Dyson Knight is on a mission --to make music -- and have his music speak for him. And he continues to do that with the release of his sophomore album "Carnival Day," an album that's a blend of Junkanoo and Rake n' Scrape with a regional feel as he tapped into the Carnival market to add flavor to the sound from a Soca structure.
"Carnival Day", released in early April, is an eight-track album on which half the songs were produced by Dyson himself, and the other half collaborated on with producers out of St. Lucia, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
"The concept was to create a blended album...not only the blend of Junkanoo and Rake n' Scrape in the music and structure of music, but a blend in the people working on it so that it could have a regional feel. I wanted to tap into the Carnival market on a world basis, but from the avenue of the Soca structure.
"Rake and Scrape and Rum" is the single on the album, but the road fever song "Every Gal" is getting lots of airtime; and his "Physical Education" track, a collaboration with Julien Believe, has been getting a lot of traction.
Dyson's "Carnival Day" offers something for everyone. It's an album he's proud of. His freshman album "Singles: Volume 1" was released in 2013.

The music according to Dyson Knight
According to Dyson, he is an eclectic, experimental artist who believes strongly in the elements of Rake n' Scrape, and the elements of Junkanoo -- the goatskin flavor, horn action, the baseline -- which he believes could fit into just about any genre of music and become something international. With that in mind, he could see himself being like a Chris Blackwell and Bob Marley and finding the formula that would consistently keep Bahamian music in the mainstream industry, and possibly get it to the point where international artists are doing their versions of Junkanoo music and Rake n' Scrape.

For love of the art and family
A full-time vocalist, Dyson performs with Baha Men and Visage and even has his own self-titled brand "Dyson Knight". Through the three entities he supports himself and his family. But in today's market he says artists barely break even to support themselves and their families.
"I think a lot of the older artists, like the Geno D.'s the K.B.'s, the Ronnie Butler's have been able to -- one because during [days of yesteryear], the cost of living was much cheaper, [and] they were able to afford to buy land and they have these things to sit back on now. In today's market, we're barely breaking even now. I think I'm one of the few ... one of maybe a handful of three or four artists that are full-time musicians. And even still ... me for instance -- I'm a part of Baha Men, I'm a part of Visage, and I have my own brand now as Dyson Knight, and all three of these together only help me to break even. And I still have the help with my [children]. Their mom helps a lot ... it's not like me carrying the entire weight, so it's very difficult in the industry for Bahamian musicians.

Music piracy
Considering the level of music piracy in the industry, Dyson chooses to just put his music out there and make it available everywhere for people to get it -- whether they pirate it or not. For him, it's about getting his name and his music out there so that people request for him to perform, which is where he looks to for the return on his investment.
"The industry has changed," he said. "They used to make millions from album sales, now you would find that a lot of labels aren't even interested in printing records anymore. They're mostly putting out records for digital sale and they just put it out for promotional purposes, and if it gets pirated -- then fine. They try to limit it as much as possible, but they understand that it's just out of their control now with the Internet, and they try to buy into the performance aspect of it, so the tour is what's selling now [and] every label that would usually have stayed out of the touring business are now in the touring business and are executive producing tours. I put my music out there. I put it on SoundCloud, I put it on YouTube, I make it available on iTunes and everywhere where people can get it, whether they pirate it or not, because it's about getting the name out there, getting the music in the air, and getting myself popular, so that I would be requested to perform, and that's where I look for the return now on my investment, because you do invest a lot into production of a song."

Looking back and looking ahead
Dyson's career in entertainment began in 1997 -- fresh out of college with a Bachelor's degree in computer science -- he took the job as an entertainment coordinator at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort. That job opened the doors for him to become the Dyson Knight that he is today, even though he was taught music at an early age from his father, Vernon Knight, an eighth degree oboe player who Dyson describes as a wise and sharp musician, but also a wise and sharp person.
"He [Vernon] encouraged me to go to college and have something to fall back on," said Dyson. "His [Vernon's] only real job in music was with the Police Band, and he didn't want me on the [Police] Force. He was like you have to do something different."
By his own admission, Dyson said he was "kind or forced" into his computer science studies because it was more affordable to get a degree in, and that the music chose him. If he had an option, which meant having more money, he would have gone the route of studying towards a law degree.
Through the entertainment coordinator's position he met the resort's house band, the VIP Band, and started doing shows with them. He then met T'rez Hepburn and started doing back up dancing for her. He then recorded a Soca song produced by Colyn McDonald and Christopher Strachan that got him into the Extra band and the Bahamian music arena. T'rez introduced the young Dyson to Kirkland "K.B." Bodie who had Dyson perform a remake of Blind Blake's song "Yes, Yes, Yes" on his "K.B. and Friends" album. Dyson says that was his start.
Looking ahead to the future he says he would consider himself a success if an artist coming behind him, or even if one of his children decided to pursue music, if they could stand on what he had accomplished, and not have to start out at where he started as an entertainment coordinator.

Musical influences
For the 30-something Dyson, his musical influences were all international in youth. That was all he was exposed to.
"I grew up on Boys II Men, Brian McKnight, Usher ... Mint Condition. My first album that I bought was Tony! Toni! Tone! -- their anniversary album that I bought on cassette tape ... the last era of the cassette tape, after which it was the mini disc and then CDs, so I have watched the music industry change," he said.
"As a child I remember Goombay and the excitement of it, but I don't remember any artists performing. I just remember it was an exciting time. Until I was an adult and went to Bimini for a homecoming, that was my first like wow moment with Bahamian music -- actually seeing it performed, understanding where the lyrics came from, and the vibe behind it and that's what really birthed my extreme interest in the music."
Since his introduction to Bahamian musicians he now counts Ronnie Butler, K.B., Ray Munnings, the VIP Band, Tony Fisher, T'rez Hepburn, Berkley Van Byrd, and Jay Mitchell among his influences. And he says when he joined Baha Men his music went to the next level as far as musical structure was concerned with Isaiah Taylor.

Dyson the man
Dyson has his public persona, but he also has a private side, and if there's one thing he would like people to know, it's that Dyson Knight is not a perfect person, but that his aim is always to be better tomorrow than he was today. He also believes in staying positive and making the best out of every situation, especially musically.
"You have your down times, and your moments when you feel like you want to quit and want to give up, but you go through that, shake it off and keep your eye on what it is you want people to know you as, and not for the sake of not being real. You want people to know that you are this person from the inside out, not from what they expect of you. And I want to be accepted as me so that I don't have to pretend to be anything else."

Next up
With two albums down, Dyson already has material for his third album because he never stops writing and producing. He says it will be just as eclectic as his first and that he will do a cover or two on it paying respect and honoring some of the country's great musicians like Eddie Minnis and Ronnie Butler.

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