Mirror
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Sweet
memories Shane has played with a variety of musicians and bands, who played different styles of music, he says. Being vocalist cum bass guitarist for the groups, Shane widened his repertoire from pop to, rock‘n’roll, jazz, 60s music, to Latin and funk, but he didn’t play any one particular type of music. He would play whatever type of music those who hired them for the gig requested, said Shane. Back in Australia, he often plays with a band named ‘Celebration Mix,’ a dance cum funk cum rock group, he says. Also, he recently played with some musicians he studied with at the AIM, mostly dance music, said Shane. Having pursued his musical career by completing his Associate Diploma and his Degree in music from the Australian Institute of Music (AIM), Shane also teaches music at several high schools there, as he has also obtained his Masters in teaching. “I teach all types of music, even classical, not just what I’m familiar with,” says Shane, as he has to touch on the entire subject of music and not just a few components of it. Similarly in Sri Lanka, the music industry is not very consistent, so they need to have something to fall back on, he adds. ‘Cardinals Outburst’ was founded by his brother Aldrin in 1995 and grew to fame over the 9-10 years of its existence in the local music scene. Shane joined the group two years after it started out, to replace the bassist, as the band was changing its line-up at that stage. As they were one of the only teen boy bands in the country they were quite a hit with the youth, which resulted in their instant success. However, the band’s popularity wasn’t limited to the younger audience alone, but had quite an appeal with the older generation too, although there were quite a few senior artistes and bands on the music scene at the time, he says. The band’s range of gigs proved their versatility to cater to all audiences, as they played at anything from weddings to concerts to beat-shows, he explains. He believes that the war is the key reason why the music industry in our country has had such a slow progress over the years. “Otherwise it could have been quite big here,” he adds emphatically. “It would be very nice to have a reunion concert sometime, ” says Shane, adding, “because we still keep in touch and meet up whenever I come down.” It can’t materialise this time around, because this time is essentially a holiday, but maybe in the future if all goes well, says Shane. There’s also the option of touring here with a band he plays with in Australia, he says. Furthermore, many local musicians have asked him to bring a group down so that they can set up some gigs here for him, so he’ll be looking into the possibilities of doing so, once he gets back. Having done a guest spot with ‘Wild Fire’ on February 18, Shane says that it has been very easy to slip back into the local scene, especially because there was such a good response both from the band and the crowd. Even though he hadn’t played with some of the musicians in the same group before, they had been very welcoming and helped him feel completely at ease. According to Shane, it has been good to experience the local audience after such a long time as they are a little different to Australian audiences. Now that he has seen the local audiences’ response for himself, he says that he is quite certain of coming down in the near future and performing here. “It feels just like old times,” says Shane adding with a laugh, “it is nice to know that they haven’t forgotten me yet.” |
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