By Suelika N. Buchanan
Editor-SKNVibes.com
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| Ras Kelly (in orange shirt) along with other members of Small Axe Band. |
(Basseterre;St. Kitts) The former Keyboard & Rhythm Programmer of Road March Champs 2007, the Small Axe Band says that the 'greediness' of which the band accuses him can be justified.
Kelvin Kelly a.k.a. Ras Kelly spoke to SKNVibes.com on Wednesday Feb. 28 after a press release from the Small Axe Band, which aired some dirty laundry and issues the band had while Kelly was a member.
According to the release, "It was not the intention of the band to reveal the dirty, greedy and selfish ways of Ras Kelly to the public in spite of what happen. He maliciously attacked the Small Axe Band firstly in one of the local news papers saying all manner of things. The band had no other choice but to retaliate in self defense".
In the release the band accuses Ras Kelly of being selfish and nick named him "Ras Greedy Kelly."
They went as far as to describe this apparent "Greed" as satanic when he demands to be paid for gigs that were not successful due to rain.
Kelly admitted to SKNVibes.com that it was true he demanded to be paid at all times no matter the circumstances.
"When I joined the band we used to get paid $80.00 a jam that was for about probably four months straight then after a while things started going bad like sometimes we wouldn't get paid," he said. "Players started to argue but they wouldn't tell them (managers) anything they would argue amongst themselves and it continued."
Kelly alleges that there was an incident when vocalist Mr. World collected money from a gig and told the other members he did not receive any.
"So that means if he ain't get no pay, no pay for us," he said. "We had played for a football and Naddi asked him about the money and he say he didn't collect no money, then about a week after Naddi saw the person who's in charge of the football and asked him what about the payment for de jam, he say, "Boy I done give Mr. World de money,"Naddi didn't make anything about it he just said "oh ok" that was around 2001."
Kelly said that later on at a meeting while Daddy Bougna was acting as Manager of the band they asked him about the football gig and why they weren't paid as yet.
Kelly said he was told by Bougna to ask Mr. World to which he said he had to use the money to take care of personal business but will replace it.
Kelly said the trend of hardly being paid continued where he would be paid for gigs and sometimes he wouldn't be paid for gigs.
"It was like they were getting fat" Kelly said.
"It was like they're pockets were getting fat and that's because they were thieving the money," he said.
Kelly said in 2004 he asked for a raise.
"I asked for a raise they use to pay me $100.00 a gig which means just $100.00 to practice every night and to play, so I asked for $170 and they decide they can't give me that," Kelly said. "We negotiate and it came down to $150 so I said ok I will work with that."
Kelly claimed that the band members not being paid for a gig continued.
"We never use to see any accounts saying how much money on de bank, they never present no receipts all they use to do is bring some sheet saying, "we buy this" "we pay for that", anybody can write down anything on a piece a paper and say that," he said.
He continued: "So I decided to be paid at every jam even if de jam ain make it a want pay still cause sometimes we play for a big jam, like Music Festival and they pay like $7,000 and they still pay us de same money, de same 100 a gig so now after they done pay each member mostly they leave back with like $6,000. So about $6,000 then after a while they tell us oh no money there."
Ras Kelly said that other members would complain even the movers who would move the speakers etc. complained about not being paid.
"De man dem who does move de band would be arguing that de man dem ain paying them and that we gon have to move our band. I started moving speakers myself because de movers dem quit... a lot of movers done left because of de same payment ting," he said.
Kelly has been with the band for around 8 years as a keyboardist. He said he was asked to join by Daddy Bougna.
"I never see him doing any work regardless, so if you in something and you realize you ain making enough money you gon try to still live off of what you ain making no money off of you ain gon try to look a work?" he said.
Watch de Creep Up
The year when the band won the Road March title for their song, "Watch De Creep Up" Kelly said he was the one that sang and arranged the music.
"I didn't get nothing! Nothing at all I never get money from albums Mr. World is the one who always distribute the albums send them to Miami send them this place and we never get any money from de albums," he said. Sometimes we go to say Miami and so and we seeing people from de stores giving money but de band never receive none."
Kelly also denies showing up at rehearsals late and says he attends rehearsals on time but the other members were the ones that were late.
What Drove Kelly to Leave?
"It was a Friday around mid-day and where I work I work around machines and de machine had kinda hold me hand and squeeze it so it swell and I tell dem a get me hand damage and a cant make it so I got a text saying 'ok'," said Kelly.
According to Kelly, none of his band mates called to find out if he was ok.
He said with the Under-20 charity gig, he didn't know that they were going to play for free, all he was told was they had that gig to play for.
"I saw the manager (Gregory) and I asked him how was de jam and he say good and he say you think you would be able to make it practice by Tuesday I told him yeah," Kelly said. "My hand a little swollen but yea I could make it, he said ok and told me about they had some new songs to work on.
Kelly said on Tuesday evening, the manager told him through text messaging that he should not come to the rehearsal and that Daddy Bougna would be playing for him.
"I text him back and told him 'no' I ready to do my thing but he didn't text me back. I tried calling him and he turned off his phone," Kelly said. "I went down there about five minutes passed 8 and I saw all a dem practicing so it was like they done plan it, so I sit down on de wall chilling still then he (manager) come down and tell me, "I was telling you a gon let Bougna play so long' I told him it was alright."
Then a good friend told Kelly that he overheard Mr. World and the manager talking about him and that they will show him Bougna is still alive and that they can do without him.
"So is like they plan and they plan to overthrow me, so I text de manager and tell him it seems like ya'll don't need my services anymore so I QUIT," Kelly said.
Clearing the air
He continued: "What dey say about de road march money is true I asked for $3000 they said they cant present that to me I tell them ok give me $2000 then they say no. I ask how much they could present to me then they said $1000. I said $1000 too small then they start stressing on the Soca monarch money and Mr. World is the one who say de man win de soca monarch money and that he don't think they should take anything from that. He also say that de man ask for $2000 he ain't see nothing wrong with that. The meeting close up then next day they call me and tell me come to a next meeting and if I would settle for $1,500 so I say you know what let me settle for the $1,500.
Kelly said what really got to him was when the manager told him he would allow Bougna to play.
"I tell de manager I ready to practice and he decide he gon let Bougna play because the plan that they had planning since last year to let Bougna go back and play de keyboard," he said.
About the missing items the band claims that Kelly may have in his position he said is false.
He says he has never sold any of the band's equipment.
"Every year I go and borrow people speakers damage them and I am the one who end up wid telling these people that their stuff were damaged."
He continued: Those two speakers that they say I stole, it had a year I borrow two speakers from Kas' a DJ guy and after the Carnival they had get damage so one day he came to de band house and say, "boy u ain't got no speaker down here what you all ain't using? So I told him of two speakers we had that were old and weren't using, thru all de good he done to us and lend us things and we damage dem I give him de speakers dem."
Kelly said that in 2004 the band went to New Jersey and he went into a store and saw a drum machine on sale for US$1,700. He said he purchased it with all the money he had left and that the band began to use it and said they would pay him for it.
"So after I realize they ain paying me I say ok then this is my machine and as a music man I should have something of my own so I didn't ask dem for any money, if it's theirs let them present a receipt for it," he said.
Kelly said the drum set he is also accused of having wasn't a whole drum set and he had given it to some younger boys who were forming a band.
"They ask me if we ain got nothing old to give away, so when they came I gave them that, I didn't sell it; they(Small Axe) are trying to make me look bad."
As for the keyboard he said it is in Daddy Bougna's possession and doesn't know anything about it.
"These people trying to make me look bad in the worst of way," he said. "As I told you, I borrowed a lot of things over the years for the band, borrowed people's amps, damage them and sometimes is de same people come back and say they want something, so I have to give them something ain't no matter of I sell dem things - I never sell nothing."
Ras Kelly said it was because of him why EK joined the band and doesn't know what is going on.
"EK jus come in de band couple months ago he ain know nothing about me, actually I brought him in the band - they didn't want EK in de band& EK came in de band because they got 'rid' of two guys, the bass man and the guitar man and they saying I was the one who made the players dem leave? They are the ones who wrote the guys letters saying we finish with your service and you can even ask them if I was the one who made them leave de band we use to have confusion but we still use to play as a team but it was the money thing and Bougna dem ain't wan pay, so de people dem use to be arguing," Kelly said.
As for Joining Nu Vybes'
"Well I didn't choose to join Nu-Vybes, as I tell you I work with music as a job," Kelly said. "Nu-Vybes had a open space, they needed a keyboardist, I told them I'm not with Small axe anymore and I want to do something wid my life."
He continued: "It wasn't a revenge thing to try to get back at Small Axe because it's like working. So I playing with Nu Vybes now and it was not to get back at anybody. It is a job that's my work that's what I do best so if they didn't have an open space it would be some other band or form my own band or something."
Kelly said he has now been with Nu Vybes officially for two weeks who have welcomed him with open arms.
He said that many would think that him and Mention wouldn't be able to get along but they have been acquainted several years now.
"I feel a lot of love being around them, in Small Axe I use to feel tension from everyone which never use to feel right; you go out to play and you feel like you got haters around," he said.
"The guys in the band didn't use to like me because of certain things& I use to push and not just push for me alone but push for de band, de music, I use to push hard and try to reach to a different level," Kelly said. "Maybe that's why they saying certain things but it wasn't like that so when they saying I am greedy, pay me, cause when they make the big gigs we don't get anything extra so it wasn't a matter of greed."
Kelly said to his fans and supporters if he has hurt them in anyway by leaving Small Axe, that it wasn't intentional.
"I did it because of what was going on, I couldn't take the heat anymore and only who in the kitchen does feel de heat and that's how it work," he ended.
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