The Tribune

By LESH

WELL KNOWN Abaco musicians in the New Entry band are proud of their performance at the recently held Global Battle of the Bands, but most of all, they are proud of the success achieved so far on the Abaco music scene.

From the moment the band was formed in 2006, the five members dedicated themselves to giving Abaconians a weekly dose of the best of R&B and Soca.

In an interview with In Ya Ear, New Entry Lead Singer Wilner Pierre said: "When we first started, we would do gigs around town in Abaco for free and we would have the honour of playing at restaurants, hotels and bars. We played for free so people would get to know us and after that about a year or so, we started charging and our fan base has grown pretty big in Abaco."

Even though the Global Battle of the Bands (GBOB) was the group's first major competition, Mr Pierre said it was not an intimidating experience. In fact, it gave the group more energy, he said.

Wynsome Ferguson, office manager at the Abaco Tourism Office, said the band is popular on the island because it often plays at hotels and local restaurants such as Snappas Bar and Grill and Sea Spray Resort (Hopetown). She said most of the local restaurants have bands playing every weekend or on special occasions.

She said the Abaco tourism industry gave New Entry its first shot at performing on the island. "We gave them their very first opportunity to perform some years ago, and since then, the rest was history. They all approached my office about coming out and we gave them the opportunity to perform at a Goombay Festival at the time."

She said the band has proven itself to be very versatile, developing into the leading band in Abaco. "They can entertain the young and the old. They are primarily into the Bahamian music, but they can deliver a mixture of music," she said.

After speaking to the band members after the GBOB, Ms Ferguson said: "They said it was a wonderful experience and it was great for exposure; they are planning to do it again. With them, it is not about the money; they just want the people to know who they are. New Entry has a lot of potential and they can make it far. Just last month, they had an opportunity to perform in Florida and that was well received."

With their new album "Music Evolution" on the way, Mr Pierre said there is a little bit of R&B, Soca, Kompa and Rake n Scrape for people to look forward to. Mr Pierre's favourite is the Soca track, "Exciting".

"It is a really jumpy kind of song; It is really lively and you will move when you hear it."

"Next Month, we are going to release our first single off the album. The song is called Dancing Queen. We are in the process of preparing a video shoot for the song. We are still looking for some models, but other than that we are going to take more trips to Nassau to do some gigs," said Mr Pierre.

Three years ago the band performed in Nassau and performed at Pure Night Life, a downtown nightclub at the time. Since the GBOB exposure, he said New Entry is hoping to take their music to an international level as well.

"That is actually our main focus we are working on. Music Evolution is basically done and we want to push it to an international level," he said.