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| Sunday, 26 October 2003 |
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by Umangi de Mel
Bands come in all shapes and sizes and tastes and types..It's the ultimate result of a set of mutual tastes, styles and attitudes in music. Raging anger, a mourning heart or even a sunny thought is expressed and they let loose to rip it open..exposing what's running amok deep down.. "`Soul Skinner' has been in existence for two years but the members weren't consistent which is why we had to form the band again six months back," says Shamal, the leader of the group. The group has Shamal on lead guitar, Dhanushka on bass, Kumkum on rhythm guitar, Chanaka on lead guitar and Manuja on percussions. Explaining the reason behind their name, the guys say that they always try to reveal what's deep inside them. "Our music is heavy and aggressive, it actually brings out our innermost selves," says Shamal. The guys reveal that `Soul Skinner' performed their first gig in 2001, at `My Kind Of Place' with Stigmata. "Back then we were very immature but Stigmata was very supportive and brought us up as a band," they say adding that Stigmata was the only metal band at that time. Comparing the band's previous achievements and future potential, Shamal points out the fact that what they are today is just a result of three months work, "We've changed the style and the music. `On Stage was our first gig as a fresh band," they say. Claiming to be a metal band, the five guys say that they prefer songs like Iced Earth, Nevermore, Mega death and Arch enemy. "When Stigmata came up, heavy metal was re-born. It wasn't an era when people were into original stuff. Luckily they're more open minded than they used to be," the group continues, " but the hitch is whenever a new band comes to the picture, the old fashioned try their best to scorn and their talents go unnoticed," they say. The concept being originality, the guys say that in spite of the many loop holes that come along, people look forward to see creativity other than covers that are being hacked in every nook and corner. "In Sri Lanka, a club and the manager won't hear a band play originals. If he doesn't know the song he won't hear it. They actually kill the talent by getting the young musicians to play covers," he complains but adds that Rock Company' was doing young rock musicians a huge favour by promoting originals. "It's a non-profit organisation and we need financial aid which obviously comes from adults. Actually getting a place where we could have a decent practice session is very difficult since the neighbours won't appreciate..in fact, we've got kicked out five times so far," they crack. Nevertheless, they seem very happy that the situation is better compared to what it was before Rock Company came into the picture. "We don't play at fixed venue for obvious reasons. It's highly unlikely for any band to get a fixed venue but we get invitations to play at many places," they say. Walking down memory lane, `Soul Skinner' say that they've played twice with Stigmata and have also played at the `Hope Rocks' last month. Having competed at `On stage' this year, they say that the show requires experience and practice. "It's not easy, we've got a long way to go and need to practise more. That's something we learnt there," the guys say. "but we made it to the finals. Although we didn't win. There were many rock fans who supported us. They encourage and talk to us. It's as much as anyone can expect," they add. The five say that they are focusing mainly on originals at the moment. "We've got five originals, `Flow', `Illusion', `Plead for serenity', `Bleeding sun' and `Passed on by'," explaining the meaning of each song they say that `Illusions' talks about a guy who has weird images in his head, "and he wishes they were only illusions. `Flow' is about people walking away from bonds and breaking promises. `Passed on by' is when the place we call home is not homely any more, `Bleeding sun' talks about a guy who drifts into a path where he loses self-control and `Plead for serenity' is an angry song that talks about ripping a person's feelings," they explain. Shamal says that he writes the songs and as for the music he says that everybody contributes. "And by the time we finish, it's better than what I came up with," he grins. Talking about the local music scenario, Soul Skinner says that gradually the demand is shifting to rock. "People listen to rock. It's like the trend among the young crowd but it's definitely happening now," they continue, " There's refinement in all types of music in Sri Lanka." They believe in doing whatever they do, to the fullest, "if you are doing something, you've got to do it properly. Giving the public a wrong impression of what you want to do won't get you anywhere," they say that `music' is not a profession but a passion, "all the famous musicians are those who actually consider music as a passion and not a profession." They believe that the senior musicians who do covers are merely wasting their talents on something stale. "You've got to have music in our blood, I'd never consider music as a profession. But I'm glad it works for everybody at the moment either way," Shamal says adding that music has nothing to do with money. Apparently it's music that has brought them together, "we used to get together and jam. We are doing just fine plus we're a blend of different tastes that has resulted in heavy stuff," they say. |
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