Who's your Valentine this year?

Boy – darling you wouldn't believe what I got for you for Valentine's
Girl – ooh what is it? Lots and lots of flowers and candy?
Boy – err no
Girl – you're taking me to some swanky Valentine's dinner?
Boy – I bought you tickets for a rock concert
Girl – What???

Well these two will literally have a bloody valentine. However, for those of you "lovers" out there who are a little open-minded, My Bloody Valentine (MBV) will not be something you would want to miss. Three bands will play their first gig for the year 2008 and what a way to start the year!

My Bloody Valentine (MBV) will feature Stigmata, Sword of the Spirit and Paranoid Earthling, who will explain to you in their lingo, how Valentine's should be done. First of all let's get a closer look at who will be your charming hosts for this occasion.

A special gig for stigmata (www.myspace.com/stigmatasrilanka) as it will be their first gig after playing in Delhi at the SAARC International Bands Festival. The Stigs made waves at the festival where they were the only metal band playing. They are also currently number 24 in the most popular reviews list on Australian metal site www.themetalforge.com. "We had a lot of mishaps and problems during organising this show, but all the bands worked hard to make it happen," said Suresh De Silva, Stigs front man. he went on to say that this included hunting for sponsors, designing the artwork and making the advertisements for the net and so forth. Their brand of music and valentines. How do you think that will work? Well we were told to express a bit of a surprise cover at the gig.

This other name will be no stranger to your ears either. Paranoid Earthling (PE) (www.myspace.com/Paranoidearthling) played their last show in Kandy on December 22 2007 at "Heavy as heavy gets" organised by Rock Company. They have been silent so far, but they promise us that they will break that silence and it will be loud. "I think people should stop doing the same old thing for Valentine's Day," said Mirshad Buckman, Front man of PE. "We need to show that we have some variety when it comes to celebrating something like this and we were just tired of the same old thing every year," he added. What can we expect from the Earthlings? "Be there, and we will teach you love" said Mirshad.

The next band is one that shows great promise for the Sri Lankan Rock/Metal scene. Sword of the Spirit burst into the scene after coming runners up at TNL Onstage 2005. However, since then, they have gone through many changes including their lineup and their sound. The best way to describe their sound is Big. Their music consists of thrash metal and groove elements and also some metal-core. However, it is extremely hard to label these guys under one genre. "The last show we played was a very short set and we have not played in about six months before that," said Hasyth Abeyaratne, front man of Sword of the Spirit. He added that the time away from the stage is unbearable and that SOS will deliver a Furious set for all our "lovers."

The official Print sponsor for this event is The Sunday Times. The bands would like to thank Gabbana Exclusive men's designer store and Wishroom Inc, not forgetting Rock Company and 891 for all their support.

My Bloody Valentine will kick off on February 17, 2007 at 5.00 pm at the Zetter. Tickets will be available at the gate at Rs.500. However due to limited capacity, we suggest that you reserve tickets through any of the bands myspace accounts. Better safe than sorry don't you think?

MBV will the loudest and most raw Valentines event this year. Convention be damned. Grab your partners (this is not compulsory though, single people are most welcome) and head down to the Zetter for mad head-banging romance.