THE LIVE WYYA BAND OPENS THE YEAR WITH NEW SINGLE “DOWN THE LANE!”

By Howard Campbell/Observer Writer—

Live Wyya Band

AFTER a quiet 2022 in terms of recording, the Live Wyya Band are making an early start to the new year with Down The Lane, a self-produced song scheduled for release in late January.

That is one year since their last song, Liberation, came out. Down The Lane is an uptempo reggae number with a rock guitar interlude.

Carl Edwards, the band’s bassist and leader, said the sextet’s diverse influences flowed on Down The Lane.

“We listen a wide range of music so blending sounds becomes easy,” he said, adding that, “We would love to get a big hit for 2023.”

Edwards told the Jamaica Observer that Live Wyya is working on its fourth album, which is tentatively earmarked for release this year.

For the past 18 months the band’s usually busy live itinerary was stalled by COVID-19, though Edwards said he and his colleagues kept active with hotel gigs and a handful of overseas shows.

Edwards and drummer Arnold Bolt formed Live Wyya in 1999. The initial line-up also included keyboardist Tristan Richards and lead vocalist Jerome Smickle, who are still with the band that is now completed by guitarists Stephan Foster and Ian Beezy” Coleman.

Back to The Roots, the band’s third album, was released in April 2019 and contains 12 songs including collaborations with Bushman and Capleton. It preceded a summer tour of the United States that year.

— Howard Campbell