Sri Lanka is an American alternative rock band formed in Philadelphia in 1986. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on gothic overtones, as well as elements from other genres such as alternative rock and psychedelic rock. Currently in a state of hiatus, the band saw extraordinary popularity in the Philadelphia and New York City underground music scenes in the late 1980s and early 1990s before going through numerous tumultuous lineup changes following the departure of founding member Lee Daniels and the death of lead singer Brett Turner.
The band was originally founded by high school mates Jeffrey D. Erb and Lee Daniels who began writing songs in the basement of Erb's father's house. After working with several people to begin to find their sound, the band settled on a lineup that consisted of Erb on bass guitar, Daniels on rhythm guitar and keyboards, Brett Turner as lead vocalist, Michael Chairs on drums and Eric Stein on lead guitar. The band recorded two EPs including "Flowers in the Cathedral" and "Beyond the Mist" in Philadelphia area recording studios and performed countless live shows between Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York, including the infamous CBGB nightclub, before internal conflict between Chairs and Daniels caused Daniels to leave the band. Rob Studt took up Daniels' place on keyboards following his departure.
Suffering from depression, lead singer Brett Turner took his own life in 1989 at the age of 20, causing the band to try out several lead singers before landing on Jose Maldonado. The band went on to record the EP "Shadow and Ivy" in 1992 followed by the full length album "Here" in 1993.[1] Friction between Erb and Maldonado started early on however and ultimately led to the band splitting down the middle not long after their full length release, with Erb and Chairs going in one direction, Maldonado and Stein going in another and Rob Studt retiring from music altogether. Erb went on to rejoin his original founding partner Lee Daniels and formed the band [needle] in 1995.
In October of 2020, the band announced an upcoming new release called "Leviathan" on their Facebook page after 25 years of silence and in November of 2020 they released the title track from the album. Also in October, they also released two live recordings from Christmas 1998 at Club Memphis in Philadelphia and February 1989 at Revival in Philadelphia.
