Not your typical rock show

THE members of heavy/death metal band LYNCHPiN feel that, since the pandemic, many people have been doing everything they can to prolong their existence, but are no longer living their lives.

That shift in lifestyles inspired the five-member band to write the six songs of their third album, This Mortal Coil, which will be launched at a LYNCHPiN concert on July 6.

In a phone interview, lead vocalist Sievan Siewsarran said the album’s name is a play on the quote from Shakespare’s Hamlet: “To sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there’s the rub, for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause. There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life.”

He said the idea is to show the duality of life and death, how life could bring joy and suffering and to show life still has value even though human existence is frail. He said the concept album links aspects of living and dying, and speaks about life on a spectrum.

Siewsarran told Newsday the band members finished their previous album just before covid19. But during the pandemic they, like many others, personally experienced both death and new life, and were troubled by still-unanswered questions around constantly wearing masks and the covid19 vaccine.

“We started to write, not just based on the hardships, but the elation. But even in the elation of birth, from that point on, you’re protecting that person from death.

“In addition, we were coming out of an experience where, in everything we were doing, we were trying to find a different way to live.”

Out of those experiences came six new songs recorded, mixed and mastered in Montreal by Christian Donaldson, guitarist for the Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy. The songs are Asphyxiation, Chloroform and Morphine, Flatline, Hallowed Halls, Into the Temple and Omnipotent.

He said Chloroform and Morphine deals with the drugs and stimulants people use to fill the empty spaces in their lives, numb their pain or knock themselves out, from coffee, sugar and Netflix to nicotine, cocaine and heroine.

Hallowed Halls is about how heartbreak can push a person to feel so alone it feels like dying, or feeling so empty that those feelings could develop into hate or self-loathing.

Omnipotent highlighted people who were religious extremists who do not see logic or reality, but only what a book or a religious leader tells them. He said they feel righteous and superior, and that they – terrorists for example – can punish others.

Siewsarran said while writing during the early part of the pandemic, the members “started to hear the music with another guitar,” so they decided to add a second guitarist, Tristan “Shirley” Farfan. They wrote music to include him, which allowed them to draw from a wider variety of genres.

“All of the songs have positive messages because the idea is to live, but we’re writing on a basis of reality. Every message could have a positive but it also comes with its own truth.

“It’s being about being able to deal and cope with those things too. Especially with young people, suicide rates have gone up and it’s because they don’t know how to deal with heartbreak. It’s about facing those things in your life that hinder your growth and your life.”

Start the show

Siewsarran said This Mortal Coil album launch will not be a typical rock show.

Having performed in Germany, Cuba, Suriname, The Netherlands, Canada and Mexico, the band intends to incorporate stage setup, lighting and sound elements the members experienced while touring abroad.

The show is also a celebration of LYNCHPiN’s 15th anniversary, so it will be playing songs from all its albums, with particular focus on the new material.

To help celebrate, several other bands were included in the night’s line-up. Circle Square, Pootie and the Saltfish, Cipher, making its debut performance, and Celestial Burn from Guyana will be there.

“This is not just a business venture. This is a venture to push the local rock scene a step ahead. It’s for us to see we don’t need a person from outside of Trinidad and Tobago to produce an international-qualityshow. Local rock bands should be entitled to that also.

“For us ‘local’ is regional, so having Celestial Burn from Guyana is about building bridges for bands to be able to cross waters, expand and grow. Because at the end of July we’ll be going to Guyana to play for them.”

He said having younger bands debuting at LYNCHPiN’s concert is very important to its members as they believe it ensured the local rock scene’s continued growth.

Cipher is an original band that experiments with different sub-genres of rock and metal, and has six original songs. It was founded by guitarist and vocalist Keron Namsoo and was officially launched in May 2024. Its members include frontwoman Tamika Flemming, guitarist Vishesh Ramasray, drummer Regan Boodoosingh and bassist Elijah Cyrus.

In addition to the bands, there will be a LYNCHPiN Marketplace where the band’s merchandise will be on sale. Also available will be Caribbean Brewtality coffee by LYNCHPiN and Noir Coffee Lab, and white and red wines by LYNCHPiN called Chloroform and Morphine.

The show is sponsored by Monster and Mini Bar, and the band partnered with Warao Ink, which will tattoo their biggest fan with the LYNCHPiN logo. There will also be a lot of giveaways.

Siewsarran said the band members would like to meet with the Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Randall Mitchell, so he could begin communicating with bands like LYNCHPiN who promote Trinidad and Tobago. He said while rock music may not be indigenous, the band members were. And that artists and fans abroad noted the difference in their music and called the style Caricore was proof of that.

“When we go away, people talk about us and our genre. It’s so weird that in Trinidad and Tobago, our own government is not highlighting that yet. We want the government to notice and appreciate local bands who are doing a lot outside of the country.

“We want to find a way for local original rock bands to have an avenue to export their music like soca and chutney artists do.”

He said what started as four guys wanting to play heavy, brutal music has become a brand.

When they realised people liked their music and they were having an impact on the local and regional rock scene, they started to shift towards marketing and merchandising. Now, he said, LYNCHPiN is not just a band but a brand, and whatever they put the name behind had to be a quality product and their fans had to gain something out of it.

This Mortal Coil album launch concert will take place on July 6 from 6.30 pm at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya.