by Joanna Krogh Trinidad is no longer the clichéd land of calypso and steelband. 1996 Carnival has proven the gamut of music on our shores, from Chutney to Rapso, Soca and Ringbang, to Rock and Alternative. There is a history of Rock music in Trinidad, and according to local columnist BC Pires who checked out a show at EXPO 96, "there were three generations of rock fans partying together." Interestingly enough, within the Rock genre lies a range in itself. The Freedom '96 "Wanted" concert on April 13th, was in the process of proving this, when it was stopped by the police because the DJ played a song which contained swearing. There were begruntled patrons questioning how "free" Freedom '96 was, not to mention the murmurs that if a Buju Banton concert was stopped, the crowd would not have been as nice. On such a night as that, when six or seven of the most popular bands in the country came out, one is able to witness the range of Rock enjoyed by Trinidadians. Getting out of the car and walking to the Lions Civic Centre in Port of Spain, the capital city, where the "Wanted" event was held, was like a nightmare for the uninitiated. While Death Metal Rock was blasting, we had to pacify a cousin who never attended such a gig and wasn't sure that this wasn't devil worship. But as the night progressed, and bands like Inferno passed, and Smith Tuttle began to play, one was able to see the promising variety. It's a pity Jaundis I, Brothers Grimm and Bleed didn't get to perform since the show was stopped; but to a newcomer, the line-up would have been representative of the many facets of Rock today, and welcomed by open-hearted Trinis. Jaundis I had arrived at the concert directly from a recording stint in Barbados. There they lay down seventeen songs in Eddy Grant's Ice Records Studio, eight of which are quality for record selection. (They are still looking for a good record contract.) Though Grant wants to push everything musical coming out of the Caribbean today as "Ringbang", Jaundis I's work ranges through heavy rock, a Police/Marley-type reggae, to a twist of calypso, with lyrical overtones sometimes resembling Shadow. Pires likens the stature of the lead singer Robert Beaden to that of Super Blue in the calypso world, and comments that the inclusion of Nigel Rojas as another songwriter in the band "has made Jaundis I's music something relevant to and part of Trinidad and Tobago." Indeed, Rock bands are "localizing it"; to paraphrase Oddfellows' "Localize It" cassette, (perhaps the only one to be on sale in our record shops' history so far). Oddfellows Local and Orange Peel Groove, both now defunct, were critically important bands in the foundation and development of the industry, and focused on local matters with universal proportions.
Photo by Joanna Krogh Gary "Rega" Hector was the inspirational lead singer of Oddfellows Local, one of the major founding bands of rock in Trinidad. Rega has recently (March 96) left the band.
Oddfellows' lead singer, Gary "Rega" Hector left in March '96, but as a functional band they stuck out through many musical changes locally and internationally. By the time they were on the air live on Radio 95.1FM, from Moon Over Bourbon Street, an open-air café at Westmooring's West Mall last summer, their maturity had peaked. But it is time for Rega to be on his own, and the population awaits any fruits of his poetical talent. Indeed, Summer '95 saw the peaking of the Alternative Industry in Trinidad and Tobago. An unprecedented welcome was made to several bands by various nightclubs and pubs. For almost three months, a core of bands (Oddfellows Local, Jaundis I, Smith Tuttle, Brothers Grimm, Joshua, Sativa and Brown Fox) had a circuit of gigs lined up for them at venues like Pelican Inn, The Anchorage, Club Life and Just Friends. When Louis Hart of 95.1FM hosted a live show from Moon Over Bourbon Street, it was a step that charged the movement with even more meaning and vitality; finally, we had reached live radio! The whole country could hear us!
Photo by Joanna Krogh Brown Fox with lead singer, Lisa Johnston, is one of the youngest Rock Alternative bands in Trinidad.
In the line up, only Brown Fox boasts of a lead female singer, Lisa Johnston. The band is one of the youngest and received praise recently (among a longer list of satire) from Pires, for their self-signifying song entitled "The Five of Us". Summer '95 also featured the Sandblast events as well; an innovative way of feting (partying) in Trinidad (though the format was copied form MTV). Fun with a twist of health, yet flowlng with intoxicating fluids and music, the evening at Chagaramas supported the local Rock artistes, who had initially punctured mainstream events and media progects (such as Smith Tuttle's appearence in a television ad for the largest Trinidad newspaper, the Trinidad Guardian ). Today the Rock Alternative Industry is still "seasonal", with summer being the mainstream peak, but with underlying steadiness throughout the year to the true followers. More recent bands include Amathyst, who reportedly are semi-heavy, yet whose lyrics one can still make out and admire, and Inferno, whose screams don't really count as lyrics. In all, the range in the Rock industry is amazing and consequently, efforts are being made by bands to include the Trinidadian businessmen's interest to capitalize on its recent blossoming (last word was Rene Coryat of Smith Tuttle trying to encourage input from the McAl conglomerate's Anthony Sabga). In a country where there are Indo-Caribbean Awards, Song Festivals, and Soca Flowing Like Water, don't you think there'd be more than enough room for another Alternative?