If you see him walking along the streets you will definitely take a second glance because he is most certainly not a character that will go unnoticed. Having been a part of one of the most successful rock outfits of Sri Lanka, Tennyson Napoleon took some time off his busy schedule to have a chat with Life Online.

Growing up like any kid other of the nineties, Tenny was exposed to the Backstreet Boys, Green day and Blink 182; and then as time went by moved on to bands such as Metallica, Pantera and Testament. 
 
Tenny bumped into Suresh, the front man of Stigmata, during basketball practice at S.Thomas College, Mount Lavinia. “Suresh had a box guitar and had already written a few songs” says Tenny. He adds “I was drawn towards the instrument and began to toy around with it, Suresh had already written Voices and Hollow Dreams by that time”

 
Suresh & Tenny were exposed to many more bands and as a result began to play heavier melodies. Many of us know how people who were exposed to the culture of rock music used to look very intimidating, cracking into a burst of laughter Tenny says “we used to carry a portable CD player with us for basketball matches and play some pretty hardcore stuff before the match begins, which occasionally scared people off." 
 
Speaking of the birth of Stigmata, Tenny says “We had a period in school where kids would showcase their talents and one day this kid got up onstage with another guy and played and sang, knocking on heavens door by Guns and Roses. And that is how we met Andrew”

Andrew had been playing guitar for ages and their first jam session consisted of Andura (A song that any Sri Lankan kid who begins to play guitar wishes to master).
 
When he’s not jamming with Stigmata, he is the Creative Director of 891 (Pvt) Ltd, an Advertising & Event Management Agency founded by Suresh, Andrew and Tenny, which has been doing quite well since its inception.

His obsession with advertising has led him to be very creative and thus, he has been designing all Stigmata's promotional & online material and album artwork.
 
“Music has always been there as a relief and a stress buster for me” said Tenny. He goes on to say that when he gets home after work he is always with his guitar practicing and working on Stigmata's 4th album. “I never waste time when it comes to the guitar. If there is nothing left to rehearse, I end up learning something new and that is the wonder of music, it has no boundaries” says Tenny
 

 
Speaking on his latest adventure, Tenny’s eyes begin to gleam. Having mastered the guitar and as one of the best guitarists this country has produced, Tenny has begun to give out guitar lessons, with the intention of sharing his knowledge and also with plans of saving up to buy a new guitar.

According to Tenny, guitar lessons were something he thought of doing when he had some free time and hopes his students will turn out to be all time greats.
 
“I have about 7 students as of now, and we have a so much fun at lessons. Some of them play for other bands and they come with songs that they have written, and we take sometime after the class to jam to those tunes. It also gives me the chance to do a bit of drumming” he adds with a smile.

“Other than that I’m just a normal person, I love movies and Tv series but I am not that much of a reader.  I can proudly say that I finished reading Lord of the Rings”
 
Tenny is the perfect example of Joan Jett’s famous quote ““My guitar is not a thing. It is an extension of myself. It is who I am.”  He has clawed his way through the depths of darkness with a passion to come out on top and that is what separates the man from the boy. 

By Reihan Stephen

Pics by Samantha Perera