INTERVIEW: IN CONVERSATION JOE HENLEY FROM DHARMA 達摩樂隊

 Interview by Cecilia Pattison-Levi

“It is a privilege to be able to play this music and go out on stage,” stated Joe Henley the vocalist for the Taiwanese heavy metal band Dharma 達摩樂隊. If you are lucky enough to live in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney or to be able to attend the Blacken Open Air festival in the Northern Territory, then you will have the opportunity to see this most extraordinary band play live.

Dharma 達摩樂隊 is a Twainese death metal band with a Canadian-born (now Twainese native after 20 years of living in the country) vocalist Joe Henley. Dharma 達摩樂隊 is a band that incorporates Buddhist rituals, sutras and mantras into their music. When they blend that philosophical faith into extreme metal it is heavy, and I do mean heavy.

Dharma’s 達摩樂隊 live performances represent on stage a manifestation of wrathful or vengeful gods. The band wear the Haiqing clothing, paint the battle scars and blood from fighting the evil deities and karma and combine Buddhist rituals into each performance. The big death metal sound is the music of evil beings fighting against evil beings, but the ultimate purpose is to bring about a victory over evil. It’s a great fit for death metal. Dharma 達摩樂隊 deliver that sound through the harmonic chanting that has an octave range of a double bass.

“This isn’t Cos Play or a gimmick,” said Joe Henley. Dharma 達摩樂隊 is surely be a truly unique musical phenomenon, from the perspectives of both the Buddhist sangha and death metal music and fandom. Dharma 達摩樂隊 use the inherit anger of death metal and joins it to the scriptures to instil within the listener a sense of spiritual relief and undeniable passion through the release of karma. “We are all practicing Buddhists or Daoists. Our beliefs are important to us. But we live it! Believe it! We really hope that people can take meaning from our music and enjoy it any way they can: be it through the music itself, the culture it comes from, from being Buddhist or just being plain curious – however you want to listen - all forms of having a listen - is okay”.

The lead singer Joe Henley has had a steep learning curve since joining Dharma 達摩樂隊 as he has had to learn to sing like a monk, learn Sanskrit and Mandarin. He has converted to Buddhism, learned the teachings. It must have been, and still is, a huge linguistic and cultural challenge. “I guess I suffer from imposter syndrome a bit. I am not a super song writer like Andy. I don’t have Jack’s background. I don’t speak Mandarin. I understand a few words in Sanskrit – that’s it. I have had to learn the languages phonetically. I am thankful the mantras are repetitious,” explained Joe Henley.

When you weave these elemental and fantastic vocal sounds with death metal’s driving rhythms delivered by Jack Tung (drums) and Bull Tsai (bassist) and the huge guitars underpinned by Andy Lin (also the band’s song writer) – you get Dharma 達摩樂隊.

What is Dharma 達摩樂隊? has many meanings, but its core meaning is “to hold one's own quality”, to hold true to yourself. Dharma helps us understand and connect to the world and its wisdom. It is through Dharma that people are called to keep the nature of all things unchanged. Buddhism is polytheistic which means there are many gods with their own space. Dharma 達摩樂隊 represents the Buddha’s fierce warrior or guardian stance. The band uses the ferocity of death metal to represent the Buddha’s protection and the sound is unique. 

“I have taken the sound of the mantras and my own past as a death metal vocalist and joined them together. And Andy and Jack have taught me how to sing like that along with the monks at the temple,” explains Joe Henley. “I have studied hard. Been trained. It has taken years. But I feel that I earn my place in the band with having to learn everything because I can’t contribute to the music like the guys can. Sometimes I have to learn the sounds and repeat it over and over again and hope that my muscle memory kicks in. It’s my form of suffering”.

Joe Henley delivers the primal sounds of the chant that has multiple notes at once across three octaves, his guttural death metal voice and his normal harmonic singing voice come together to make a fantastic sound. He does this with Master Miao-Ben (backing and lead vocals) who is well trained in these singing styles as well (and is also a Buddhist nun). “Some of the songs and sounds are easier to learn,” stated Joe Henley. “But not all of them. Some songs are complex. There is one mantra with 88 lines, and none of the lines rhyme, and each line is different”.

Dharma 達摩樂隊 do not shy away from delivering the sound of death metal – the phrenetic drums and shredding guitars are present. The bassline is heavy. Metal fans know that every low is tied to every high: it gets quiet right before it gets loud. This is the death metal that Dharma 達摩樂隊 make but added to it is something spiritually powerful and cathartic.

“Yeah. I hope that people when they come to shows can feel the emotional release in the music,” said Joe Henley. “I like to watch the crowd – as they watch me – and I love watching the effect the music has on people. As a band, we go out on to the stage and give 150% and we give permission for others to enjoy this music in a safe space in the mosh pit”.

Dharma’s 達摩樂隊 music is so good. They have released two full-length albums: “Treasury of the True Dharma Eye” in 2021 with the great tracks like ‘Medicine Buddha Dharani (Bhaisajyaguru), ‘Nilakantha Dharani’ (Great Compassion Dharani)" and ‘Cundi Dharani’ and “Three Thousand Realms in a Single Thought Moment’ in 2022 with the amazing tracks ‘Maha Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra’ and ‘Six Character Great Bright Mantra: Om Mani Padme Hum’. They also have their first EPBhaisajyaguru” released in 2021.

“We will be playing songs we haven’t ever played live before in Australia,” stated Joe Henley. “We will play a setlist from all our albums and EPs but we want to bring songs we have never played live before. It will be interesting for us and the crowd to see how they go and what people think”.

Dharma’s 達摩樂隊 music is infused with sonic Eastern tonal palate and Buddhist melodies that are just extraordinary. The music that Dharma 達摩樂隊 makes is fierce and beautiful: Mahayana, Buddhist teachings, philosophical grounding, sutras, blessed by a devout and learned monk – this is the world of death metal band Dharma 達摩樂隊.

Dharma’s 達摩樂隊 reputation for delivering a unique live death metal musical experience is not to be missed!

Dharma 達摩樂隊 are at:

  • September 12 – Melbourne - The Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy

  • September 13 - Southern Death Festival 2025, Lions Arts factory, Adelaide

  • September 19 – Sydney - INFERNO'S Rock Room

  • September 19 to 22 – Alice Springs - Blacken Open Air Festival, Ross River Resort.

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