One day it’s boiling enough to roast bacon on the streets, the next - clouds ominous and almost dragon like swarm the grey infested skies and bellow out razor blade showers of rain causing a downpour that devours most of the country, resulting in a cascade of floods. Then it’s back to the sunshine and one imagines that fate’s either more twisted than a Siamese lollipop or that lady luck is truly, genuinely outta shine and fart. Whichever it is Sri Lanka is the asshole being poked by political, economic, socio-cultural and ecological disasters to an extent that people are glued to accepting the reality almost as if it were somehow unreal and a passing movie nightmare. Nightmare indeed it is… It may not pass for a very long time.

But that’s life and life loves its tragedy and black humor, so much so that I find myself on quite an interesting landscape; a sonic stage where art is governed by purpose and integrity, while the scales of economy are tipped, dipped and pissed upon ‘cos these days – so perilous and miserable does it get – even dignity needs a commercial foothold or else it can’t stand. It certainly can’t stand on one leg and it certainly doesn’t care much for paralysis.

But there is a balance. And a lot of shit’s being happening in my life, in our lives and there’s so much to say that I am afraid this blog post may go on for over a freaking week; and despite my meticulous and (almost frequent) brilliant writing abilities a one week long post won’t capture the magic or the mysticism or the cynicism of my abnormal genius. So here’s shedding the proverbial skin with some great news, good news and all the pooh in AnomalyLand at the moment.

Stigmata’s Recording: We decided to begin recording masterpiece no.3 and as planned we hit the studios on the Vesak Long Weekend, and we are truly grateful to Tyronne Silva (who’s a renowned Drummer throughout Europe and has played with the likes of Symphony X and is on tour with Primal Fear at the moment) who lent his exclusively endorsed super fucking RMV monster of a Drumkit with his Anatolian Cymbals and Live Mics. Through a time span of 3 days the Drums were nailed and I must say (that we all agree including the Enginner Mr.Shobi) that the tracks are not only sounding incredible but after Tenny flawlessly completed his Rhythm the overall sound with just 2 instruments so far is fucking beautiful. Starting off with a solid drum sound is always an inspirational factor. Having a solid, tapestry of raw and fierce Rhythm adds to the pro factor. Since Stigmata are Producing our own Album this time; we have a LOT on our shoulders, minds and selves… It’s the first time we’re kind of Self Producing so we have to watch our own performances, make sure they are top notch and at the same time be our own constructive critics. But so far pretty fucking great… Only thing is we may not be able to meet the deadline imposed by ourselves and coming to think of it… That’s fine.

See our Engineer is also a respected Bassist in a popular Secular Band back here and leaves for a Tour of Australia on the 24th of June… So that roughly leaves us now with little over 2 weeks to complete as much as we can. Catch is that the guy returns only in August, so we have a two month long break… kinda crushes the momentum and we were worried about the feel of the whole thing but eventually realized that the key is to completely finish entire parts before he leaves.

So it’s 8 tracks; amazingly clocking in over just an hour’s worth of music, everyone’s psyched and really hacked but we all feel that it’s the best thing to not force or push the music to a deadline… People can wait… ‘cos frankly this record’s our Life and Soul and the ultimate point is to release something that’s really, really organic, aesthetic and leagues ahead of both our previous records. So no rushing… But we are working relentlessly neverthelesssssssss.

Gigs: Sadly, we aren’t gigin’ at the moment ‘cos of the recording fever and its helped the five of us stay focused. But we may look at a couple of exclusive gigs locally but the good news is that we are currently negotiating a Tour or Two overseas, which we are deciding how to coordinate everything with the launching of the album etc. Things will work out, it always does and I will keep you posted on the Asia Tour once we have concrete to hold the bone in place.

Sobriety: Yeah… Been over a month without Mary J (but we’ve smoked up a Hash bong here and there) and having sobered up for the most part has actually helped us get a LOT of things into perspective and as predicted the Ganja addicted time serving piss bags have all vanished from the Stigz radar. Almost 98% have mysteriously disappeared and save for an occasional ‘Hey, How’s the recoding going…’ and a pop by the cream of the crap have dissipated. I am hearing constant words from Buddies Male and Female abroad and back here saying ‘We Told You So… All These Guys Are Just Hanging On Ya’ll For the Grass and the Good Times’ and I am going ‘Yes… Yes… So the beauty of making mistakes is that we are empowered with the ability to learn from them.’ Or so I keep rubbing knowledge into my wounds.

Honestly I’ve personally seen who our real friends are. And all the E popping and LSD laced electronica geeks can fuck each other on their love and mind altering, generic fruity loops.

Doggy Trouble: So about 2 weeks ago we were on our way to Vije’s (Our Bassist) and were stopped at a checkpoint (There are more checkpoints in SL now than Retailers). There the cutest, naughtiest little doggy hopped towards me when I got off to hand out my I.D to the piggy and I noticed a vehicle had gone over her paw. Paw looked nasty and being a street dog no one obviously gave a fuck. Now with all the apparent burden’s of hell and earth I had, I couldn’t get this outta my skull and called up Niki (perhaps the oldest Stigz fan in SL who’s stuck with us through Everything!) and we with Spani decide to take it to a Veterinarian Clinic and attended to her paw. These are the rare shades of genius that I deserve to be shot for. Once the paw’s looked at, subsequently cleaned and dressed the big question smacks us all in the rear. Ok… Now what? Where to leave her? Niki gets a no… Spani can’t leave it where she’s staying and so I bring it home (till we find it a good home and treat it like a proper person).

The doggy has no problem adjusting to its new environment, doesn’t listen to a damned thing and has a Pee Fetish it seems. She has pissed on more valuables than I can count (some of Andrew’s priceless equipment and Tenny’s College certificates – don’t even ask me how she got to those!), but still times are hard and even Clinic’s cost a fair deal and so Myself and Spani clean the paw and dress it the best we can. She’s received the name ‘Hujji’ translated to ‘Pisser’ or something of the sort and she’s so fucking adorable but since we have our own Poofus Maximus Poochi Boofus we’re getting some pressure from the landlords. She refuses to be alone and refutes any sense of discipline. What did you just say Rock ‘n Roll Bitch?!?

Her name is Corn Flakes; she’s about 8 months, makes Velociraptor sounds and is quite intelligent. She has proven that for some reason she doesn’t like Iron Maiden (keeps howling or barking when Maiden’s on) but seems to doze away for Morbid Angel, Nile, Brain Drill and Behemoth. I wish we had the option of keeping her, but she needs a lot of attention and although the few of us are doing what we honestly can, I fear what will happen once the album’s launched, the concerts roll in and the Tour’s start. Poofus is a veteran super-sleuth that isn’t difficult at all when we aren’t around, and we’ve had some great caring people to keep her till we return. Anyway I can’t and won’t just put her on the street… Oh… Pooey… the Ace Ventura in Me.

The Sudden Departure of Our Roommates: Issues proceeded, and frankly when a bunch of guys as ONE FAMILY move in together agreeing to be there for each other and concede to settle all the expenses on time: electricity has shot up by 30 fucking percent, water, rent, internet and phone bills which is supposed to be divided equally 4 separate ways. So precedence was given to parties every weekend and heavy intoxication whereas the responsibilities and priorities were easily overlooked and they were informed to be a bit more sensible.

I mean the fucking economy is in recession, suicide bombers and bombs are going off at least once a week like it’s a tourist attraction, z country’s hitting hyper inflation and the cost of living is so high people might actually start cannibalizing and eating each other in a year or so. Diesel and Petrol prices sky rocketed awhile back and everything’s so unreasonably costly now that we all have no choice but to not throw away our discretionary income and start thinking of saving and surviving. Then new tax regulations and laws are imposed crippling many industries, even Coke is down 20% from their regional sales last year. People can’t afford to drink a Coke anymore. Hell they can’t afford to drink a Tea and smoke a Gold Leaf anymore.

So we had to put an iron foot down and say ‘Hey… slow the fuck down dudes, time’s are rough and we need to stick together… We need to sort the bills and stuff on time and think ahead. So cut the partying and start to think about your Bands, your music, your Careers and Future in this country.’

As it were a great many didn’t take this advise to heart. And we HAD to hear from everyone around us that our roommate buddies had found another place and they informed us ONLY the day BEFORE they actually left.

No advance notice so we could find anyone to replace them. That means Tenny and My overheads shoot up Double. Double the rent and Double everything else.

Only childish, impish reasons were dished out to point out flaws that our supposed imperial regime didn’t suit their ‘be high all the time’ and ‘free and easy’ lifestyles. So we had a confrontation, a lengthy discussion where we tried to iron out a series of issues and a LOAD of stuff was said, some hurtful, some even flaccid and feeble to the point of bordering on boring fantasy. There were witnesses to what was said and mostly we realized that this new idea to leave the nest and flock around a new set of feathers would be met with remorse shortly.

It’s a known fact that with Methamphetamine in your heads that your brain works faster but NOT necessarily any clearer. Doesn’t make you smarter either it seems.

So we were told that they sought to find their own independence, move together and work towards building their lives on their own and all that sounded nice and cherry. Except now at the face of adversity the story is shaping out to be that we KICKED them out.

Ah… The famous sympathy card. Turn the world against us. Old hacked number no?

Yes… sure… And people who will take a stray doggy from the street with all our issues will kick out human beings who we’ve known for 7 years. Now that’s Cherry fucking Merry. Grow a friggin’ backbone and at least take responsibility for your own decisions. No one asked them to leave, no one kicked them out and there was certainly no ostracism or exile.

Exams: Yep… Had that to deal with as well. I know I studied relatively more than usual, and I won’t comment on it till the results come. But I wrote my cute-ass butt off and hope I’ll get through.

Work: Our Agency work is flowing in smoothly. Despite the recording, surviving, doggy saving, exams and all the stuff in-between and inside-out we are keeping the Advertising/Marketing work going steady. We’ve currently designed the interior for one of our clients while we are completing two Brands/Logos for a new Male and Female clothing line. Sailing thus through blood and mud.

Things aren’t just right royally fellacioed in Sri Lanka, things are ripping asunder the world over. I know all of you have your issues to deal with. Keep those whips cracking, those halos from corroding, those horns from losing their shine and even if reason and meaning slips into the wretched sublime of realism’s decay – don’t lose the plot. Things will turn around… not today, perhaps not tomorrow… but it will. Hang on Ladies and Gents. ‘Cos in a world where we all don’t have imaginary magic wands and money trees growing out of our backyards (or asses) – we have reality and the world to fuck, enslave, learn from and a lunar tide to ride.

So fucking Ride it.