Bringing OMG! out

Gordon Samuels, musical director of (Oh My Gosh) OMG!- The band told Newsday: “OMG has been around since 2014. We launched on Valentine’s night in the Queen’s Park Savannah at the Carnival Village. Since the launch we have done stuff in the Grenadines - the Bequia Blues Festival. We opened the Tobago Jazz Festival this year at Speyside and alongside of that we have done the Tobago Soca Monarch for the past two years accompanying the competitors, as well as do performances as a band. Our most recent performance would have been in Tobago at Shaw Park, the Diaspora Connection, a part of the Tobago Heritage Festival.

“It may sound that there are a lot of Tobago and the Grenadines gigs. That is so because we have chosen to work from outside in, to introduce the band from outside of Trinidad and gradually enter the Trinidad market.” Samuels added: “I think we have done a lot promoting ourselves in Tobago and the Caribbean, we are now venturing into Trinidad proper.

OMG boasts of a fairly new band with a blend of fresh faces and soca veterans.

The band comprises five musicians and three singers. The eight core members of the band are drummer - Timon “Tim Drum” Valentine, lead guitarist - Richard Gosine, bassist - Cornelius “Stewartie” Francis and keyboardist - Jonathan Frasersingh, with lead vocalists - Tony Prescott, Fya Empress and 21-year-old Kevin Dodds. The band’s sound engineers are Ray Roopnarine and Cerf Stewart.

Given that individual band members have been at one time or another been members of Caribbean Rage, Atlantik, Traffik, Sunberg, Surface, Insight, Red and Nos, Gordon says the members bring experience, direction, and industry expertise to the band.

Giving an update on the band Samuels said: “We have already recorded two songs for 2017 and we will be working on at least three more. We expect to release the first song by the beginning of October.

After that, based on how we feel the market is and how other bands and artistes are releasing their songs we will decide how to release our other songs. We don’t really want to release too early since next year’s carnival is at the end of February.” Outside of TT he said: “We will be playing at the Santa Cruz RC Church annual harvest next month, we have one gig lined up in Tortola in November, the “Redemption” concert and then we go to Guyana for Christmas to play at a couple of parties, one in the Palm Court in Georgetown and the other in Lyndon the bauxite town.” The San Juan-based band has so far been confirmed to play at the Stranded by the Pool party in 2017 and provide musical accompaniment for the Tobago Soca Monarch 2017 competition. Samuels stated that for 2017 the band will not only be performing during Trinidad Carnival but will also be going back to the Blues Festival and to Guyana for the “Mashramani” celebrations.

On the short-term goal of OMG Samuels said: “It is to develop a band that would be recognised by the Caribbean at first as one of the top bands, a band that could satisfy the both partying needs and also one that can put forward a good show, then we will venture into North America, Europe etc.

The band comprises very young musicians and artistes and very seasoned and experienced artistes.

The front-line comprise Tony Prescott, best known for his hit song ‘All Aboard’. This year he recorded a song called ‘Spread Out’ and we have just finished a song called ‘Feting People’. But to be able to become popular in the Caribbean, beginning in Trinidad, as here is where you get that springboard into greater things when it comes to soca music, you got to have a hit song that people will like that will push you out there get your name called etc. Once we have achieved that, which we hope to in the 2017 Carnival season, we will be on our way.” Further down the road Samuels said he wants to develop an entity that would be long-lasting, effective, very professional at what they do, and to assist very much in developing businesses around that entity that will be able to sustain the membership for as long as possible.

Asked about bands that have come and disintegrated in a short time what is different with OMG? Samuels said: “Our experience in knowing the business and our determination. We are using Facebook, Instagram, Whats app, print and electric media to promote ourselves but you can’t beat a big song.

“At our next gig in Santa Cruz we will be inviting promoters to come and hear us because we don’t have the kind of money other bands have but we are in the process of seeking sponsorship.” “Feting People” and “Text” are the songs already recorded for Carnival 2017. OMG will be releasing the former first. Kambon Regault and Preedy out of Tobago were responsible for those compositions but they are still shopping around for another three songs, but will see what young Dodds who is also a songwriter, will be doing.