Mirror Magazine

Here’s what’s on offer: Stigmata on the rocks, outrageous, outspoken, and generally out there… (They’ve been a little edited, but we do have a thin (but firm) line we cannot cross; so explicit references to various functions of the human anatomy, we will simply have to do without.)

We suggest you take a deep breath before the plunge…

The top three things about Stigmata that no one knows…

3. When we go somewhere, we all go together (Ranil)
2. We are chocoholics… and we abuse bassists (Andrew)
1. We can actually be a pack of nice guys (Suresh)

The worst thing that could ever happen to you on stage is…
“Suresh going mad on stage and jumping on my guitar!” (Andrew)

The song that never was…
“We compose many tunes that sometimes get scrapped, re-structured or dropped off completely. We had this one called “Myriad” that was fast, melodic and technical with menacing vocal textures… we’ve no idea where that went.”
The one product that Suresh will never endorse…
Porn (says the rest)

The one thing that Tenny will never eat…
Kittie meat!

The kind of woman that frightens Andrew…
Serious ones!

The one game that Ranil always wins…
The Kandyan box plan game!

The best thing that ever happened to Vije…
He found us ;)

The day that Kurt Cobain died was…
“The day that serious musicians and technical players were taken seriously again and the day Rock got its depth back.” (Suresh)

Who came up with the name Stigmata?
“The spectre that guides us in all our musical journeys… HAHAHA!” (Suresh)

Why did you get your eyes scratched out in all your initial publicity photographs?
Tenny: ‘Cause we are shy; we didn’t want you’ll to see who we are!!!
Andrew: We didn’t scratch it off. We rolled them cause it’s part of our gimmick.
Suresh: We can actually do that with our eyes… it was marketing, nothing else really.

The scariest thing a fan ever did...
“This dude that came backstage once, and was chitty chatty and SUDDENLY started saying how he wants to join us, and replace Andrew and me, and he would do it no matter what the cost. He had that insane look in his eyes… that was weird as hell” (Suresh)

The nicest thing a fan ever did…
“I jumped off stage once and started head banging with the crowd, knocking one of the guys on his head with my guitar, while he was in the pit. I got on stage again… and when the gig was over he was bleeding from his face badly, but he gave me a big hug saying, ‘Man you made my day and I’ll always be your fan!!!’ After seven years I still see him at every gig. We love you bro – Nikki you are a true metal-head man, a true friend and a brother! We even took him to Male for our first ever international gig – this was our small treat!” (Tenny)

The day Stigmata plays a country song is the day that…
Tenny: I’ll jump into the Beira Lake.
Vije: I’ll strangle the guy who decided to play the song.
Ranil: I’ll play Electronic Drums.
Andrew: ##%&(#%(*#%*#
Suresh: Hell freezes over and heaven starts givin’ out free ‘entrance’ passes.
Tennyson, what’s with your hair?
Well… what can I say, it’s very, very naughty… just like me…
Suresh, ‘life is a journey…
enjoy the trip… it’s a lot cooler than the destination.’
Ranil, ‘I dream of…
becoming an extraordinary drummer.’
Vije, ‘Pink is my…
Dude why did you give me this one?! Tenny’s the guy with the pink socks! He he!’

Andrew, whoever said that ‘it’s better to laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints’ was…

Mirshad? Or Neil Armstrong… errrr!! One of the three I think!

Where do you see yourself five years from now?
Suresh: Opening for Nevermore, Lamb Of God and Opeth!!!
Tennyson: Around WOMEN!
Andrew: In another galaxy…
Ranil: Featured on the cover page of the world’s best selling drum magazine ‘Modern Drummer.’
Vije: Playing gigs all over the world, and playing onstage with some of the bands who influenced us. That would be so cool!

Where were you five years ago?
Suresh: With two nuts called Andrew and Tenny tryin’ to find a bassist and drummer, who was committed and wanted to take things to the next level. Well, whaddaya know… enter Jacky and Vije.
Tennyson: Around GIRLS!
Andrew: Having a race under a pool table.
Ranil: Hammering biscuit tins and Coke cans – pretending they were real drums
Vije: Playing pub gigs with my first band, who were not serious about their music anyway…

The one song that you could not get out of your head this morning was…
Suresh: “My Malice” by Stigmata and “Never, Neverland” by Annihilator
Tennyson: “Killing me, Killing You, Killing All We Had” by Sentenced
Andrew: “Mary Had A Little Lamb”
Ranil: “5 Minutes Alone” by Pantera
Vije: “Hollow Ground” by The Haunted

Stigmata is to Sri Lanka…
What Black Sabbath is to Metal!!!
Hollow Dreams was the past…
While Silent Chaos Serpentine is the present and the future!!!

Where is Stigmata heading/ your ambitions/dreams as a band?
Andrew: To be one of the greatest metal bands on the planet and to create as many new sounds to expand this musical universe.
Vije: We got a good balance of melodic heavy and hard hitting riffs and a Sri Lankan touch to it too... So I think we are heading in the right direction with our music. We want to take our music out to the world; it’s already happening. We got fans all over the world.
Ranil: To be able to execute physically whatever comes to our mind.
Suresh: Stigmata and Heavy Metal has given me strength, faith and passion I never knew I had in me. I’ve been through a lot of rough patches in my life… Metal’s helped me find a light in the dark, and Stigmata without question is my soul. I would love to see our local industry do away with this childish competition and rivalry, so that Sri Lanka can show the rest of the world what Asians are made of. Different people define success in different ways. In the future, with the continued support and backing of our awesome fans, peers and industry insiders, we’ll hopefully make the country proud.

What more can we ask for?
Tenny: To create music unlike any other.
You said it, Tenny!