Maroon 5 will have their ‘hands all over’ TT

Star 94.7 HD, the newest station on the Trinidad and Tobago Radio Network (TTRN) will make its debut with a concert at Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain on Thursday night featuring Grammy award winning American band Maroon 5.

“Our format and style at 94.7 is based on the pop rock genre and Maroon 5 is the band that best represents what our radio station is about. Maroon 5 is one of the most popular pop rock bands; they have several songs that have been at number one on the music charts, they have won several Grammys and are nominated for the best pop rock group in next year’s show,” said Tony Chow Lin On (Chinese Laundry), Managing Director of Star94.7fm. He said persons responsible for the station have been pursuing this initiative for over a year.

“As soon as we conceived the format for the radio station we started talks with Maroon 5 to star at the launch. We were so fortunate to be able to synchronise with them to headline the concert,” he said while explaining that the group has a busy schedule touring the world promoting their third studio album, Hands all Over.

He said while the radio station is pop rock, it is presenting a polished Trinidadian package for the world. “There are a lot of Trini artistes in the genre creating a platform for this kind of music. As a result we will be featuring local bands on the show,” he said. The band, 5 Miles to Midnight, performing music described by Chow Lin On as “irock” or island rock, will open for Maroon 5, as well as Kes the Band. He said both local acts have their own style which marries local music with foreign genres.

“I hope there will be great relationships and synergies developing between international artistes and our local bands,” he said, adding that the welcome party for Maroon 5 on Wednesday night at the Zen nightclub will feature local rock band, Orange Sky.

The concert will also feature the Far East Movement which is the first Asian group to hit number one on the Billboard charts with their song, “Like a G6”. Their second song, “Rocketeer” is expected to enter the Top 20 within the next week.

Star 94.7Fm, Chow Lin On said, has been running a test transmission since June this year and, according to him, response has been tremendous. He explained, “HD is not just a nice slogan but it is a special technology and we are the first in the region to carry it. It is high definition sound and once persons have HD receivers, it allows us to broadcast more than one channel on a frequency. So we could have 94.7 A, B,C and D broadcasting a different genre on each,” he said. He added however that they have not gotten as far as putting on the other channels as yet. Stations on TTRN have been the first to use Radio Data Service technology which allows listeners with digital receivers to see the name of the song and artistes on their displays while the song is being played on the radio.

The concert will take place on Thursday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain. bmobile and Carib Pilsner, Chow Lin On said, are the major sponsors that made contributions to the organisation of the show. Tickets are selling out fast, he said. They cost $300 general admission, $800 platinum which is stage side and $1400 champagne platinum whose ticket holders will receive an extra ticket to redeem a bottle of Moet or Chandon Nectar Rose Imperial champagnes.

About Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. While they were in high school, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick formed a garage band called Kara’s Flowers in 1995 and released one album in 1997.
They reformed, with guitarist James Valentine, in 2001 and pursued a new direction as Maroon 5. The following year they released their debut album Songs About Jane, which contained four hit singles: “Harder to Breathe”, “This Love”, “She Will Be Loved” and “Sunday Morning”; it also enjoyed major chart success, going gold, platinum, and triple platinum in many countries around the world.

In support of Songs About Jane, Maroon 5 toured extensively throughout 2003 to 2005, during which time two live albums were released. The band won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2005. Dusick left the band in September 2006, citing injuries sustained by constant touring, and was replaced by Matt Flynn. Maroon 5’s second studio album It Won’t Be Soon Before Long was released in 2007, with the singles “Makes Me Wonder”, “Won’t Go Home Without You” and “Wake Up Call”. The band performed live in two tours between June and November 2007, during which time a compilation of previously unreleased songs, The B-Side Collection, was released.

Two more live albums and a remix album were issued in 2008. Maroon 5’s third studio album Hands All Over was released in the US on September 21, 2010. Since debuting in 2002, the band has sold over ten million albums in the United States and nearly 15 million worldwide.