When talking about the heavy metal music scene in Sri Lanka, the local band Stigmata has become almost synonymous with it. The band, comprising Tennyson Napoleon on guitars, lead, and rhythm; Thisara Dhananjaya on bass guitar; Hafzel Preena on drums; and Suresh de Silva on vocals and lyrics, just released a single as part of their fifth album which is to be released soon.
We had an insightful chat with frontman Suresh de Silva on the song’s creation and more. Following are excerpts of the interview.
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"Our goal and idea is that we’re going to give people a taste of the album to come and release track by track. We are addressing two issues this way: On the one hand, the people who want an album will be able to collect the songs and keep it with them...But on the other hand, we are currently catering to music listening audiences worldwide" Stigmata frontman Suresh de Silva[/caption]
Tell us about the title of the song.
“Throw Glass in a House of Stone” is a play of words on the famous idiom that says don’t throw stones at glass houses. It’s a song that talks about overcoming addiction in this time and age. When you talk about addictions, we are not just talking about alcohol or narcotics – we are also talking about how people are obsessed with technology and the social media and influencer culture, how people are addicted to certain forms of narcissistic behaviour and their own vanity, toxic lifestyles, toxic relationships. Some people are addicted to work and some are addicted to fitness to the point they’re completely disconnected from all else. The song is about overcoming all these addictions and the general idea is that there is no point throwing glass at anything constructed out of stone, because the glass will break.
Is the song talking about a specific incident?
The symbolic value of the song is that even if you’re made of glass, and if this glass keeps colliding or crashing with anything made of stone, it will keep shattering. The house is symbolic of our own body and minds, and the glass represents the addictions and us wanting to change. The thing is, we can’t change if we keep colliding against ourselves where we keep falling apart. The only way to truly overcome addiction is to really want to change, and that has to stem from within us. We need to either figure out the construct of the house or figure out a new way to deal with it. That’s what the idea is.
What was the inspiration behind the song?
We don’t ever pre-plan or pre-meditate our musical approach. When you’re craving a song and it comes down to the technical aspects and the fluidity, you know the arcs, the ups and downs, the crescendos, whether it has one flow – those are the things we have a look at. But we have a natural progression when we write music and it does work for us; it has for 21 years and it continues to work for us. The song has a lot of musical influences, genres, and styles that are infused into it and it works.
The music video has clips from some of your concerts. What was the process of putting it together like?
For the music video, we had actually planned quite a comprehensive video shoot. We are a very self-sufficient band; most of us are from creative industries. Ideally, the plan was to do a comprehensive story board, get actors and actresses on board, and choose a location for the shoot. We had also spoken to certain parties who were interested to come on board and help flesh it out. We were very excited and then the pandemic messed everything up. For the safety of the crew and everyone involved, we had to postpone the shoot. We realised afterwards that we had to drop and release the audio. We had just signed up with an American Award label, Island Dreams Records.
The song was mixed and mastered by the Grammy-nominated icon Romesh Dodangoda who has worked with the likes of Motörhead and Bring Me the Horizons.
With the audio ready, and having just signed up with the label, we had to release the song in May. Ideally, we needed the video ready to release maybe two or three weeks after the single came out. We realised that with the pandemic, there was no way to film the music video, so we decided to take pre-existing footage of the last couple of big shows that we played prior to the pandemic. We decided to fuse the MV and make it a lyric video as well. That way, we’re killing two birds with one stone where it’s an official music video but it also works as a lyric video.
Our very own Thisara gave it treatment, where he edited and videographed it and made sure he used certain effects and colour grains to make the video really appealing. The MV is not what we planned, but we had to make do with the resources we had. We thought showing clips of the audience and showing clips of the power and the performance capability of the band would make it more engaging, since it’s a pretty long song.
Is this song part of an album to be released in the near future?
Yes, it is part of an album to come. We are working on our fifth album, and it happens to be our 21st anniversary this year. The fifth album has been a work in progress since mid-last year. We have the bulk of the songs etched and composed for it – it’s just that the whole ballgame has changed with the global outbreak. It doesn’t make sense to release an entire album, releasing single after single. We changed the format and instead we are releasing a new song every three to four months, and each is accompanied with a music video.
Our goal and idea is that we’re going to give people a taste of the album to come and release track by track. We are addressing two issues this way: On the one hand, the people who want an album will be able to collect the songs and keep it with them. Of course, at one point, we’re going to release a physical album for the loyalists and the collectors as well as for the advocates and supporters of the band. But on the other hand, we are currently catering to music listening audiences worldwide.
The advent of technology and the pandemic and lockdowns have changed the way we listen to music and the way we consume music. Many people listen to music online rather than the old radio and TV. Releasing singles also caters to the people who like to put together their own playlists; the volume of people listening to full albums by one single artist is not as much.
Did you film any part of it during the lockdown?
No. It simply wasn’t possible. We did try; we changed the storyboard to not go with the initial arcs and storyline of addiction. We wanted to at least record certain band performances in a studio, but we couldn’t do any of that.
What has being a musician during the pandemic taught you?
On the one hand, it has taught me to really appreciate our history, our craft, our talent, and our gifts. It’s a pleasure to bring joy to people and provide such a mode of escapism and a sense of freedom and adventure. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without performing. We miss performing and we miss that raw live energy – we feed off it and are connected to it, and we really miss that.
The pandemic has helped us embrace the advent of technology and the tools at our disposal to connect and interact with our audiences. We just launched an official TikTok page two weeks ago, and that’s really wacky and our audience should check it out. Connecting with our fans is quintessential to what we do, especially since we make original music. The pandemic has taught us to appreciate the things that matter to us the most, and to never forget our roots and the people around us.
Does stigmata have anything coming up this year?
We hope to get all our albums remastered and make them available on all leading streaming platforms. Right now, I know some of our new music is available on these platforms. The plan is to release more music videos. We are hoping to release at least two more music videos before the year concludes. We’re also hoping things open up and we’ll be able to have a few live concerts soon. If we have to look at a livestream to play for global audiences, we will work on that as well. Some sick merchandise will also be coming out this year.
"Our goal and idea is that we’re going to give people a taste of the album to come and release track by track. We are addressing two issues this way: On the one hand, the people who want an album will be able to collect the songs and keep it with them...But on the other hand, we are currently catering to music listening audiences worldwide" Stigmata frontman Suresh de Silva[/caption]
Tell us about the title of the song.
“Throw Glass in a House of Stone” is a play of words on the famous idiom that says don’t throw stones at glass houses. It’s a song that talks about overcoming addiction in this time and age. When you talk about addictions, we are not just talking about alcohol or narcotics – we are also talking about how people are obsessed with technology and the social media and influencer culture, how people are addicted to certain forms of narcissistic behaviour and their own vanity, toxic lifestyles, toxic relationships. Some people are addicted to work and some are addicted to fitness to the point they’re completely disconnected from all else. The song is about overcoming all these addictions and the general idea is that there is no point throwing glass at anything constructed out of stone, because the glass will break.
Is the song talking about a specific incident?
The symbolic value of the song is that even if you’re made of glass, and if this glass keeps colliding or crashing with anything made of stone, it will keep shattering. The house is symbolic of our own body and minds, and the glass represents the addictions and us wanting to change. The thing is, we can’t change if we keep colliding against ourselves where we keep falling apart. The only way to truly overcome addiction is to really want to change, and that has to stem from within us. We need to either figure out the construct of the house or figure out a new way to deal with it. That’s what the idea is.
What was the inspiration behind the song?
We don’t ever pre-plan or pre-meditate our musical approach. When you’re craving a song and it comes down to the technical aspects and the fluidity, you know the arcs, the ups and downs, the crescendos, whether it has one flow – those are the things we have a look at. But we have a natural progression when we write music and it does work for us; it has for 21 years and it continues to work for us. The song has a lot of musical influences, genres, and styles that are infused into it and it works.
The music video has clips from some of your concerts. What was the process of putting it together like?
For the music video, we had actually planned quite a comprehensive video shoot. We are a very self-sufficient band; most of us are from creative industries. Ideally, the plan was to do a comprehensive story board, get actors and actresses on board, and choose a location for the shoot. We had also spoken to certain parties who were interested to come on board and help flesh it out. We were very excited and then the pandemic messed everything up. For the safety of the crew and everyone involved, we had to postpone the shoot. We realised afterwards that we had to drop and release the audio. We had just signed up with an American Award label, Island Dreams Records.
The song was mixed and mastered by the Grammy-nominated icon Romesh Dodangoda who has worked with the likes of Motörhead and Bring Me the Horizons.
With the audio ready, and having just signed up with the label, we had to release the song in May. Ideally, we needed the video ready to release maybe two or three weeks after the single came out. We realised that with the pandemic, there was no way to film the music video, so we decided to take pre-existing footage of the last couple of big shows that we played prior to the pandemic. We decided to fuse the MV and make it a lyric video as well. That way, we’re killing two birds with one stone where it’s an official music video but it also works as a lyric video.
Our very own Thisara gave it treatment, where he edited and videographed it and made sure he used certain effects and colour grains to make the video really appealing. The MV is not what we planned, but we had to make do with the resources we had. We thought showing clips of the audience and showing clips of the power and the performance capability of the band would make it more engaging, since it’s a pretty long song.
Is this song part of an album to be released in the near future?
Yes, it is part of an album to come. We are working on our fifth album, and it happens to be our 21st anniversary this year. The fifth album has been a work in progress since mid-last year. We have the bulk of the songs etched and composed for it – it’s just that the whole ballgame has changed with the global outbreak. It doesn’t make sense to release an entire album, releasing single after single. We changed the format and instead we are releasing a new song every three to four months, and each is accompanied with a music video.
Our goal and idea is that we’re going to give people a taste of the album to come and release track by track. We are addressing two issues this way: On the one hand, the people who want an album will be able to collect the songs and keep it with them. Of course, at one point, we’re going to release a physical album for the loyalists and the collectors as well as for the advocates and supporters of the band. But on the other hand, we are currently catering to music listening audiences worldwide.
The advent of technology and the pandemic and lockdowns have changed the way we listen to music and the way we consume music. Many people listen to music online rather than the old radio and TV. Releasing singles also caters to the people who like to put together their own playlists; the volume of people listening to full albums by one single artist is not as much.
Did you film any part of it during the lockdown?
No. It simply wasn’t possible. We did try; we changed the storyboard to not go with the initial arcs and storyline of addiction. We wanted to at least record certain band performances in a studio, but we couldn’t do any of that.
What has being a musician during the pandemic taught you?
On the one hand, it has taught me to really appreciate our history, our craft, our talent, and our gifts. It’s a pleasure to bring joy to people and provide such a mode of escapism and a sense of freedom and adventure. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without performing. We miss performing and we miss that raw live energy – we feed off it and are connected to it, and we really miss that.
The pandemic has helped us embrace the advent of technology and the tools at our disposal to connect and interact with our audiences. We just launched an official TikTok page two weeks ago, and that’s really wacky and our audience should check it out. Connecting with our fans is quintessential to what we do, especially since we make original music. The pandemic has taught us to appreciate the things that matter to us the most, and to never forget our roots and the people around us.
Does stigmata have anything coming up this year?
We hope to get all our albums remastered and make them available on all leading streaming platforms. Right now, I know some of our new music is available on these platforms. The plan is to release more music videos. We are hoping to release at least two more music videos before the year concludes. We’re also hoping things open up and we’ll be able to have a few live concerts soon. If we have to look at a livestream to play for global audiences, we will work on that as well. Some sick merchandise will also be coming out this year.