Cuttin’ Edge Band
“We’re ready for the road. I see us touring Europe, getting some festivals and stuff like that; we’re thinking big.”
Mickella Anderson YOUTHLINK WRITER
“FRIENDS COMING together to play music,” is how drummer Gregory ‘Flexxah Drumz’ Young describes the genesis of his musical family known on the hotel scene as Cuttin’ Edge Band. “(It has been) sharing ideas and just being and doing what we love most, which is music,” said Young.
Having taken off just last year, the band is based in the idyllic Jewel Paradise Cove in St Ann and features five males and a lone female, who also happens to be a familiar face in the music industry. One Cameal Davis, the songbird best remembered for her rise to fame in 2008 as the Digicel Rising Star of that year, told Youthlink in a recent interview, “This is my first time being in a band, officially, and I think, for me, I connect with the band so much. It’s hard to say no; I love the band, they are extremely talented, individually, and when we come together it’s awesome, so I just had to test the water and see what happened.”
Davis, no stranger to the hotel circuit, having worked in the industry for many years before entering music, assured, however, that her dreams as a solo artiste have not been abandoned. “The brand Cameal Davis is still separate and apart from the band,” she said.
INTERNATIONALLY SPEAKING
With a pastime of entertaining a number of international crowds, the group has its eyes set on the international market. Keyboard player Kirkland Tulloch asserted confidently, “We’re ready for the road.” He said, “I see us touring Europe, getting some festivals and stuff like that; we’re thinking big.”
About their experience performing for foreigners on the hotel scene, pianist Marcel ‘Keyes’ Pryce explained, “The hotel crowd is not a regular Jamaican crowd where you play just reggae. In this line of work, we have to do a mixture of everything: reggae, pop, hip hop, gospel, soul, you name it.” He says the group does not perform only renditions of crowdfavourites. “We do covers mostly, but we do write our own stuff that we perform sometimes.”
“The hotel crowd is not a regular Jamaican crowd where you play just reggae. In this line of work, we have to do a mixture of everything: reggae, pop, hip hop, gospel, soul, you name it.”
Although the Jamaican music industry is known to deal with even seasoned performers harshly, Kamar ‘Cunny’ Johnson, bass player in Cuttin’ Edge, is not deterred by this fact. According to him, “We’re working. It’s not easy so far, but we have been doing promotional stuff, trying to get our name out there, individually as well.
“We’ve gotten positive comments from people all around,” said Johnson.
INDIVIDUALITY
It is clear that each member packs his or her own individual talent and unique personality. According to guitar player Kenrick ‘Guitzy’ Cunningham, this quality will have much to do with the collective success of the group.
“It (individuality) helps the band to work because Greg might have a different personality and, because of that, he has a different taste for music and comes with different ideas. It all boils back down to the music where we cut up things, as Kirk said, and put them back together; and in doing so, it really helps us as a band,” Cunningham said.
Davis pointed out, however, that although these personalities can be active and exuberant, the group is always one to display an incredible work ethic when needed. “They don’t just cut up music,” she said jokingly. “On a day-to-day basis, it’s always fun; it’s always something new and exciting, but when it comes on to work, everybody gets down to it.”
Keep up with the band online on Facebook: Cuttin’ Edge Band. You can also email cuttinedgeband@gmail.com for enquiries.