TV Times

TV Times

‘Whirlwind’ promotes Sri Metal worldwide
‘Whirlwind’, the first ever Sinhala rock band and the creators of ‘Sri Metal’, is now working on to reach the ultimate goal of becoming the biggest metal band in the world.

The band has achieved a lot of fame among some of the countries such as India, Australia and Singapore. All this was made possible because of their debut album called “Pain”, which has sold over 10,000 copies within one year.

The album went down in history making it the first ever Sinhalese Rock album ever to be recorded in the Country. And also it included 3 ‘Sri Metal’ tracks as well making the band the first ever band to produce this form of metal music.

All this was the dream of five young people who determined to revolutionize the western music industry in Sri Lanka. ‘Whirlwind’ comprises Misha (lead vocals/ Guitar), Vije (Bass/ back vocals), Umesh (keyboards/ back vocals), Izzy (Guitar / back vocals) and Tharaka (Drums / back vocals).

TV Times interviewed some of the guys of ‘Whirlwind’ to get a clearer picture of what they are trying to do and what they have achieved so far. The leader Misha was with us to answer the questions from TV Times. How old is ‘Whirlwind’ really and what made you choose metal music to make this big change?

Well the band is three years old, we started the band somewhere in early 2002. Answering your second question, we weren’t a metal band when we started. Like many we started as a hard rock band. The only difference is that we had the most originals and we played 99% of it was original songs on stage. So at that time we were just experimenting metal music and found out that it requires a lot more effort, knowledge and technique. More than anything it was the perfect form of music to say what’s in our hearts and the perfect platform to send our message out.

What is ‘Sri Metal’ and why did Whirlwind created such a style?
Before saying anything I would like to introduce us not only as a ‘Sri Metal’ band but as a band that plays melodic death and much other progressive stuff such as that. (coz we do believe in making a big difference…)

‘Sri Metal’ is the metal sound of Sri Lanka, our signature of metal music to the whole industry in the world. Also a mix of Sinhala and English lyrics. When we say ‘Sri Metal’ most people may think that we have eastern sound copies on our tracks; well we don’t. Whirlwind is a band about originals, we are Sri Lankan, we do respect our cultures and our religions but we do not copy or include parts from traditional sounds. After all we are the new generation of musicians, we prefer creating our own sound using the traditional musical instruments and blending it with metal.

Is your band happy with your debut album?
Speaking the truth, a part of us is already happy because we have managed to sell a lot of copies (more than 10,000) and in the other hand, we didn’t get the sound we really wanted in that album. We felt that a whole lot of strength is missing in that album. There were many reasons for that, some of them were like not having the required sound engineers with the correct knowledge to do a rock album and not having enough time. But anyway we are more than grateful to ‘Torana’ for producing us and for giving us the chance to make a difference and above all believing in Whirlwind.

Will Whirlwind be releasing their second album soon, if so who will produce it this time?
Well no comment about the time factors. But yes we definitely will be releasing our second album. But before that an EP will be out with some of our new songs, which we have already introduced in live shows. So the next one will be a real extreme one. About the producing part we pretty much are comfortable with our selves since we have our own studio we have the freedom and the time we need. But we will have to find a distributor for it, since we are not that capable of doing that.

So are you getting any support from the TV and Radio for your new music?
Well we have to thank the SLBC English Service for giving our first appearance as a rock band and still to this day we get a lot of support from them for promoting our stuff, (thanks to our kind friend Mr. Harold Fernando of the SLBC English Service). And TNL radio is also among the ones we have to thank for where we are today.

Sad to say but the others have given us very little support actually.
Vije is the bassist of the band and we asked some questions from him about the new revolution that the band is making in the industry right now.

Before we close would like to ask Misha something. Who should Whirlwind be thanking for the achievement so far?
Well first of all our parents for everything they have done so far. And next our friends and fans who were there for us always, Rock Company for their immense support with promoting us and all the other rock bands to keep this industry going, our sponsors, all the people in the media who at least made an effort to get Whirlwind somewhere. And all Rock Company Bands. But as they say still the rock industry in Sri Lanka needs to be promoted more so let’s hope the media gives all the support they can to make this industry grow.

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