Wagon Park:
It was not a road of roses for them. But bouquets and brickbats, ups and downs with struggles and memories, Lanka’ s most popular hard rock band, Wagon Park will celebrate ten years of success with a huge Festival of Rock Music in June this year.
Founded by rock singer Buddhima de Mel and musician Mohamed Firash in the summer of 2007, Wagon Park has marched on from an unforgettable debut performance, consisting of only the two founding members to unquestionably Sri Lanka’smost Potent Hard Rock outfit.
To celebrate 10 Years, Wagon Park plans to release a Single titled ‘Jayaganwan Sri Lanka’ of their upcoming Sinhala Album. This track was composed, written and produced by Buddhima de Mel (Lead Vocalist and founding member of Wagon Park). An initial version of the track was recorded in 2009 at the end of the war as a tribute to the peaceful island Sri Lanka. However, this was done with limited resources which were available to the band at that time and therefore they were unable to meet industry standards with regard to production and sound quality. They have now been performing for over 10 years and felt that the time was right to re-work and re-record the song to the standard it deserved.
The track was recorded partly in Sri Lanka at the Sooriya Village and Partly in the United States of America at Musicians Institute (Hollywood, Los Angeles) where Lead Vocalist (Buddhi) is currently studying. They felt the need to utilise the facilities and resources available to them in the US both to showcase the ability of Sri Lankans on the global stage and to ensure the song was recorded and produced to a standard that justified its quality.
The song also features Charly, a talented singer from France.
The journey was never going to be one for the faint hearted, and it was this very fact that founding member Buddhima de Mel used as inspiration to stand up and single handedly pushed the creative original Sri Lankan Hard Rock to heights that were never seen before.
From the beginning of the band, Wagon Park has continuously strived to create music that not only encapsulates its audience with awe and splendour but also leave a significant imprint on the audiences’ psyche with compositions that are uniquely different.
The entry of Maddah and Mahesh both of whom were blessed with unparalleled talent and enthusiasm brought a new and well-defined sound to Wagon Park as the duo took on the duties of rhythm guitar and drums respectively. Yet still Buddhima felt the apparent need for a lead guitarist and it was this very need that inspired a new headhunt.
The Man they were looking for came in the form of Milo, Guitarist extraordinaire/ songwriter, it goes without saying that it was indeed his addition that propelled Wagon Park into what they stand for today.
Sumedha Nuwan then stepped in as Band Manager and it was his inclusion that brought the band a great deal of professionalism which was certainly a prerequisite for any band that was pretty serious about their Music! Wagon Park was and so the addition was more than welcomed!
The complete line up made their debut at TNL Onstage, a significant event on the Sri Lankan music calendar, ‘onstage’ provided young artistes and bands with the opportunity to deliver their music to a wider audience and go places and this provided the perfect opportunity for the debut of this band. Taking part in a competition of such magnitude was no easy task as the band found out for themselves.
‘Countless rehearsals, interviews, cups of coffee and the various other nitty gritties that go into the taking part in a competition and being in the spotlight had to be seen to’ said Buddhima.
And finally, when the time had come to perform, Wagon Park delivered, and delivered in every sense of the word. The band entered the Finals of TNL Onstage as expected and once again provided a packed house of over 3,000 people with a truly spellbinding performance of Pink Floyd’s Classic ‘Comfortably Numb’.
Not content with the lineup and striving to push musical boundaries Nuwan Tharanga was asked to join the band on keyboards! He soon blended in well and was unanimously selected as a permanent member of the band!
As the band continued on its quest to taking Original Sri Lankan Hard Rock to a wider audience the next box to check on the to-do list was the release of an album which happened on the 1st of February 2014.
The album titled ‘Stoned’ was well received among fans (and is available on i-Tunes)