Running on energy generated by Judy and Eddie Bryan, the St. Thomas All Stars Steel Orchestra is marking 20 years in business this year. That’s something to write home about for a not-for-profit group that started kind of accidentally.
The Bryans take great pleasure in talking about the band, speaking with the enthusiasm of teenagers, drawing one into their story, which began in the late ’80s. It’s been a long haul, they say, with ups and downs, lots of fun and lots of work.
Judy Bryan says she was more or less cajoled into what has become the couple’s abiding passion.
"I was the J. Antonio Elementary School nurse when Amos Frett, one of our teachers, asked me to join a group of four teachers for the Steel Pan Shoot Out. I hesitated at first. I didn’t even know what it was, but then I gave in."
The Shoot Out was the Carnival creation of Judge Verne Hodge, part of his Territorial Court Rising Stars Steel Orchestra program. It was for adults only. The only other requirement was no previous pan experience.
"So, I qualified," Bryan says.
"It was lots of fun," she says. "It was a great time to get together and make fools of ourselves. People would come in costumes, do skits. Each year it was a different group, public, private employees. It was hilarious."
The seed was sown, and in a couple years the fun evolved into the Advanced Amateurs Steel Band.
"Some folks left," Bryan says, "but those of us that loved it just couldn’t go home."
The Amateurs then became the St. Thomas All Stars Steel Orchestra in 1993, performing in that year’s Carnival Pan-O-Rama.
"That was our metamorphosis," Bryan says with evident pleasure. "We had 15 members, but only eight from the original band."
As a fledgling group they had to be self-supporting and buy their own instruments.
"When we organized in 1992 we had food sales, our first fundraisers, and we lost about half the people. They thought we’d never make it. They didn’t want to work for nothing, for sand castles. But we raised enough money for our instruments," Bryan says.
"Judge Hodge helped; he loaned us John Hodge for technical assistance, Alvino George as arranger, and he let us store our instruments in a trailer at the yard. He lent us Sean Steele, the Rising Stars musical director, who is still with us."
In fact, Bryan says, Steele comes to their Monday, Tuesday and Thursday practices each week.
"He might not get there until 9 p.m., after the Rising Stars, but he’s there," Bryan says.
By the time the All Stars were formed, Eddie Bryan was part of the group on tenor pan.
"I’ve played just about everything," Judy Bryan says. "Now, I’m playing guitar."
The band is divided in two sections, the steel drums, and what they call the "Engine Room." The drums are made from 55-gallon steel oil drums that have been heated, sunk, and then tuned. The pans come in various sizes and numbers.
But it’s the other part, the Engine Room, that the Bryans say that can "make or break a band," It’s the group of instruments used to provide the timing and rhythmic drive, including timbales, even cowbells.
"A good engine room can make an inferior steel band sound much better than a superior steel band with a bad engine room," Eddie Bryan says.
The Bryans have had their own pans for about 20 years.
"They come from the master," Eddie Bryan says, "Herman Guppy in Trinidad.. He makes all his own drums, and they last. In fact, when he was here once and we told him these were his pans, he looked at the bottoms, and said ‘yes.’ He knew they were his because he has a secret numbering system for each pan he makes."
Eddie Bryan defers to his wife in recounting their history. "She’s the chatty one," he says. "She loves to talk." Judy Bryan casts a glance, while, actually, both launch into their mutual goal of continuing the independent adult pan band.
"Almost all the schools have steel bands," Judy Bryan said. "Where are the kids to go when school’s over? We can supply that. We do have some high school students, and a few come back, but we need to be there for these kids."
Eddie Bryan says, "We offer opportunity for young people to learn a trade. There’s an industry here. Kids can learn how to paint the pans, how to mix the paint. They can become arrangers, tuners. It’s a way to earn a living."
Judy Bryan says, "Right now, we stand poised and ready to teach. It would be an outlet for kids out of high school. We would like to get the government to sponsor a program.. We want to help the kids in the community."
The All Stars perform at different venues on St. Thomas and St. John – at Octoberfest at Magens Bay, at Carnival, and, most recently, at the St. John Pan-O-Rama.
"Today, we have about 20 members," Judy Bryan says. "And we still have two of our original eight: Gerda Sebastien and Alice Donadelle."
To listen to the band, http://www.stthomasallstars.com/index.html
