Thursday, March 28, 2024

4K: A band of brothers

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You knew them as The Energy Band. But allow Dwight Callender, Michael Knight, Pierre Dominique and Corey Wilson to reintroduce themselves. They are now 4K The Band!

The quartet are popular names and faces across the entertainment scene in Barbados since 2012.  So why exactly did they rebrand if nothing was necessarily broken? Dwight said it was time to explore new things and to spread their wings as individuals and as a band.

They officially rebranded on May 24.

“We decided to try something different. It was time to move on and up so we started with a name change. We have no front line now, we are just a backing band,” he explained.

Michael explained why the band was doing much better as a backing band: “What would happen sometimes in the industry you would find that front line artistes may not be hitting for the season in particular and then in terms of getting work the band wouldn’t get anything at all for the season. Whereas if you sell yourself as a backing band, when there are shows you can back a whole set of artistes and work would come in. So it’s like a win-win situation for us. Not to say that if we got a deal from a really good artiste we wouldn’t go. But we thought it was best to be a backing band for now,” he said.

And I guess it would be easy to assume that the name 4K was decided upon since there are four members in the band. If you assumed such, you were definitely wrong.

Dwight’s wife Cherish came up with the name while the group was sitting in McBrides back in April.

Michael explained to EASY what it meant and why it fitted the bandso perfectly.

“If you are familiar with TVs, you had HD and now the new thing on the market is 4K in terms of the quality. That’s what we aim to put out there, the best quality that you can get. If the band is worth a certain amount, they the promoters understand why it’s worth that much,” he said. 

They have since added a fifth member to the band, along with an engineer.

“When we started, we had four staunch members. We did a gig that required an additional keyboardist so we reached out to Dwayne and he said he was going to be there for us. After the gig finished we were really impressed and we decided to keep him . . . . Dwayne is a star,” Dwight said to shared laughter.

They guys agreed that they have grown significantly as a band and as individuals.

“I am now in the role of booking agent for the band. I make sure the band gets paid and so on. That’s where my growth is now. At some points it can be a little overbearing because on the flip side I still have to come to rehearsal and learn songs; but I prefer the way it is, so I manage. The band also sounds a lot better to me right now,” Dwight said of his personal growth.

He said he was also glad to see how people were receiving the bandacross the country.

“We are hearing a lot more on the streets about 4K. Everywhere we go, we are hearing about 4K. We are getting a lot of visibility. We did five shows during Crop Over this season: Party Monarch Semi-Finals, Soca On De Hill, Rise, Dis Is Rick and Going For Gold.”

“After every gig, all or some of the artistes would post us on social media . . . . At Dis Is Rick, Lil Rick said we were his band now. So we have been received well across the board,” Dwight added.

Pierre is looking forward to 4K travelling the world a lot more. The band is already the backing band for Soca Queen Alison Hinds.

“For us I believe it’s to attain as many gigs as we can this year and then the bigger goal would be touring the international circuit with other artistes who really have the push. That’s our vision and that’s where we will be heading in the near future,” Pierre said.

And Michael stressed that the band was definitely not one-dimensional.

“We aren’t only a soca band. We have had experience playing on the club circuit. The band would have done Ship Inn back in the day. We’ve also done staff parties among other things. So basically we have a wide repertoire in music,” he said confidently.

And they stressed that it’s a brotherhood with the guys.

Corey wasn’t present for the interview part of the session at Ocean 2 Resort And Residences, but joined for the photo shoot.

The love and mutual respect shared amongst them was evident, especially through the effortless laughter and playful banter.

“It’s much more than a band. We live good together. We can call on each other for anything,” Dwight said.

Michael agreed: “It’s a family; that’s the best way to put it. When we as individuals are at our lowest, we know that we can call on each other for support. That’s one of the most important factors.” (DB)

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