De Red Boyz: red hot and happening

One is Trinidadian, the other Bajan. Together, they are the newest, hottest producers in the Caribbean. Up close and personal with De Red Boyz

  • De Red Boyz – Mikey Hulsmeier, left and Scott Galt. Photograph courtesy De Red Boyz
  • De Red Boyz – Mikey Hulsmeier, left and Scott Galt. Photograph by Wendy Ann Duncan

To their friends they are Mikey Hulsmeier and Scott Galt, but to their clients they are De Red Boyz.

Musicians with a combined 36 years of experience, De Red Boyz (who got their name because of their fair complexions) are also producers responsible for some of the hottest music in the Caribbean.

Some of their hits include Peter Ram’s Woman By My Side, Biggie Irie’s Nah Going Home and Farmer Nappy’s Chippin’. The duo has also worked with the likes of Rupee and Edwin Yearwood of Krosfyah.

Galt was once a session guitarist and Hulsmeier a drummer. The two met up while Hulsmeier was a member of a group called Splashband and Galt a regular visitor to the band’s rehearsal studio. They finally got to work together as part of the reggae jazz band led by Arturo Tappin, a well-known Barbados saxophonist.

Hulsmeier and Galt readily acknowledge how well they get along both in the studio and outside it, adding that this may well be their hit-making formula.

“This coming together has been very fruitful and rewarding,” said Galt, a 30-year-old Trinidad export to Barbados. “And you can say it is a combination of our good vibes and chemistry.”

But Hulsmeier, 36, of Barbados, admitted they were caught by surprise at the mammoth success of Peter Ram’s Woman by My Side in their first year as a team, two years ago. That led to some of their later successes: “Because of that song, more people wanted to know who we were.”

The duo described their sound as a crisp, danceable and spicy, groovy soca. This sound can be heard on their debut album, De Red Boyz Blazing Red Soca Project, and their latest, Soca Bonfire, released last year in Barbados for the Crop Over celebrations. Both albums are tagged with the duo’s Red Dawg Kennel Recording Studio label.

Last year De Red Boyz were recognised for their work at the second annual Barbados Music Awards, walking away with accolades for the Producers of the Year, Best Soca/Calypso and Compilation of the Year. They came out winners again at the 2008 edition for the Best Soca Compilation and Producers of the Year.

Having just completed work on award-winning Bajan reggae singer David Kirton’s album Time for Change, Hulsmeier and Galt are looking forward to working with all those artistes who have been seeking out their production skills.

Asked what the future holds for the Red Boyz, they were unanimous in their response: “The sky is the limit.”

Indeed it is.

Funding provided by the 11th EDF Regional Private Sector Development Programme Direct Support Grants Programme.
The views expressed on this website are those of the the authors and do not reflect those of the Direct Support Grants Programme.

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