Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Gearing for a rock revolution
By Marisa de Silva
It was a little after 7 p.m. on May 24. As darkness fell, the crowds trickled in little by little. Finally, the place was packed with rock music fans from all walks of life, there to enjoy a night of exclusive rock. And rock they did, all through the night.

It was a Rock Saturday at the Eighty Club laid on by the Rock Company which has been revived with the objective of developing and fostering rock music in Sri Lanka. Rock Night hopes to develop a forum for rock musicians to congregate, mingle and develop camaraderie and most importantly, provide a platform where newcomers to the rock scene can get exposure by playing to live audiences.

The first Rock Saturday that kicked off the revival of the Rock Company was held on March 30, at the same venue. A few members of the former Rock Company, the committee headed by Ajith Perera, banded themselves together to resume the Rock Company and have monthly meetings, where rockers of all ages could enjoy an evening of rock music at least once every month.

It is also envisaged that these nights would help to generate funds to eventually set up a studio at a convenient location, which will be equipped to accommodate members of the club to explore the creation of original compositions or to have sound practice to further their talents at a very nominal fee (or even free for deserving musicians).

I considered Ezra's, (last year's winners of Onstage) performance the highlight of the evening. They did a good job of mixing rock with local music and their originals were quite creative and enjoyable. The crowd seemed to be familiar with their repertoire and kept cheering them on.

Both Blood Lost and The Fallen debuted at this time's Rock Night and did a good job in keeping the audience entertained. Stigmata, was another band with a lot of crowd support. They played for all of around 45 minutes and also had their debut album, Morbid Insurrection along with the two released by Independence Square, on sale at the entrance.

A guest spot by Primal Liyanage of Blind Faith was a welcome break from all that rock, as he sang a mixture of folk and pop, winding up with Annie's Song.

Other bands that performed were Brass Face, Xenon, Cold Fusion, Paranoid Earthling, and Stone Broke.

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