by Howard Campbell
SOUTH FLORIDA – Yardie, the ATF Band’s rib-tickling song about the challenges Jamaicans face at airports around the world, was a big hit for the quartet this year. So big, it made Tad’s International Record’s Reggae Jammin Volume 5 compilation, scheduled for release on September 27.
That independent company released Yardie in January and it made waves on Caribbean radio in South Florida and the tri-state area. Steven Lee, the ATF Band’s drummer, believes being part of a popular compilation album further enhances the song.
“I am sure we will be heard and exposed to a lot of other music markets around the world. The band feels blessed to have received so much recognition for the success of Yardie,” he said.
Lee, keyboardist/vocalist Herbie Harris and bass guitarist Lyndon Webb are original members of the ATF Band which formed in 2015. They were recently joined by Courtland White, former guitarist of the Raging Fyah Band.
The self-produced Yardie was their first song. Complemented by a humorous video depicting problems many Jamaicans face when being processed in Customs, it was a favorite on Diaspora radio, especially in New York.
At the time Yardie was doing the rounds, Leon Haughton, a Jamaican man, was in jail after US Customs and Border Protection agents at Thurgood Marshall Airport in Baltimore thought honey he had brought back from a trip to Jamaica was liquid meth.
Say A Prayer, a cover of the Brotherhood of Man’s 1970 hit song, is expected to be the next single from the ATF Band which also hopes to release an EP by early next year.
The first edition of Reggae Jammin was released in 2009. Volume 5 contains 22 songs including Jesse Royal’s Hold The Faith, Anthony Cruz (Jah Cruz Medley), Richie Spice (There’s A Way), Etana Jah Love (I Know), Marcia Griffiths (Magical Love), Konshens (Rocking in di Dance) and Sanchez, who covers Ray, Goodman and Brown’s Special Lady.
