Let me first scream out a ‘Happy Birthday to Papi and Speevy!’ to Mr.Sleepwalker and Speevy (the gentle giant). May both of you live long, ‘cos your dick’s certainly won’t grow any longer. Love you fuckers… c you tonight! 
Saturday the 8th of September was a memorable night. It was pouring cats, dogs and a barn full of animals, two other events were also staged on the same night and despite hailstorms of problems “The March of the Saints” gig was ‘special’. Stigmata and Paranoid Earthling have been in the biz long enough to identify suicide from a calculated risk, and as fate (and both bands) would have it, the only available date was the 8th. From advertising scandals to promotional warfare; quite childish if you ask me… A couple of young blooded bands had organized ‘their’ own gig, coincidentally on the same day and usually in the Metropolitan capital this would be an ideal opportunity for Rock ‘n Roll purists to have some diversity… But in the hill town of Kandy, things would not be swallowed so whole heartedly. These young ‘uns responded rather harshly, screaming ‘Sabotage’ and ‘Conspiracy’, when it was this simple… Two gigs on one night, We, Stigmata have our reasons for needing to stage the event on the said date, even if it clashed with other events.
Tragedy loves its mirrors you know… So despite all the fuss and indirect PR carried out by the ‘other’ bands (a myriad of texts claiming that I wanted to destroy their show, a chock full of rhino shit that is… considering that I haven’t even heard of most of them, let alone was aware of their existence), things turned up better than we thought. It wasn’t as packed as WE would have liked it to be… But there was an attending audience, which was truly inspiring and great, ‘cos it showed us who our loyal fans really were. It’s amazing how people discard reality and practicality when faced with tribulations or challenges. A lot of the kids who ripped out our outdoor branding and vandalized our poster stands were those who 2 years ago were smack dab in the forefront of our Pit back then. The times are a changin’… From Metal fans, to barnyard gore infested occult lovers, metamorphosed gradually into musicians themselves… The infamous & inevitable scenario of ‘Used to be a fan, But We Sure Rock Harder than Those Guys Now’ syndrome. We’ve been around for 7 years… We’ve been the laughing stock of an Alternative (insipid 4 chord nostalgia) loving industry (where Progressive and Technical Music in general is Anathema to them!) and then been placed as the New Best Thing to the Next Best Thing to Something That People Just Don’t Get… We are kind of seasoned now and used to the crap and piss tossed around in the name of the green eyed monster and for the sake of entertainment biz standards.
Hey… We are good. WE know it. They all know it. The difference is, they express their fondness (or lack of it) for our genius rather belligerently. How have 5 guys pushing the creative envelope of Extreme Metal become the darlings of so much vitriol and vice? And we don’t even have a fucking therapist people. Metallica take notes…
Yeah… Yeah… People hate us. That’s a catalyst to push onwards and never compromise on our panache and gift to create the unthinkable. We hate drama, but have been victims of catastrophes (From Band members been estranged from loved ones and family to having members diagnosed with Cancer, to being threatened by Political Parties to being trailed by the law for all kinds of rubbish) we are the archetypical Metal machine. Charming guys, relatively refined egos, caring and sensible to deal professionally with the pros and cons of the industry, would die or kill for our own, endorse hectic lifestyles; albeit the sex and substances are sometimes overdone! 
Naaaaaaaa…
But through it all, after having some personal drama of my own, my partner of violent intercourse and sexual relations had made the bludgeoning error of trying to play my fiddle while attempting to strum someone else’s that day. I endorse open relationships… It’s the only thing with the word ‘relationship’ that appeals to me… But when I invest a considerable amount of time, affection and lust to one individual, I expect ‘ME’ to be the top priority at least in that time period. And what’s worse is… I hate people who lie and do a bad job of lying. A respectable lady would at least be able to lie with some chic prowess and make it look professional. I was at the mixer board balancing the sound and engineering for PE who played a mesmerizing set when she waltzes inside and lays a bad hand on the proverbial table. What’s worse is her timing could not have been more suited for the weather – caught in between engineering both bands and also getting geared to take the stage myself – I would have torn her to ribbons… In hindsight I am happy I didn’t. Oh… I asked a companion of mine to kindly escort her and show her out of the venue. I was a bit harsh at that moment… Oh… I made sufficient amends today, me being the savage gentleman I am. 
Hell would have looked like Wonderland that day. From coordinating the impossible, to navigating everything from promotions to the event itself, having the generator arrive two hours before the gig - I would certainly be a nervous wreck on the very brink of tedium if I hadn’t got the assistance and help I received from the other guys in Stigz, our lovely marketing team (Sleepwalker and Mr.Tiara), a significant shout out to Twisted Roller and Paranoid Earthling, 891, Tai Po, Banana, Sword of the Spirit, Ritual, Tantrum, Fallen Grace and all our friends. And I would have loved to have had my Hound sucked on or had a Quickie while Jacky was playing his drum solo! That was the only time I got to breathe a bit on stage. Lovely weather man… Phew.
From playing key tunes off ‘Silent Chaos Serpentine’ to introducing some killer new pieces ‘The Summoning Cry of Aries’, ‘If Alpha Meets Omega’ and ‘March of the Saints’ to playing Judas Priest’s majestic ‘Painkiller’ faster than planned… We gave it our all. Oh… And I was sick as a dog that day. Fever, throat sore as fuck and lack of sleep; I did what I could to ‘deliver the goods.’ But the rest played and proved that we are at the top of our game. Paranoid Earthling proved that good friends don’t come by easy and that they are the best Hard Rock Groove Band in the continent!
Everyone who attended the gig had a blast, and at the end of the day that’s what was truly important. Music is about channeling our emotions and feelings into something that chisels an outlet to vent out our sins and sorrows. I could see every face, those possessed and watchful eyes and the moving heads in a valued frenzy… And it was a very special concert for Me and the Boys. I said it that day and I’ll say it again. ‘It took just 300 Spartans to thrash the Persian Army’… the point was that this was a community… a family… quite a few people despite terrible weather, controversial soap opera and just a week’s worth of advertising had turned up to experience something remarkable.
As professionals we aspire to give our following the best. We knew we would just about Break-Even with this gig. We were well aware that organizing a gig in such short notice would be suicidal. We also knew that after trying to get this venue for ONE YEAR and SIX MONTHS that this was the only available date and the question was this. Why organize a gig with no main sponsor to cover the costs when we could take our own sweet time and make sure we did it step by step? Beats me. Why do I like to bind women and watch them milk themselves to glory? Wouldn’t you like to know. You don’t? Aiyo. What a shame.
It was for the presence. Stigmata have an undeniably strong brand presence and don’t need to take any stupid risks to prove ourselves to anyone. We did this because it wasn’t about making money and milking the fans. We re-issued our ‘Silent Chaos Serpentine’ record as a deluxe edition just for this gig (all expenses on us) and even gave out a free CD with every ticket bought. We wanted to do this for the precious few who still gave a fuck and got up every morning wondering when Stigz would tear up their town. It was for them. It wasn’t for us. People should understand (especially the little piss shot drama queens) that we would be satisfied just headlining festivals and open air gigs where everything is done and provided for us. You get paid to go slay… what’s so tough about that? And mind you… we do get paid well for our services. But it’s these little challenges that prove to us time and time again that we are still humble, that we still walk with our heads rooted firmly on our shoulders, that we can give something our all and not drown when the dam breaks.
Did a dam break that day? Considering that every person that night had a friggin’ blast, that every one at the OTSC finally marched for the intro of ‘March of the Saints’ our staple gig closer, mind-fuck anthem and the shapes and silhouettes of horns burned underneath the dark and ambient lights… Guess what… When Stigmata pisses… We don’t ever miss. 
Amen to that papi! it truly was an amazing experience, cant wait for your next show to mosh like an idiot!
Long Prevail the K Factor!!!!