Hiyah Grade aims big

Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:

Long before they started high school, the three core members of Negril's Hiyah Grade reggae band were captivating Westmorelites with their musical skills. Today, their aim is to become a household name in Jamaica.

The core members of the band are originally from Georges Plain in Westmoreland. They are bass guitarist and saxophonist, Dalmaine 'Alex' Lawson; his brother, bass guitarist Lowell 'Omar' Lawson; and their cousin, Franz Harrison, who is the band's primary vocalist and rhythm guitarist. However, the band is always complemented by two other freelance musicians of their choosing at any given time and so operates as a quintet.

"We grew up in the music business because my uncle, Beresford Lawson, was a pastor and he played music," Harrison, a past student of the Frome Technical High School, told Western Focus. "He was a man who played music in a unique way. He played the guitar, and the way he did it, it sounded as though you were listening to a complete band.

"We started playing music early. Omar and Alex picked up the guitar and drew me into it at about age eight or nine," he added.

Dalmaine said as a result of their early mastery of musical instruments, the three would stage impromptu concerts that attracted droves of residents in their community.

"Because as brothers and cousins we grew up together, we were always playing and singing together. My daddy had a shop piazza and he had a guitar, and we would play and sing, and you would find a crowd around us in no time. That's from I was as young as 10 years old," he explained.

LUCKY BREAK

Good fortune came for the musicians in the mid-1990s when they were approached by a Rastafarian, whose name they remember only as Andel, to become the players in a new band he was attempting to establish in Negril.

"He heard about us from people in the community because our uncle had some (musical) instruments, and by that time, we were playing at wakes, churches, and gospel concerts - that's while we were still attending high school," Dalmaine told Western Focus. "He (Andel) had instruments and needed players. He came to look for us, and so we went to form his band. We weren't professional or anything. We were still just kind of learning the music. But we came to Negril with that Rastaman and became his band at a tender age.

"We started out as the Love Touch band, a five-member band with a sister and an older brother. We came to Negril from 1995. We had our first show at Bar-b-Barn hotel, and after we did the performance, we realised it was not really hard. From there, we started coming to Negril to play. Alex was about 15 and we were still in high school. Franz was about 19. We played on the beach at a few other places, including Roots Bamboo, and it grew from there," Dalmaine added.

In 2000, the group was awarded a contract to play six nights per week at the RIU hotel in Negril and simultaneously undertook a name change to SLR (Show Love and Respect) and added two new family members, taking its numbers to seven. They played at RIU for four years.

The group also had a chance to do some in-studio recording in 2002 after being approached by Canadian producer Maurice Johnson, who had heard them perform at the RIU.

FIRST ALBUM

"We had an album with seven songs - five of which were written by us and the others by Mr Johnson. We had two weeks to prepare, and from then, we realised we could write songs, and from there, the intention to do original songs began. Our first song written and recorded was Heavenly Love," Harrison said.

In 2004, the band split, and according to Harrison, all members went their separate ways. They reunited in 2008 as Hiyah Grade, a name they attributed to Lowell.

"The Hiyah Grade is not about weed (ganja). It means a higher level of thinking," Lowell explained. "One person from Hiyah Grade smoke weed. Man drink it, and so forth."

At present, Hiyah Grade continues to ignite the Negril musical circuit. They were recently featured on the Reggae on the Beach Series in Negril in December, which included Chuck Fendah and Jah Cure, and tonight, they will serve as the opening band ahead of Beenie Man's performance at Jamaica Tamboo in Negril.

They are also in the completion stages of an upcoming 12-track album, which will feature songs such as Zone Lock, Journey, Go for your Goals, and Angel in my Life.