:Page 24, TRINIDAD GUARDIAN, Monday, February 26, 1996
61
Hell Yard boys
look back at the
Bad old days
Stories By LARA PICKFORD-
GORDON
THE BAND from Hell
Yard is 61 years old,
entering that dignified
stage associated with
restraint and wisdom; a
long way from the impetu-
ousness of youth. (Per-
haps that accounts for the
v tameness of the recent
\t when bottles
\e thrown at the band.)
r-» Whatever, the Neal &
Massy Trinidad All Stars
steel orchestra has sev-
eral laurels upon which to
•. rest its basses. Its record
alone says it: winners of
: the Music Festival com-
petitions in 1968, 1972,
1980, 1994; Panorama
titles in 1973,1980,1981
and 1986.
• The band's story
- •• begins long before Music
". • ••'•• Festivals and Panorama,
; ' . l o n g before corporate
:, ... sponsorship and music
', -* ;..i scores.
'L»t In the beginning, there
WH*>*^ was Walter Drayton
j.f "Sagiator." Sagiator was
the leader of a J'Ouvert
morning sailor band com-
ing out of Charlotte Street
called "Hell Yard" (1935).
Then came Big Head
Hamel, Bully, Big Jeff,
Prince Batson, Big
Brassy, Sarge, Fisheye
and Neville Jules.
The All Stars story is
closely related to the
development of the steel
pan in colonial times
when the music produced
by locals was regarded
with suspicion. Official
churches restricted the
use of Congas to get rid of
the small unofficial reli-
gious groups which used
drums in their rituals.
Drums were taboo since
slavery, when they were
used by slaves to transmit
messages right under the
noses of the planters. In
this repressive climate,
innovations flourished.
A new instrument was
created to replace the
drum - the Tamboo Bam-
boo from "tambour,"
French for drum. Bands
were acclaimed according
aided by the chantwells.
The "big pappies" battled
for mastery and broken
noses, buss heads and
fractured ribs were com-
mon.
The Tamboo Bamboo
players accompanied the
stick men and would pro-
vide support when neces-
sary. It wasn't long before
a ban was also placed on
the Tamboo Bamboo
band on Carnival days
and the stick fighters had
to confine their activities
to the yards.
The Irving Berlin
movie, Alexander's Rag
Time Band (1937), star-
ring Tyrone Power, Don
Ameche and Ethel Mer-
man, provided the name
for an iron band from
Woodbrook.
Me Donald Serrant,
Education and Research
officer with Neal and
Massy All Stars said that
the contribution of
Alexander's Rag Time
Band was that "they
would discard the bamboo
and make a syncopation
"Fteefs In" (1958)
pan, hub cap."
The band was not a
steel band as we know
today, because the bands
were called iron bands.
The Hell Yard Second
Fiddle was the second
band formed.
Elmo 'Bully' Alleyne,
one of its survivors, said
that it was while "liming"
in front of Hell Yard on
Charlotte Street with Big
Head Hamel, that they
first became aware of
"pan."
Alleyne said, "we stand
up with the bamboo and a
fella come and tell us
"look a band coming up
Park Street with pan" -
we didn't pay him no
mind because in those
days it was only bamboo.
We didn't move, but he
come back and made an
alarm about the band, so
we walk up to the corner
of Park and Charlotte
Streets, the band was just
breaking the corner."
What Alleyne and Hamel
saw was a band of about
16 men led by Carlton
Forbes - Lord Humbug-
ger. "Humbugger was
wearing a broad hat and a
long coat, in his hand a
band master's stick. Mock
music sheets were
attached to the front of
the pans. The name of the
band was Alexander's Rag
Time Band. Alleyne and
Hamel followed the band
as Alleyne said, "we were
amazed listening to the
pan."
Hamel was curious to
learn how pans were
tuned and went to
"Police," a Rag Time man
who showed him how.
Hamel began experi-
menting and not long
after, Second Fiddle
(1939) was formed by Eric
Stowe who also was the
band master.
Alleyne credits Andre
"Lulie" Abbott, "one of
ond Fiddle and The Miss-
ing Ball led by Edward
Forde, "Orderly," partici-
pated in the first compe-
tition held in Trinidad at
the RAF tent. The Second
Fiddle won $25.
little rounds on the hill."
Two scouts, one at the
back of the band another
in the front, would act as
lookouts. A 1941 raid
stopped Big Head Hamel
from playing pan.
" tfv W * ^ ^ "
i'g
ey
of
lid
la
fella come and tell us
"look a band coming up
Park Street with pan" -
we didn't pay him no
mind because in those
days it was only bamboo.
We didn't move, but he
come back and made an
alarm about the band, so
we walk up to the corner
of Park and Charlotte
Streets, the band was just
breaking the corner."
What Alleyne and Hamel
saw was a band of about
16 men led by Carlton
p 'IBS - Lord Humbug-
"Humbugger was
wearing a broad hat and a
long coat, in his hand a
band master's stick. Mock
music sheets were
attached to the front of
the pans. The name of the
band was Alexander's Rag
Time Band. Alleyne and
Hamel followed the band
as Alleyne said, "we were
amazed listening to the
pan."
Hamel was curious to
learn how pans were
tuned and went to
"Police," a Rag Time man
who showed him how.
Hamel began experi-
menting and not long
after, Second Fiddle
(1939) was formed by Eric
Stowe who also was the
band master.
Alleyne credits Andre
"Lulie" Abbott, "one of
ond Fiddle and The Miss-
ing Ball led by Edward
Forde, "Orderly," partici-
pated in the first compe-
tition held in Trinidad at
the RAF tent. The Second
Fiddle won $25.
little rounds on the hill."
Two scouts, one at the
back of the band another
in the front, would act as
lookouts. A 1941 raid
stopped Big Head Hamel
from playing pan.
*-***•'«•-
TRINIDAD CARNIVAL 1962...Elmo Alleyne with baton front row.
the old stalwarts from
Hell Yard" for the intro-
duction of iron into the
Tamboo Bamboo band.
"When they used to
beat the bamboo, Lulie, a
member of the bottle and
spoon section would beat
the gin bottle, but it used
to be breaking, there was
an Olympic taxi garage on
Henry Street and we went
in the back on Christmas
Day to look for a square
piece of iron and a long
piece and we started beat-
ing iron from then," says
Alleyne.
Although World War
Two stopped Carnival cel-
ebrations, there was no
halt in steel pan develop-
ment. The Hell Yard Sec-
Playing on the streets of
the city was prohibited
and Alleyne said people
would complain about the
noise the pan players
made. Big Head Hamel
"Bully" Alleyne and oth-
ers were taking a risk ven-
turing out at night during
the curfew. Raids by the
black marias from Besson
Street or headquarters
were frequent. Those who
were caught had to watch
as the police "mash up"
the pan or "beat it out of
sound."
The penalty for being
caught on the street was
$100 or six months in the
Roya Gaol. This did not
deter the panmen who
would go out and "make a
. ;: ' : ' • •
There was a rumour
that bands could play on
the hills. On that morning
the players left their base
on Charlotte Street and
headed up Jackson Hill.
While walking up the hill
the ping pong players
started playing. There
were other bands on the
hills, but Second Fiddle's
number called. The play-
ers ran down the hill
clutching their pans with
the police on their heels,
batons in hand. No man
wanted to risk throwing
off his pan because if he
wasn't lucky to be beaten
by the police he would
surely get a beating from
Hamel. Hamel was strict
Continued on page 25 J
,
TRINIDAD GUARDIAN, Monday, February 26, 1996, Page 25
NEVILLE JULES...touching up a pan for Fleets before the band goes back on the streets Carnival 1958.
The Bomb in the Garret
>J LOOKING back at the
•i/ • early days of All Stars,
.-,-. one cannot miss the
!•: > period, 1953-1968, and
.. ' , the room above the
tl.' Maple Leaf Club, called
.: •' The Garret.
' In the Garret the band
„ • . practised under the strict
?•) ' instructions of Neville
• .Jules. The Garret has
;':. also been referred to as
> '.' the place Neville Jules
i"j did most of his improve-
. -..- ments on the pan. The
i • . band used to practise at
•,: i ' the Royal Club on Char-
i;> lotte Street but outgrew
. ' 1 it and Sylvester Taylor
",-rented the Maple Leaf
• > ;ciub.
"j ' Players came from a
' i~~ variety of jobs such as
• >• customs officers, teach-
- . iers, wharf workers even
: 11.' the unemployed, the bad
•i-' i Johns and saga boys. Roy
i.-~: Gibbs, who joined when
.• *.> he was 18, said, "Every-
•j-;body would lime7
•«• together, everybody had
respect for the elders... it
was quite a lot of disci-
pline. When it was prac-
tice time and they rap on
the pan, no coasting,
everybody had to stop."
Rehearsals in the Gar-
ret sometimes were
marathon sessions espe-
cially at competition
time. Elmo "Bully"
Alleyne said, "you had to
carry your sandwich and
your Solo in the evening,
one time, because you
can't go home. When you
in that Garret you not
leaving."
The devotion to get-
ting a tune right was
illustrated by the wharf
men who would not take
overtime because they
had to learn the Bomb
tunes. They put in their
overtime in the Garret.
Those who knew they
would be late would have
their names taken
because a man couldn't
sneak into rehearsal eas-
'You had to
carry your
sandwich
and your
Solo in the
evening, one
time,
because you
can't go
home. When
you in that
Garret you
not
leaving'
ily because Plowden
would be sitting at the
bottom of the stairs with
his book waiting to fine
you 50 cents.
"The closer the time
get (to competitions)
when Jules figure fellas
don't know the tune cor-
rectly with all the
arrangement; you can't
go home because he
don't want no blundering
on the road, no mistakes,
the music must not spoil
at all."
Practice was only
interrupted by a break,
says Roy Gibbs. "Some-
times we burning pan
and roasting breadfruit,
that was lunch, then you
go back in the Garret and
practise."
Me Donald Serrant
said the Bomb tune
came out of the Garret.
What is a Bomb? "A
classical piece played in
kaiso tempo." Jules, he
said, would take music
by Bach and Beethoven
and play them in a kaiso
vein. Secrecy surrounded
the Bomb. Men would be
playing the pans with
their fingers (anyone who
played with a stick could
be fined). Each section of
players knew his own
part but not even the
entire band knew the
Bomb. The Bomb was a
sweet surprise to be
dropped on the competi-
tion and audience to
blow them away. The
secrecy of the All Stars
Bomb tune was pre-
served by scouts down in
the club who would
shout "too loud!" if the
sounds upstairs got a lit-
tle to loud.
On J'ouvert morning
Jules would take his
position at the front of
the band and call "num-
ber one" and the frag-
ments would come
together in melodious
music.
/VL.L. 6H
Jules, the jewel
Neville Jules: innova-
tor, bandleader, pan
man
ONE man says that
from early on Neville
Jules "had an ear for
music that was fantas-
tic." Another says peo-
ple think Butler was a
leader, but "Jules was a
leader."
Neville Jules earned
the respect of all who
came under his com-
mand. He did not
invent the pan nor is he
first among pan players
but his contribution to
steel pan ranks him
with Elle Manette and
Winston "Spree"
Simon.
Jules had only a pri-
mary school education.
Born on May 21,1927,
he attended Gloster
Lodge Moravian school
and Rosary Boys'
school. He began going
down txj Hell Yard pos-
sibly at age 14. When
Big Head Hamel and
Fisheye were making
their mark, Jules was
interested in tuning
and experimenting.
By April 1946, the
student had surpassed
the teachers, and Jules
took over All Stars from
Fisheye. He was 18.
This was the first of his
commands and he
would return to this
position again and
again to steer the band
successfully through
competitions. Jules,
like many other pan
men of the time had no
formal training in
music yet he is respon-
sible for introducing
new kinds of pans thus
expanding the range of
sounds. All Stars
achieved many firsts
during Neville Jules'
involvement with the
band.
All Stars was the
first band to introduce
the bass pan. They
were responsible for
using the present type
of bass made from oil
drums.
Caustic soda pans
had been used to
replace the biscuit
drum bass but the bis-
cuit drums were not
discarded. Jules found
a use for them - they
were given five notes
and became known as
the tune Bumm.
They were the first
band to use the guitar
JULES on ping pong.
pans which were devel-
oped from the cuatro
pans. Guitar pans are
known today as the
quadraphonic pans.
The band introduced
the grundig which has
since become the cello
pan.
All Stars was the
first band to use alto
pans in the Music Fes-
tival of 1952. There
were pans that never
got popular like the
trombone pan because
Jules couldn't get play-
ers for them.
And there was the
Bomb, a product of the
time spent in the Gar-
ret.
One of Jules' con-
temporaries said he •
was not the kind of
man to seek acclaim.
He enjoyed arranging'
the music for the band
and was always solicit
ing new tunes whether
classical or calypsos of
the time. His business
wasn't boasting, but
music. S