A life’s commitment to music

By Rashika Fazali

In a world where music is a business and not something merely done or achieved due to a passion, Rav David, a well-known drummer, guitarist and vocalist who can brilliantly put on a one-man show with his amazing talents, has vowed to passionately commit himself to music.

There has never been a moment in his life where he did anything apart from music. Today in his quest to shine in the music industry, he has begun to study the art of music theoretically at Trinity College and hopes to continue pursuing music to the fullest.

You probably would have caught the bubbly, charismatic Rav either at The Kingsbury or at Qbaa where he performs most often an acoustic session, singing away his heart’s desire in his brilliant deep voice.

While chatting to him, I instantly found out that he has been in the music industry from the age of 15 starting off in the band Mute – his brother’s band, then Fuzz Mechanics, Rage – which is a heavy metal, technical band, and currently A-Team, which is more of a soul, jazzy band. Following are the excerpts from the interview:

Q: How did you venture into music industry?

A: I come from a pretty musically inclined family. My mum, Shayami Fonseka who is a vocalist is more into mainstream music. She has some famous Sinhala songs. My dad was more into the rock scene, but he retired sometime back. So I started off as a drummer and later on, due to a few incidents where I had to replace another musician, I had to learn the guitar.

In 2003, Mute took part in Onstage and managed to get into the semi-finals. Once Mute disbanded, I started my own band, Fuzz Mechanics, and in 2006 we won the Onstage competition although we did not expect it – it was good exposure.

Somewhere around 2008-2009, we disbanded because the members started focusing on their studies. Up till 2011, I performed with a lot of commercial bands like the Rebels and Deezone where I played with each for a year. I even played with my mum and dad!

Then in 2011, I created another band called Rage which later disbanded and I currently lead. This year I joined a new band, A-Team.

Q: What made you go acoustic?

A: I never saw myself going acoustic. When I used to play with my mum and dad at Cinnamon Lakeside, I saw the good response we got. I felt like I could do something with my acoustic music. I got a lot of encouragement from the musicians at Deezone and after I left the band, I started these acoustic gigs which I enjoy a lot.

Q: Musically, what are you currently looking forward to do?

A: I am looking forward to doing an album by myself. I still haven’t decided a name for the album, but it will go by the band Rage.

I think this was the direction that was set for me. It is not an easy thing to have a band and especially in Sri Lanka, a rock metal band doesn’t have much of a market. It is a growing market, but it’s still not enough to fund you and to keep you going. It’s tough because everyone has their vision and dreams.

I’ve also been missing a lot of opportunities, holding myself back and I want to concentrate on those opportunities this year. I am also hoping to build up my own recording studio soon.

Q: What can the listeners expect from the album?

A: Extremely heavy, brain blowing stuff! Well, it’s not extremely heavy, but I would say it would be between metal and hard rock. I might also collaborate with some musicians.

Rage is a full-on heavy, metal, technical band. A-Team is more of a soul, kind of an R&B, blues, jazz, cold-texture band.

Q: When is the album expected to be out?

A: I was hoping somewhere in April, but so many things have happened which has kind of slowed me down. I wouldn’t give it a day since I’ve been planning for this album from 2006, but it will be soon.

Q: How was it moving from being a band member to a solo artist?

A: I liked it! I am my own boss. It worked well although it’s more stressful, but it’s cool. Life without challenges is boring.

Q: Would you say that your parents have had a heavy influence on you?

A: Yes definitely. My music ability is definitely from them so I owe them for that, but my style of music – heavy metal, definitely not.  My parents hate me for that!

Q: What other instruments can you play?

A: Piano



Q: Apart from being an artist, what else do you do?

A: Currently, I am studying music and am trying to better myself in theory. I used to give music classes and even taught music at Lyceum International School for two years.



Q: What is your take on the Sri Lankan music scene?

A: It’s getting better. Today, you see a trend that people follow and people change from genre to the other, but the diehard metal fans don’t change from one genre to the other.

Over the years, the metal industry has grown, from having just 200 fans to 2,000 fans. Thanks to places like Qbaa coming up which support a lot of musicians and different styles of music.



Q: What is your advice to music lovers?

A: Don’t limit yourself to a certain genre. Open up.