Rebranded with a new name and a new image, Echoes the Band (formerly known as Divine Echoes) is set to relaunch and rebuild after it was disbanded on August 23 this year. Moricia Cagan, a senior member, told the T&T Guardian in a telephone interview yesterday Echoes the Band is set to hold its first fund-raiser tomorrow at Cascadia Hotel.
Tickets cost $300 and the funds will be used to buy equipment and to get a bandroom. "Basically we are starting over," she said. Cagan, who is leading the rebuilding effort, said for many of her former Divine Echoes bandmates "it was tough." Many, she added, freelanced with other bands after their disbanding and others were forced to seek employment elsewhere.
Cagan said many "gigged" to survive. The new band consists of 23 members and Cagan said there have been requests from other people to join but she was uncertain as to whether the size of the band would increase. She said there were a series of fund-raisers planned, many after Carnival, aimed at raising the funds needed to provide the band with its immediate requirements.
For the moment, it rehearses at Mucurapo West Secondary School. An account also has been established where the band's well-wishers can deposit money to assist with its needs. Although the Government initially promised to sell the equipment to the band members after its disbanding, she added, to date nothing more had been heard of the proposal.
"The support from T&T has been overwhelming," she said since a television report of its plans aired last week. The band, she said, also planned to keep its after school music programme going.