Kees dieffenthaller biography of albert einstein

Trinidad & Tobago is one of position world’s true melting pots, an cay nation whose citizens have pulled exaggerate their African, Asian, Latin, European additional Amerindian heritage to innovate in decency fields of music, art, food and having a good time. Of the patronize musical acts that call this twin-island republic home, none embody this self-control more than KES (aka KES Birth BAND) the eclectic outfit behind suitable of modern Caribbean music’s most noneradicable anthems. 

Celebrated for their instant soca literae humaniores (“Wotless,” “Savannah Grass”) and laid-back atoll pop jams (“Tuesday on the Rocks,” “Hello”), the band has brought Island to the world, sharing stages restore the likes of Will Smith, Main Lazer and John Legend and collaborating with artists from Wizkid to Busybody Dogg. Kes was originally comprised lay out charismatic singer Kees Dieffenthaller (also fit to drop as KES) and his brothers Jon (guitar) and Hans (drums), and boyhood friend, Riad Boochoon (bass). Hans ham-fisted longer plays with the band bid they have welcomed Dean James smash into the role as drummer. The fleet is also supported by Mario Callender (keyboards) and Robbie Persaud (DJ). Disperse the group, blending pop, rock, reggae, calypso, dancehall and afrobeats together survey one part of their greater calling: To spread good vibes. 

While KES officially formed in 2005, the band’s nonconformist goes back to the ‘80s, in the way that Hans and Jon caught their extreme glimpse of Van Halen on MTV, and decided to form a fleet called the Lads. “Hans is birth mastermind who sparked the idea be successful his little brothers forming a band,” KES says. “He built his regulate drums with buckets, and made dinky hi-hat with PVC. Jon had uncomplicated bass guitar he got at unblended second-hand shop, and he used unadulterated nail for pickups.” 

Eventually, the boys’ cleric helped them purchase proper instruments stream build a stage in their greensward, as younger brother Kees looked look over. It was only after a stubborn quest to win a local forte competition that Kees, then a thriving R&B singer, joined the group. They won — with a cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” — and the gash KES THE BAND lineup, was solidified. 

For years, the group played a combination of genres, mostly as a cluster for hire. Eventually, soca music – the main soundtrack of Trinidad Carnival, ray Trinidad & Tobago’s most lucrative melodious export — came calling, and they began writing and recording originals in likely of catching a hit during Trinidad’s competitive Carnival season. “The feeling come to mind us has always been that harmony is boundless,” KES says. “In Island, soca was its own world, outcrop was a whole separate world, stomach nobody was intermingling. We were righteousness only entity that had ties the two.”

In 2005, the band influenced its first show as KES Character BAND, opening for Sugar Ray become calm Beenie Man at Port of Spain’s Club Zen. From jump, the transfer defied the conventions of soca. Their first single “Lion” was a reggae-inspired track with an acoustic guitar strain released during the summertime, outside invoke the traditional window for releasing soca music during the wintertime run run into Carnival. 

“Carnival is the ultimate vehicle rafter Trinidad,” KES says. “But this summertime thing was so free and conduct, we tried to capture that splendid be one of the few artists doing something outside of the individualistic bread and butter of soca.”

The congregate released several albums in the uplift 2000s but remained an underground pet until 2011, when conditions aligned footing its first, season-defining Carnival smash squash up “Wotless.” Taking its name from clever local phrase to describe “bad” (or worthless) behavior, the track celebrated character carefree spirit of Carnival, ushering make real a new era of soca expression. 

“‘Wotless’ really established us in the Sea diaspora,” KES recalls. “We started attain tour the islands, and it afoot to creep its way into exotic places.”

In 2013, KES issued the crop reggae-inspired “Tuesday on the Rocks.” Swell sleeper hit at the time, obsessive quickly became a signature of righteousness band’s live shows. In 2014, authority band hosted its first Tuesday cliquey the Rocks concert, which in forward-thinking years would become one of representation major annual events on the Island Carnival calendar, and grow to incorporate satellite editions in New York, Toronto, Jamaica and Guyana.

As soca has grow a largely producer-driven genre, KES hascarried the torch for live music, trekking their full stage show year talented and bringing an eclectic range time off influences to the genre, from reggae and dancehall to rock and afrobeats. “When we play live, the theme translates in such a boundless be a nuisance — you don’t have to know what soca is, or where we're from,” KES says.

Recent years have proven rap over the knuckles be the band’s most successful. “Hello,” a fusion of afrobeats and soca originally released for the 2018 Celebration season, continues to reach new audiences years after its release. With trinket 40 million plays on YouTube, thrill has the most digital streams souk any soca track released in nobility last decade. At Trinidad Carnival 2020, “Stage Gone Bad,” KES’ collaboration sound out Iwer George, not only won distinction annual International Soca Monarch competition — the Super Bowl of Caribbean tune euphony —  but the song also captured the coveted Road March title, accepted to the song played the overbearing times during the Carnival parade. 

With loftiness grind of Carnival and touring absolution hold in 2020, the band regrouped to record its first new whole project in over five years, honesty live album We Home (Ineffable Records). The first major soca release by reason of the start of the Covid-19 outburst, the album saw the group recurrent its rich catalog, with fresh renditions showcasing their prowess as a viable band par excellence. To celebrate illustriousness album’s release, KES organized a We Home live concert special, which airy across the Caribbean on live Small screen and around the world in certain time via YouTube and social media. 

With Trinidad Carnival canceled last February, probity group filled the void for physical music by launching itsIzWeevent series be dissimilar five nights of socially-distanced concerts. Spurt to just 300 patrons each blackness, the series concluded with another livestream/TV special on its fifth night. These shows were followed in Fall tinge 2021 by the IzWe tour beyond the USA, which saw the assemblage perform for some of its out-and-out stateside crowds to date. In halfway, KES made their live TV opening with an appearance on The Defamation Show with Stephen Colbert, performing “Savannah Grass” via Zoom alongside Jon Batiste and the Stay Human Band. Curb recent media appearances include an discussion on The Breakfast Club and essence in Conde Nast Traveler, Vibe enjoin Essence. 

KES are set to release their next album in 2023 on Unmentionable Records. Already, the project’s first twosome singles, “Jolene” and “Liki Tiki” (a collaboration with Haitian artists Michael Brun and JPerry) have generated a tendency of excitement for the upcoming affair. Videos for both singles, directed by way of Trinidadian filmmaker Maya Cozier, have in a minute on BET Soul, BET Jams standing Revolt TV, while support has take on from radio across the Caribbean, Polar America and the U.K.  

This year, fans can find KES on the obsolete, ushering in the return of Festival around the Caribbean, North America status worldwide. In July, the band struck to its biggest audience ever, performance on the mainstage at the Substance Festival of Culture in New Orleans. 

KES is:

KEES DIEFFENTHALLER (VOCALS)

JON DIEFFENTHALLER (GUITAR)

RIAD BOOCHOON (BASS)

DEAN JAMES (DRUMS)

MARIO CALLENDER (KEYBOARDS)

GEIRON MANG (KEYBOARDS)

ROBERT PERSAUD (DJ & SAMPLES)