’ve got Sam, who’s one of the most popular performers in the local pub circuit. And he really digs stuff like Queen, Simon and Garfunkel and the Rolling Stones, which is always nice to have.
e’ve got Prabodhya and Chathurika Fernando, who are arguably the country’s most rock ‘n’ roll pair of siblings. I mean their father, Keerthi Fernando was one of the pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal in Sri Lanka and they probably learned to sing Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden before they learned to speak. Then you’ve got us (Angel Down) and we like to take things in a slightly heavier, raunchier direction. Think Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Van Halen and Iron Maiden, for example.”
The first Classic Rock session was in June last year- that show was an acoustic one, with the performers on just guitars and vocals. This year they’ve got a ‘killer venue’ with a great sound system so the whole band gets to pitch in and assures attendees “we’ve all definitely gotten much better looking since then.” And if this gig goes well, and you’re lucky, they’ll be returning with a series of classic rock nights. But that’s a story for later-“for now come and check out the gig,” they say. “We guarantee you’ll leave on a musical high.”
Classic Rock at El Rancho happens on May 24 at La Fiesta (on Chatham Street) from 7pm onwards.