Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Closing Time
The confines of the small club are packed to overflow with buzzing, tripping head bangers – and barely enough room for standing. Men and women alike jostle for room, some craning their necks for a better view of the bandstand, a small area at the end of the room where five young men in their early twenties stand before their audience, sweating and tired but very, very fulfilled.

Some in the audience just don’t care if they see or not, preferring to use the spot they’ve found as the centre of the universe to bond with themselves as the music keeps pounding, driving, hammering. The smoke-filled air is charged with an uncanny electricity, a strange hybrid slowburn, something indescribable that travels the air and hits you in the gut, the head and the heart, simultaneously lifting you, feeling you, needing you. Bodies gyrate, move, stay static, jump, dance feeling the music - fuelled by the raw, potent, fervid sounds emanating from the band on stage.

Dotted amongst the crowd were people lost in the music, singing along to the lyrics and playing air guitar to the blistering solos, losing themselves in the fury of the moment, hoping that the night would never end. The crowd, clamouring for more, peppers the air with shouts of “one more!”, “Another one!” and “Stairway to Heaven!” The band frontman grabs his mike, as the sound of distortion guitars and a furious drum roll almost drowns out everything else, holds it to his mouth as if ready to swallow, and bears his teeth and shouts, creating a near-distorted roar: “On behalf of Sri Lanka’s alternative nation – Kreb’s Cycle rocks!!!”

The band’s first incarnation was seen some eight years ago – in 1996 – when frontman Azlan Bathusha and his younger brother Ezraad, who played rhythm and lead guitar for Kreb’s Cycle, were still teenagers. Deciding at the time to call themselves Distortion, they formed a rock outfit when rock was not exactly in ‘fashion’ in Colombo, and was just something a few wayward ‘hardcore cultish’ kids listened to.

Making their debut at Interflash 96 at the Vihara Maha Devi Park, the band had one more gig that year, playing a rock show at the Wala amphitheatre at the same venue. After various involvements with other musical outfits (including a stint with a band named Serious Business), Azlan and his brother formed Kreb’s Cycle, taking their name from a friend’s biology book and making a tight four-piece dedicated to capitalising on the alternative rock boom sweeping the globe. The band’s original lineup – Azlan on guitar and vocals, Ezraad on guitar/vocals, Iqbal Hassan on bass and Shian Wickramasinghe on drums – played their first gig at the now defunct Arts Centre Club in 1997. But it was not until three years later that they would really register on Colombo’s and indeed Sri Lanka’s rock-o-meter.

Competing with more than five other bands, including an early incarnation of Lankan metal behemoths Stigmata, Kreb’s Cycle emerged victorious in the Rock category of that year’s TNL Onstage competition, effectively making them a bright spot on the radar of Colombo’s burgeoning rock scene. During their lifespan, they played nearly 500 gigs, and also won the Golden Clef for Best Alternative Band in 2002.

What of their music? Well – truth to tell Kreb’s Cycle is, in reality, a highly superior covers band, an outfit gifted enough to straddle the musical style of the time and effectively interpret and imitate the best songs of the 90’s post-grunge musical landscape. Taking their cue from bands like Creed, 3 Doors Down, Fuel, the Gin Blossoms, Counting Crows and Live, Kreb’s Cycle won the hearts and minds of the increasing hordes that were coming to worship at the temple of noise.

In their prime, the band’s rousing readings of such staples as the radio-friendly rock of Creed’s “Higher” and “My Sacrifice”, Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”, Live’s “Lightning Crashes” and REM’s “Losing My Religion” to the pop-rock of Train’s “Drops Of Jupiter” and Five For Fighting’s “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” struck a chord with large crowds, who would flock to the often small club venues to catch the band on fire with their music. However it was not only the band’s rousing cove

rs that earned them a loyal rock-loving following. They also wrote and performed some very tight originals, beginning with the lively, sparkling and upbeat “Pelican’s Highway.” Other notable originals included the instantly catchy, arresting “Hold The Line,” the edgy, wall-of-sound blast of “Psychopath” and the nu-metal meets Jars of Clay feel of “Divine You” – which became set staples and became instantly recognisable to mass audiences.

The band’s most long-term incarnation, who rode the crest of the wave of the band’s popularity, were the Bathusha brothers alongside Ranil Goonawardene (who joined the band following a stint in Dejavu) on lead guitar, Iqbal Hassan on bass and Senaka Pereira, who took over drum duties after the exit of Shian Wickramasinghe.

Which brings us to their imminent demise – to be heralded with a farewell concert morbidly dubbed The Death of an Eight-Year-Old, a reference to the band’s age. When asked what to expect at their possible swansong, Ranil jokingly quipped “you can expect to see all of us dressed decently for once!”

The gig, to take place this Friday night, is expected to be a showcase of the band’s musical prowess, as they run through their entire setlist one last time as one outfit. Their breakup, however, does not come as a surprise. In fact, there was plenty of forewarning, as even the most die hard fans found it difficult to keep the faith, turning up for their favourite band’s gigs to find no comprehensive update of their setlist for over two years.

True, they did what they did very well, but unfortunately to their audiences, it seemed like the band was not working to keep them happy, and they, being ever the fickle following, began to look for other avenues in filling the vacuum for live entertainment. The band had already been through a struggle to survive, with each member’s priorities and career paths clashing with what clearly was something of a glorified hobby, the nature of the band’s existence being what it was.

The beginning of this year saw the departure of two of the band’s stalwarts – rock solid bassist Iqbal Hassan left the band to pursue greener musical pastures, joining a band touring overseas, and the younger Bathusha sibling, Ezraad bought a one-way ticket to England, mainly for purposes of education. The band recruited ex-Cold Fusion bassist Joel McShane to fill in Hassan’s vacancy and Azlan again strapped on a rhythm guitar, something he had stopped doing some two years previously.

Still, the band found it tough going, mainly due to the lack of time for proper practice, due to the band members’ increasing outside commitments. So there came a time when the inevitable could be postponed no longer. It was Azlan who put it quite simply when asked why the band was deciding to call it quits: “Enough.” The Kreb’s Cycle farewell concert, The Death of an Eight Year Old takes place Friday, July 16 from 9.30 p.m. onwards at the Blizz Pool Parlour down Park Road.

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