It's one of those days that's a permanent pallid grey. Fragments of tortured sunlight cascade through ominous clouds that practically seem like they are all just waiting to burst right open and bleed rain onto the City streets. I've completed my work for the day, there's really no point in going out because the Sinhala and Tamil New Year fever is just receding... not quite so...
Companies are at a stand still - most people have decided to take control of their miserable fate and take a long vacation. Very few people have turned up for work - and story is that till next week most offices won't really function properly - while a precious few battle on.
The good old essence of the proverbial rat race. The good always die young...

Bad things ALWAYS do happen to Good people... And the famous yin and yan of deep subliminal equilibrium. It's a dark day. It's a gloom that actually makes you want to
stop whatever you're doing and let the day slowly slip by like a silent thief in the dead but deadly hours of night. While the world balances itself and Sri Lanka plunges
into mass financial depravity, society deteriorating slowly, people being further engulfed by their hypnosis to carry on and industries suffering immensely in 2008...
and it's only the beginning of the year mind you.

2007 was a great year for musicians and the entertainment biz at large. There were a plethora of concerts both here and abroad and artistes were able to make some sense out of all the turmoil of being a musician; one that boldly stands out of the box and does things differently. Enter 2008 and nearly half a dozen concerts are cancelled. Clubs are losing their edge (along with their sanity) and demand immortal figures to give out their joint on a Friday or Saturday night. But... The Bands; the Metal/Rock Bands are still fighting the system
and the scene with every ounce of vigor and energy WE'VE all got. Here's a brief synopsis of what
has happened.

The war is still raging on in the North. It's a record breaking marathon where countless lives have been lost - you all know how it works - as I've always said
the victims of any war are the innocent and the ignorant. So there are profit bearers on both sides - naturally a great many are minting a load on the intricacies
of war. It's an obvious cash cow enterpise that is used as a provocative tool to justify the means, the ends and all the chaos in-between. I can't imagine how many
'experts' there are. Educated people, the so called acedemically and professionally qualified big guns who by far still believe the feigned personal reasons dished out to sum up the losses and make us all think that this is the ONLY way. They'll say it's complicated. Well... When I restrain a partner in crime: gag, blindfold, proceed with a shibari style reverse prayer hogtie, go the distance with clamps, clothes pegs, fire and ice...
That's fucking complicated too. So what gives?

It's pretty simple. The two sides at war will lose soldiers, who are employed and must serve a purpose. There are budgets for these things, there are balance sheets and frankly it doesn't take a lot to grab hold of some poor chap who can't just find a job, pursue higher education and then actually expect with their background
to have the blue collar assholes of the exquisite Metropolitan to hire 'em. So for a fixed wage and a painted picture portrait of patriotism - the brainwashed
will fight for their country and their people. While some poor motherfucker gets his arms and legs shattered in a bomb blast, someone else somewhere is enraptured with 5 star cuisine, the stock market and psychological chess of figuring out how to keep the media at bay, feed the masses bullshit and collect as much money as one can before a reasonably early retirement. So by blaming races and causing color hatred, making people hate each other over someone else's war... it's slowly triggering an avalanche of destroying the fellowship of each other. It's very clever really. Silly little pawns playing the game as expected, just really sowing the seeds of rasicm and apathy. you should hear how rasist pieces of shit back here talk. It's sad. Some Sinhala people disrespect and deface Tamils, while Tamils secretly dislike the Sinhalese... Then the Muslims and Burghers are dragged into the equation too. I mean what the fuck. Really. WHAT THE FUCK? That's the raw, primal beauty of Metal. Despite what some white rasist purists have to say... There is no bridge , no boundary, no barrier of color, faith, belief systems, religion or ethnicity in the music we LOVE. It doesn't mater if your anorexic, obese, rich, poor, green, brown, white, black or yellow. The iniquiteous seeds sown will reap a horrible harvest in the future. At the end of the day everyone bleeds in red. Show me someone who bleeds in pink and luminous green.|-|

Our war has been going on for ages... Over 20 years and yeah a handful of countries have tried to intervene; introducing peace talks and diplomatic strategies but here's the thing. There is a catalyst and an agent of iniation at the core of EVERY war. Isn't that how the game
works? While most of the U.N sucks Bush cock and administers what the almighty Power-that-is dictates - it's a circus where once again the global economy and the
value of the Dollar reaches far and wide. And even the pockets of the contemporary world's messiahs, saviors and martyrs can't resist the weight of power money.
So the ventriloquist dangles all the puppets; puppets through time who have earned the trust and faith of many nations who actually believe that they give a right royal fuck. So first of all, a war, any war is consented and discreetly sanctioned by the powers that be. I mean it's an investment right? But what the hell do they gain by risking the degredation of a society? Of losing the nation's resources? Of carnage and suffering? It's that yin yan concept again. The obscure blatant balancing concept. But then if a woman or man cannot be touched, harmed or be really threatened by what's going on, both
needn't fear anything right? It's taking a business risk as long as you've calculated what your bank balance is going to be at the end of the day and that the debris and ruins will be the foundations of a new improved civilization. War is very fucking civil afterall no?

So... All enterpises are plunging downhill. Industries and businesses are clutching onto very thin lines of straw. And the music biz is no different. Some genius decides to sanction a new sound restriction law, which basically states that all outdoor events; gigs, functions
etc. must wrap up by 10pm. If it exceeds 10pm then a permit would have to be obtained from the Supreme Court. And along the way certain individuals would have to be paid a sizeable fee to ensure all goes as planned. Now this isn't a civil law.. it's a criminal law santioned with no consideration or not having bought into account the entertainment industry. So after 10pm if there's any noise the pigs will come issue a warning which after you'll be arrested and your sounds confiscated. So all concert organizers have freaked. All open air
gigs in the City have been postponed, momentarily cancelled or called off. It's just not worth the
trouble. So to tackle this scenario we recognized that our strategy would have to change... Especially because we have very poor backing from TV and Radio... So we choose to play gigs on a Sunday afternoon. Start at around 3 or 4pm and go on till 8pm or so. People have nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon and it's a nice time to have some beer, smoke a rocket or two and mosh or watch some great talent shedding rhyme and reason. It actually worked.

Now half a dozen bands organize gigs on a Sunday and it's helped all of us battle the night time prohibition factor somewhat. But the thing is there's just something about going for a gig on a Friday or Saturday night. We are working on organizing exclusive gigs perhaps once in
3 months or so at a Club/Pub on a Sat night... It's damned costly. In 2006 we launched our Silent Chaos Serpentine record at a popular club in town on Sat night for 40 or 50 thousand rupees (that's roughly 500 dollars for a night) and so we'd hunt for sponsors and cover the rest with ticket sales. Clubs now push against the shove and demand a percentage from the gate, total F & B (which is the usual thing) plus 150-200, 000 bucks for a Fri/Sat night. Back to the country situation and there aren't sponsors with an approved budget or a spending budget of that much. The ones with a budget won't touch Heavy Metal with a bargepole. As you all can see... pretty messed up. :##

Stigmata are doing ok. We are working on our new material... working on the 7th new tune titled 'Purer' and we are focused and dedicated beyond words to
ensure we record and release an album that is nothing short of groundbreaking. We are at no.14 now on www.themetalforge.com's top 40 Reviews of All Time
(COB is at #15, Death's Leprosy #16 and Nevermore's Godless Endeavor at #17)which is great. Afterall we are just 5 dudes from Sri Lanka looking forward to conquering the world with our Asian Metal Peers. No... no... Megalomania doesn't appeal to us. But seriously, when you come from a place where you've been pushing, sweating and bleeeding for such a long time (our 8th year) you feel a tiny sense of accomplishment when you receive an encouraging review and when you know
people around the world are checking out your music. A lot of people here are still getting over the fact that -

1) Hip Hop is dead and the new so called trend here is Trance/Techno. (in SL atleast)

2) Coldplay, Whitestripes, The Strokes, Hives, The Killers and all their post MTV
alternative batshit is actually dying a slow miserable death.

But even we are having it really rough. We can't tour overseas much till we get this record fully composed and nailed. The open air concerts/gigs are where us Metal
Bands make some dough. Our own concerts are a labor of love and it's not financially lucrative to be honest. I personally can't see the situation improving for a very long time and feel that this is the time to look at guys like Trent Reznor; although I am not a big N.I.N fan I respect what he does, what he stands for and how he's marketed himself utilizing the internet to the max. That is where we ought to go. Crying and whinning over the internet messing up sales is pointless. People aren't gonna stop using the worldwide net and stop downloading shit just because it's inconvenient for the artistes.
It's a bittersweet truth... But in order to survive in any environment one must identify and monitor the market around, the micro/macro factors, the worldwide music biz
and the mechanisms used by more successful and renowned artistes to position themselves and promote their music to the masses.

It's still grey outside. Doesn't look like it's going to pour anytime soon. But then the sun's been forced to hide in the cancerous opaque skies. But as great as the sun is, I know WE can't be just forced to hide. Our music, our effort all these years and every iota of blood shed in the name of our country, in the name of Rock 'n Roll and in the name of what we believe and stand for... will NOT BE laid to waste. We are misunderstood, we are even hated, we are envied... all of us who passionately play in Metal Bands... But no one can dare laugh at us, mock us or rival us. This I am certain of. All of US understand that the entire music industry has to be shaped into something independant, lucrative and long lasting.

Quoting Don Clericuzio in the great Mario Puzo's 'The Last Don', I know that myself and all the Bands that mean business back here will agree with this. For there is no
other way.

'We hope someday to be Saints... But not Martyrs.'

Amen.