Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Awakening your senses
Bringing together music, stories, pictures and social issues that blend into one sensory journey, the Collective is set to change the way we look at websites and enjoy music. Marisa de Silva speaks to the group to find out more

‘HollowPoint Halo’ (HPH): a Collective. Make any sense? Of course not. How could it, when it is just one-day-old? HPH is a multi-sensory experience: musical, visual and textual. It is the brainchild of a group of nine friends cum professionals from diverse fields, who have joined their innovative talents together to create Sri Lanka’s foremost broadband entertainment site. In crux, the nine make up the Collective and HPH, the site.

Having read up a bit on the venture and hearing excerpts of it from the creators themselves, I had a vague idea of what it was all about, but was still unsure what exactly to expect. However, on meeting with the ‘The Collective’ and chatting with them about their “beloved project” for about two hours, everything seemed to come together, and I was able to see the bigger picture. What with the new age of blogs, personal websites and online forums, and with some even claiming the possibility of online writing being deemed as the Fifth Estate, HPH may well set the stage for the future.

The early days
Backtracking to the birth of HPH, I’m told that it all began when Ranil (Goonawardene) propositioned Marsh (Dodanwela) to sing a song Ranil had written. Marsh agreed instantly and before either of them knew it, they had found the ideal match in each other. Before long, the two new found ‘Rock-Mates’ co-wrote over a dozen songs and set them to music. This being done, they made a landmark decision to become a studio band. Quite unplanned, Hit Factory became the duo’s regular hideout, where they started out on a frenzy of recordings.

Simultaneously, Marsh started sketching various images related to the songs, a visual interpretation of each of their works, as an attempt to come up with apt titles for them. As the number of images grew, an idea of creating a comic strip for the album sleeve blossomed. Then entered the third member of the collective Marissa (Jansz), who was handed over the task of conceptualising and writing the plot. Somewhere down the line, the plan took on a change of course and the comic strip evolves into a fully-fledged, web-based story, written and illustrated.

This is where the two IT guys Chathuranga (Neminda) and André (Perera) joined the bandwagon to delve into the depths of cyber space to construct the website.

*Bob (who wishes to remain anonymous) was the next to enter the scene by contributing his musical expertise with the Collective, particularly with regards to the recording process. Madhuka (Karunaratne), appointed co-writer to Marissa, Chamath (Ariyadasa) and Rohith (Pradeep) who joined forces to introduce, promote and create awareness on the Collective, were the last of the Collective to saddle up. With the entire group intact, HPH was all set and ready to go.

A unique experience
One of the most novel features of the site is how each of the three key elements whilst being linked to each other, is, at the same time able to stand on its own, said Marsh. However, experiencing the three elements simultaneously is recommended if one is to maximise one’s viewing pleasure by enabling the visitor to experience the core essence of HPH experience.

Yet another unique attribute of HPH is that it is the first time an amalgam of this kind has been undertaken in the country. In addition, they are the only group of its kind to produce its music entirely on its own, as they now record at ‘Studio e’, of which Ranil is a partner.

Starting with “Black Eye Lullaby” termed Chapter I, every song will be released with a co-related story, said Marissa. The nexus between both the song and story lie within the role of the protagonist, around whom both elements revolve. “Black Eye Lullaby” as coined by the Collective, is bullet-rock (a mix of industrial-rock, Nu metal and acoustic), a type of music which they feel successfully captures the general mood of the song and emotional state of the central character.

Although the song wasn’t written with any particular intent in mind, once the Collective sat together and dissected the song, word by word, they unanimously found hidden references to the theme of domestic violence, said Ranil. The varying beats interwoven with the overdriven guitars and subliminal audio snatches, together with the diverse vocal expressions, help the listener travel through different moods and tumultuous emotions conveyed through the song. The website will join together the music with the storyline on one common platform, piped in Marsh.

The song is currently available via streaming audio (utilising Flash technology) on the site. The songs may not directly deal with a certain issue but may have more subtle undertones to it, which may hold some sort of metaphorical significance to the selected theme, said Marissa. Some of the other social issues addressed via their music are teenage suicide, clinical depression, psychosis, schizophrenia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, victims of which are generally cast away and labelled by society as badly behaved or incorrigible due to a lack of awareness regarding the disease, says Marsh. So, it is quite apparent that it is not just a one-off issue they would be dealing with, but rather several.

Confronting the ‘inner demon’
The overall theme of HPH is quite dark and serious, as it deals with various social issues that are conveniently overlooked by society, as they have a tendency to stick to issues directly concerning them, or what has been considered socially acceptable. The site deals with the ‘Inner Demon’ within us, being the demons inhabiting the abuser or the victim, explained Marsh. They hope to juggle the two concepts, black humour and quirkiness in their work, but have to maintain a balance between the two so as not to undermine the serious nature of the issues dealt with.

Initially the Collective had planned six stories to be posted on the site periodically, which will join together to make one big story. There will also be a back-story to each individual story, dealing with the history of the central character, analysing his/her behaviour pattern and how he/she came to be in the present circumstance. “Hopefully the link of the main story to the back-story won’t be derived till the two stories converge,” said Madhuka. All the nuances will then make sense, added Marissa.

The IT duo described the working of the web angle of the HPH. “Basically we’ll be featuring everything in one big package” said Chathuranga. There will be a forum set up online, where visitors to the site can either comment on existent postings put up by them on various social issues, write up socially relevant postings of their own or carry on active discussions with one another, said André. The site will be upgraded quite regularly as they will be monitoring the site to ensure that the content is in keeping with the general framework of HPH. They are also working on an animated storyline by culminating words, sound and images, thus conceptualising each song or story accordingly, explained André.

Future plans
As this is an entertainment cum awareness-based site, they make available links to direct those in need of some assistance, to appropriate institutions or NGOs, said Chathuranga. For instance, they’ve linked ‘Women In Need’ as an aid institute in connection to their debut release and related song.

To round it all up come Chamath and Rohith who handled the promotional aspect of the whole process. They will adopt a two-pronged approach by means of introducing the Collective and promoting the content of the HPH. Initially, they hope to carry this out via an e-mail campaign, the media and word of mouth, said Rohith. If the HPH catches on they have big plans for the future said Chamath, adding that one plan could be to publish a book comprising a compilation of all the stories posted on the site. Releasing their songs to local and international radio stations could be another means of reaching as many people as possible, elaborated Rohith. This will fulfil their goal of taking their toil and labour to the international arena gaining their recognition as well, adds Marsh. They may even opt to move out of the studio to take on live gigs, chorused Marsh and Ranil.

The term HollowPoint is a bullet with a cavity bored in its nose, which causes it to rapidly expand upon impact, leaving no exit wound thus, remaining embedded in its victim. The Halo part of it symbolises the nine friends, working together on equal terms – in short, a circle of good friends. Similarly, the Collective hopes their message conveyed through their creations will remain with the people. Visit www.hollowpointhalo.com for a ride through cyber space you are not likely to ever forget…

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