The TNL Onstage season 18 ‘Band Knockout Round’ kicked off on the 6th of October 2018 a Disque, Colombo. Out of seven, only five will proceed to the finals being held on the 20th of October at Jetwing Colombo 07.

What made the night particularly enjoyable was the range of music, with songs being performed from different genres such as classic rock, hip-hop, psychedelic rock, pop, R&B and Reggae. Each band brought something unique to the stage and the crowd absolutely loved it, but as all competitions go, not every band made it to the finals. The judges from last Saturday’s event were Naushad Rasool, Shavindra Tissera & Khazim Miskin.

We caught up with the finalists of the band category for a chat:

The Odyssey 

1)Tell us briefly how your band formed.

Most of the band was formed from participants of the 2015 Tantalize finals. After many line-up changes in the band, Jitendra, Emmanuel & Vihanga (Band Category Winner, 2nd Place Soloist & 2nd Place Instrumental respectively) remained as the face of the band with other instrumentalists changing over time. 

2)What's the band name and how did it come about? 

THE ODYSSEY - told the story of warrior Odysseus' ten-year journey home from Troy, odyssey has meant any epic journey. As with the word journey, odyssey has both a literal meaning and a figurative one.
Being in a band is an epic, frustrating, amazing and sensational all in one. Hence an EPIC ODYSSEY.

3)Any particular reason for your song choices? 

Shinedown - Simple Man - Because of the message it sends, 'be a simple human' accompanied by a beautiful melody to help pass it across.
Alterbridge - Wonderful Life - Because it is a beautiful song.

4)If you could pick any musician, dead or alive, to collaborate with, who would it be and why?

Alterbridge, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Hozier, John Mayer, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Mumford & Sons

5)What can we expect to see from you in future performances? 

Performances which represents soul and color. Every song we perform has a story behind it and that’s what makes us special. We try to pass on our emotions through the music we perform. 

DNM Crew

1)Tell us briefly how your band formed.

Both Dush and Malin are HipHop enthusiasts, inspired by rap since they were kids, now finally following their passion. The Crew: Nathan, Rushen, Joshua had a similar passion, inspired by Rock and Metal, hence the blend of genres, leading to our band.

2)What's the band name and how did it come about? 

The name "D N M CREW" was created, after we decided to incorporate a combo of Hip Hop and Rock into our music. The name itself simply describes us as a group. We rap! We Rock!

3)Any particular reason for your song choices? 

The songs we decided were: Lose yourself by Eminem, Dysfunctional by Tech9/I don't die by Joyner. We chose these specific artists because one, We are inspired by them and two because their rhythm and techniques are unique, full of emotion and energy. We wanted to kick it up a notch by putting our own spin on it by combining other genres.

4)If you could pick any musician, dead or alive, to collaborate with, who would it be and why?

International artists would be Tupac, Eminem, Tech9, Chester Bennington. In Sri Lanka, would be Iraj, KK from unscripted.

5)What can we expect to see from you in future performances?

A pot full of Hip Hop, Sprinkled with Rock in the mix. Expect a lot of Groovy Rhymes combined with electrifying melodies, you won't forget!

The Blitz

1)Tell us briefly how your band formed.

The blitz started off as a three piece band, focusing to perform around pubs and hotels around Colombo. With time recruited rest of the crew to advance our music as a full band.

2)What's the band name and how did it come about? 

Band's named as The Blitz, taken from the word blitzkrieg (attacking force). We chose the word blitz with the idea of providing an assault or a force, not physically but musically to the audience.

3)Any particular reason for your song choices? 

We are mostly into classic rock with little mix of psychedelic music. We feel the band clicks with this type of music. 
Personal favourite: Eric Clapton - Cocaine

4)If you could pick any musician, dead or alive, to collaborate with, who would it be and why?

We would have loved to collaborate with the legend Jimi Hendrix because we follow his work and love the soulful music he has made over the years 

5)What can we expect to see from you in future performances? 

We are working on our originals so you can definitely expect something different and new!

Sky Puppies

1)Tell us briefly how your band formed.

We used to jam together at various hotels and Bars around Colombo in two piece and three piece settings and realized we could create better music if we all played together as one. 

2)What's the band name and how did it come about? 

The name was a sudden pop up of something an old friend once said randomly which settled well with all the Boys. Hence Sky Puppies 

3)Any particular reason for your song choices? 

The songs we selected were some of our favorite jams: 
I can’t go for that -Cee lo Green an all time favorite &
Whole lotta love -Alpha Blondy (a groove that always makes us feel we are where we belong)

4)If you could pick any musician, dead or alive, to collaborate with, who would it be and why?

We Would Be greatly honored to work with iconic Legends like Marvin Gaye / Bob Marley / Stevie Wonder & John Mayer. 

5)What can we expect to see from you in future performances? 

We will always shock you with passion that has been cooking up in us for years playing music. Expect to hear a different groove to the music scene, a groove that will make you move ;)

Blaze

1)Tell us briefly how your band formed.

Blaze was a team founded through mutual friends who realized that together we can do something revolutionary to entertain people

2)What's the band name and how did it come about? 

So the interesting thing about our name Blaze is that we literally wanted to light up on stage and what better way to make an impression on the beloved audience than name ourselves that?

3)Any particular reason for your song choices? 

Our band shares the taste for refine music which and it is unfair to name a genre or a specific song of course.

4)If you could pick any musician, dead or alive, to collaborate with, who would it be and why?

If we get the opportunity to perform with an artist it would be Snoop Dogg and Eminem.

5)What can we expect to see from you in future performances? 

For the fans out there we remind to keep their eyes open for many more collaborations with musical instruments!

We caught up with some audience members: 

Francesca: I definitely loved Odyssey and Sky Puppies. I especially liked Sky Puppies because they broke out of the whole rock mould. 

Niluk: I liked Blitz. This event is awesome and we should appreciate things like this. 

Loshini: I was actually here by surprise. I really like all the local talent that performed tonight and I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more of them. I am super impressed with what’s happening tonight and I look forward to more.

Yasitha: Great initiative to bring out local artists. Good job on the part of TNL. Hope to see more of this real soon. 

Ranjika: It was brilliant as always. TNL has done a really good job. The bands were all tight and it’ll be a really good competition. I thought the last two bands were really good. 

Tharindu: It was pretty interesting. We came here for Blitz. 

Dushan: This is my first time at TNL Onstage. It was an awesome experience. I came because one of my friends were performing. I’m glad TNL onstage gives people an opportunity to show case their talent and come up in the industry.

Tania: We came to support Blitz. I hope they win Onstage. 

We wish Blaze, Sky Puppies, The Blitz, DNM Crew and The Odyssey all the best for their performance for TNL Onstage Season 18 Finals on the 20th of October. 

Photographs by: Damith Wickramasinghe