Tripoli, the great St James Steelband
By Kim Johnson

Lloyd Butcher

Younger people mightn't be familiar with the band Tripoli, but older pan aficionados would all remember that great St James steelband. How many of them, however, know that the band, which was formed before the Second World War, was originally called by the unusual name of Grow More Food?

"I used to take a little jump with them, but it was the more senior fellas playing the pan," recalls Tripoli stalwart Lloyd Butcher. "Grow More Food wasn't an organised steelband, it was a community band without a definite leadership. When they start to beat and head for town, the whole of St James going with them."

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