Metal Maiden

Shehara Jayatilaka-

Napoleon, Sri Lanka's first female metal 

soloist, is getting ready to launch her debut studio album ‘Fountain of Memory,’ including eight originals, lyrics and 

melodies written by her, to be launched in 

September. Weekend FT met with Shehara to talk about her journey towards the 

completion of this album, the challenges she faced and her inspirations in the making of her music

By Ruwandi Gamage

Q: What got you into music and who were you inspired by?

Hanging out with my kids, it has made me realise that everything from childhood influences us and shapes us. So, over the past few years, I’ve come to realise that my getting into music has been mostly because of what I’ve been exposed to as a kid. That’s from watching ‘Mary Poppins’ over and over again when I was small and all the Disney cartoons, to all the jam sessions we’ve had as a family. Even the musicians we have in the family have made music a safe place in my head to withdraw to whenever I was in a bad place or going through hard stuff, to realise that I can find comfort and healing through music. So, especially in my teens, I started venturing into writing music, because of the influence by Eminem and Shakespeare and all of that. I was writing poems and music and I realised that it was helping me exorcise my demons. That’s why I got into music. I realised that it helps me turn a lot of negative feelings into positive ones. 

I mostly drew inspiration from experiences, from artistes, such as Metallica, Devin Townsend and anime characters that give the message ‘don’t give up and keep pushing the limits,’ like Naruto. 

This album has been in the pipeline for the last eight years. I’ve come to realise that through every experience, I push myself to learn to forgive and let go. In doing so, I’ve ventured into different writing styles. All my music is about my experiences

I come from a family that enjoys different styles of music. My dad was into rock music, my cousins were into pop music and some were into metal or classical. I ventured into hip-hop and metal. All of that exposure eventually fused into something very interesting, and turned into the ‘Batti Metal’ genre that I’ve come out with, according to my perspective. 

When I heard Metallica for the first time, I was blown away and that’s when I started first getting into metal. After that when I heard bands like Pantera, it was the same feeling. When it goes into more heavy metal and more beautiful melodies like Devin Townsend, Brain Drill and The Faceless, I was more drawn. Metal to me has been this genre that doesn’t conform to anything and keeps evolving. There are so many sub genres of metal, and when I go on YouTube there’s something new every day, so it’s really intriguing.

Q: Women in the metal scene is so unheard of; what made you chose this genre?

 For me, something extreme that kind of digs deeper than what is on the surface on an emotional and spiritual level is what’s most important. That for me is what metal does. Contrary to popular belief, I’ve met so many girls who are metal heads. I’ve met them at gigs, I’ve met girls who listen to metal at home as something that gives them relief. 

Q: You are the first female artiste in Sri Lanka to produce a metal album. Tell me about the path to completion of the album?

This album has been in the pipeline for the last eight years. I’ve come to realise that through every experience, I push myself to learn to forgive and let go. In doing so, I’ve ventured into different writing styles. All my music is about my experiences. I’ve been able to open up as an artiste and as a songwriter and in turn I’ve seen that it really resonates with other people as well, even though it was not intentional. I’ve gotten comments that my songs have helped them and that is a real honour and a blessing on such a humble level.

The concept for the album was always learning from past experiences and moving on and using it to grow, which is a recurrent theme in the album. All my songs have been an extension of the belief that you use your past experiences to remember and to forgive and forget and to use those experiences to maybe help someone else or to grow to become somebody better, and also to overcome all of my challenges. There are eight songs in the album, all original. The album is called ‘Fountain of Memory’. The Fountain of Memory is one of the rivers in the underworld according to Greek myth. 

All the lyrics and the melodies are written by me. My husband helped me put together all the guitar and drum parts. Azlan Sheriffdeen is the one who did all the production, the mastering and the mixing. He also helped with the bass and drum parts. Izzy Wildchild played lead on two songs and is also a producer on this album.

All the recording has been completed for the album and there’s only one track that needs to be mastered at the moment. Once that’s done, it goes into production and it will be released in September this year. We’re planning to have a launch party and it’s in the pipeline. The album is going to be printed and there will be hard and soft copies. It will also be on every single music platform.

Once the first album is launched, I will start work on the second album. If anyone wants to find my music, it is available on iTunes and on Spotify as ‘Shehara’ and also on my website sheharamusic.com.

The journey towards the completion has not been a walk in the park. It’s been hard and I faced many challenges, as is the case with everyone who sets out to do what they love. I’m keeping all of that under my belt to help me improve in my growth

Q: What are the challenges you faced during this process?

 I’m the sole person financing the entire album, from recording to transport and everything that’s needed. The plus point is that I’m a designer so I do all the artwork and design and stuff. Financially I do freelance on the side and scheduling everything else has been bit of a challenge sometimes. 

I wrote my first song 10 years ago, which was around the time I became a TNL onstage finalist. After that I kept on writing and completed the eight songs which I have performed live; some have already been released. I never got around to completing the album because it’s been in the process of recording, mixing and mastering. Also, life threw new and exciting challenges and I became a mother of two kids. Life has also gotten in the way for every other person involved in the process. I wouldn’t say I haven’t been focused on it, I think the universe has thrown different challenges my way and has shown me what’s important and how to surmount obstacles when I faced them, and to reach a more professional level. It’s been a crazy experience, but it’s been such a beautiful experience to have made it what it is today. 

Every single thing that I’ve gone through over the past eight years that has gotten me to this point has shown me that making music is not just a hobby for me, it is more of a purpose and it gives me more meaning to life, which is why I love doing it. 

The journey towards the completion has not been a walk in the park. It’s been hard and I faced many challenges, as is the case with everyone who sets out to do what they love. I’m keeping all of that under my belt to help me improve in my growth. 

Q: Any memorable experiences during this process?

 Getting pregnant with my first kid was super memorable, because that made me realise there’s a lot more to life and helped me get over things like fear and looking for validation and that’s when I first started practicing growls and screams. My kids love my music, my first-born has even started singing and head-banging to my music.

Every single thing that I’ve gone through over the past eight years that has gotten me to this point has shown me that making music is not just a hobby for me, it is more of a purpose and it gives me more meaning to life, which is why I love doing it

Pix by Chamila Karunarathne