September 10th 2011
Xtreme Does It Again
By Kendell “Scady” Eugene

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A band still in its infancy stages has left an impressionable mark once again on Notting Hill Carnival. From it’s inception in 2008 Xtreme St. Lucia/ U.K has endeavoured to bring forth a new generation of carnival aimed at all revellers and this year was no exception. Led by Patsy Ritchie, and board members including Nadine Fricot, Pamela Popo, Fernando Glace, and Nicole Compton and a mas camp filled with dedicated and trust worthy workers, Xtreme promised that the 2011 carnival experience would be one the revellers won’t forget.

This year the band teamed up with the geniuses of master designer Rohan Husbands and launched their portrayal Eden: A forgotten Paradise consisting of six sections, namely Birds of a Feather, Hulla Falls, The Forest, Amazon, Animal Instinct, Rainbow Treasures, Butterfly Dreams and Spirit. The costumes became an immediate hit with revellers and interests and inquiries from all over began flooding the Xtreme lines. Within months of the launch, the band had already sold out sections one of which was filled by members of the St. Lucia Tourist Board in the U.K. and space had become increasingly limited in other sections.

Die-hard revellers who couldn’t afford or were too late signing up for a costume section weren’t left out in the cold as Patsy ensured that T-shirts were made available to them. “Over the years, we have noticed that T-shirts are always a hit with the band and revellers sometimes prefer wearing them as opposed to costumes. This year however, the first thing my friends and I asked for was a costume,” one elated reveller told the Yo!

Now unlike our carnival here in Saint Lucia, revellers only take to the streets in full costume on the Monday to play mas through out the streets of Notting Hill. It was there that the six-sectioned band Xtreme St. Lucia/U.K. filled the streets in full colour and splendour as they portrayed Eden: A Forgotten Paradise.

This year the band also recorded an increase in membership from other Caribbean islands such as Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad, and Martinique among many others. Although band executives cited that more persons would have joined the band had it not been for fear of the riots which had earlier dimmed the chances of having a carnival. Clearly these people missed the millions of newspapers and T.V. headlines where the Mayor of London Boris Johnson posed with members of the Xtreme St. Lucia/UK Carnival Band while assuring revellers and all of England that they could expect to see an increase in police presence this carnival season.

As the band began to disband from its starting point on Barking Road, the true beauty and splendour was noticed immediately. The pulsating Caribbean rhythms from the loud-speakers powered by Militant Sounds, which featured Deejay’s Silverfox and Cold Chizzle gave revellers a reason to wave their national flags, hands, Lucozade and Digicel rags and in some cases Digicel cups.

The band also featured a performance by Scady Dot P, who performed singles from his Dutch Production Camp including Glo Ko Ko (Mongster), Ma Melay (Ambi), Black Cinderella (Marieanne) and of course his very own Make It Bubble among many other popular St. Lucian and other Caribbean islands Power and Groovy Soca songs.

As they have done in the past, Xtreme St. Lucia/U.K. not only gave revellers the Xtreme package which includes, Xtreme fun, excitement and entertaining carnival but also posed as a launching pad for promoting our very own carnival season for next year. One of or if not, the only carnival band to do so this year, Xtreme St. Lucia/U.K. strategically positioned two banners on either side of their music truck which read “St. Lucia Carnival 2012, July 16-17.

Now how is that for advertising your island in the largest festival celebration of its kind in Europe!

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