Evan: Well, I picked up the guitar May 3, 1973, and I will never stop playing music unless my hand is paralyzed, or I'm sick, or I die. Then go to do a Hell concert. Then go to Heaven and join the symphony of Gabriel and the Arc Angels.
Rooster: (Laughs) That is funny. I notice you play all different styles of music.
Evan: Oh yes.
Rooster: When I came by to see if you would play for theKLCC Anniversary I was sitting down listening to the set and I heard you do a little Salsa, Blues, Reggae...
Evan: Yes, Mann. Oh, I see, you were auditioning me.
Rooster: (laughs)
Evan: Anyhow, did I pass my audition?
Rooster: I love your music, honestly. I know you're just kidding.
Evan: Thank you.
Rooster: I also heard you play a fast style that I like.
Evan: Oh yes.
Rooster: I notice everyone got up in the dance hall floor. What style is that?
Evan: Oh, that is an old time style. We call it "Brukdon"with a little "Bram."Seasoned with a little bit of "Lash Weh". Old school, Mann.
Rooster: Wow!
Evan: Yes, Mann.
Rooster: Is that the style they play in Belize?
Evan: Well, more or less. Those styles that I mentioned are older than my Grandma.
Rooster: (laughs)
Evan: It's a long musical history. The style they they are playing now (in Belize) is Punta Rock. A friend of mine, Michael Hyde, who lives in L.A., sent me a couple of Punta Rock tapes to keep me updated. I would like to say he also produces and records. And plays keyboard on most of the recordings he makes. Anyhow, when I listen to the grooves. I hear a lot of the same roots from the older folks
Rooster: I see.
Evan: Like my grandmother would say, "The Chip don't fall too far from the block."
Rooster: So that's the style you grew up with.
Evan: Yes, reggae too. Also Soca, Salsa, Rumba, Rock Steady and Sca.
Rooster: Okay.
Evan: I would also like to mention Calypso.
Rooster: Oh yes, I like Calypso. What is your favorite?
Evan: Let's play a game of stars. You mention one Calypso favorite and I will mention one. Let's see how far we can get with this.
(Both Laugh)
Rooster: I don't know too many Calypsonians by name.
Evan: Don't worry, let's s try.
Rooster: You go first.
Evan: LORD KITCHENER.
Rooster: HARRY BELAFONTE
Evan: LORD RHABURN
Rooster: MIGHTY SPARROW
Evan: I was going to say "Sparrow" too. But you beat me to it.
(both giggle and laugh)
Evan: Lord Creator
Rooster: That's it, man!
Evan: That's it? That's not a Calypsonian name.
Rooster: I am sorry. I told you, I don't know that much.
Evan: Man, I can't believe that.
Rooster: Go ahead.
Evan: I can go on and on forever.
Rooster: (laughing) Let me hear them.
Evan: Lord Delicious; Lord Flea; Lord Sharky; Cleveland Barry; Lord Heaven; Lord Hell; Calypso Gloria; Lord Lilly...
Rooster: Stop! Stop! Please! Please!
Evan: (laughs)
Rooster: Are they from Belize?
Evan: Not all of them. LORD RHABURN is from Belize. Calypso Gloria, she was from my great grandmother's time. Also, Lord Lilly. Cleveland Barry was from my time. The women that I mentioned, they were mostly housewives. My grandmother is the one that told me about them. They were before my time. The only one, and the first ever to record, was Belizean Lord Rhaburn..
Rooster: Can you still get his recording?
Evan: Oh yes, should...
Rooster: Anyhow... what was it like as a kid to be raised in the Caribbean?
Evan: Let me see... sometimes good; sometimes bad.
Rooster: Like what?
Evan: I don't want to get into it because I lost some of my family early in my life, as a kid. At the time, as a child, I didn't quite understand it.
Rooster: I'm sorry to hear that. You don't have to...
Evan: Thank you.
Rooster: Can you talk about the good times?
Evan: (laughs)
Rooster: (laughs)
Evan: Yes, yes, let me see. I miss a lot of my good pure kid friends. Now that we've all grown up as adults, we all left each other.
Rooster: I like the way you put that.
Evan: But it's true. I used to swim a lot. And the old folks, I like the way they cook.
Rooster: Don't make me hungry.
Evan: I really miss, as a boy growing up in the Caribbean, when school break, my mother and my grandmother would take us to this place where my great grandmother was born, called Gales Point Manatee.
Rooster: Say that again.
Evan: My mother and my grandmother would take me to GALES POINT MANATEE.
Rooster: What's that?
Evan: It's the name of this place, Gales Point is the peninsula and Manatee is that big fish.
Rooster: Oh, I got it.
Evan: It was really nice, with a white sunny beach. The house was nicely built. It really reminds me of Africa.
Rooster: Wow! Is that far from the city?
Evan: Well, yes. In those days we can travel by boat. These days they travel by road.
Rooster: How long would it take you?
Evan: You mean by boat?
Rooster: Yes.
Evan: I don't quite remember, to tell you the truth. I was a kid. Time didn't mean nothing to me. All I remember then, there was no tourists. Those were the good old days, in some ways.
Rooster: What did you do? As a kid.
Evan: First of all, I would like to say to this special lady, Miss Laurel (She passed away a long time ago) "Thank you very much, just in case you can hear me, my dear.."
Rooster: (laughs & giggles): Who was she to you?
Evan: She's the lady that took good care of me. I remember her up to this day, for her hot johnny cakes, corn fish (one of our favorite Belizean dishes) boil up, conk fritters...
Rooster: You really begin to get me hungry.
Evan: In those days there was some serious Caribbean dishes, Mann, cooked by those favorite women. Not to mention my grandmother.
Rooster: I can smell it. I know what you're saying. You know, I can still remember my mother preparing my food, when I was a child. Especially coming home from school, hungry.
Evan: (laughs) Yes mann, oh yes. Those women can cook, mann! These days some of those mothers will say to their children, "You are crying. You're hungry, you know." And head straight with their children to Mac Donalds or Burger King. In my kid days, the restaurant was my home, or family, neighbors or friends.
Rooster: I heard that. Yes, times change.
Evan: Well, I'm not trying to put down fast food restaurants. One of my first jobs in the 80's in this country was working for Burger King.
Rooster: You worked for Burger King?
Evan: Quiet. Don't tell no one.
Rooster: That's okay. A job is a job. It's an honest living.
Evan: Well, coming to America, I need to prove that I had experience working, for applications for other jobs. By the way, I also remember, as a kid, staying with my father and his wife, my step mother. She was the head nurse of the hospital at Gales Point Manatee. And, I would get to stay with them.
Rooster: What was that like?
Evan: No fun. No play time.
Rooster: (laughs) What kind of music do you like?
Evan: I like them all, as long as it's positive, well arranged, sounds good...
Rooster: Does it have to be Caribbean or African music?
Evan: No, no. I like jazz. I like country too. You know, I like CHARLIE PRIDE,CONWAY TWITTY and PATSY CLINE, JOHNNY CASH and HANK WILLIAMS.
Rooster: So you were exposed to these styles of music in the Caribbean?
Evan: Oh yes, they played them a lot on Radio Belize. I am also a big fan of classical music.
Rooster: Classic is my favorite too. Evan, from what you mentioned earlier, you were around in the ska days.
Evan: Oh yes, that's true. I am very proud of my interest in music at an early age.
Rooster: All right. All right, I'm enjoying talking to you.
Evan: Okay, I'll tell you another intimate story. As a kid. You know, when I was a kid I thought that I was going to be a policeman in Belize.
Rooster: (laughs) Really!?! You're joking.
Evan: Seriously. Well, the story goes like this: My two uncles were policemen. My younger uncle, Collett, I remember, used to pick me up from school. And, on the way, taking me to the barber shop, he said to me, would I like to be a policeman like him? I believe that's what influenced my thoughts.
Rooster: So, you didn't. Do you regret not being a cop?
Evan: Well, I thought about that at one time, but I went on to think that I was going to be a politicean also.
Rooster: I see. What happened? You didn't become either one. Instead you became a composer, a musician.
Evan: That's right. It keeps me young. Happy and healthy. I wasn't to become any of those things. If I would have been a politicean, I wouldn't have lasted that long. I would have got shot like Kennedy or Martin Luther King.
Rooster: (laughing, giggling)
Evan: I'd rather be like Ali.
Rooster: So, are you getting ready to do our KLCC Anniversary Party at the Hult Center, Evan?
Evan: Yes, mann.
Rooster: Are you playing a lot of Ska?
Evan: Do you want me to?
Rooster: Not necessarily. I enjoy your music, either way.
Evan: Well, my band is going through some changes.
Rooster: hmmm. What's going on?
Evan: Well, as you know, Earth Forces is a seven piece band. The keyboard player, Dave, and Shelly, the vocalist, they are a couple. They already left for Japan.
Rooster: Oh my, I'm sorry to hear that.
Evan: Zack Wolf, the lead guitar player, after this show, he's getting ready to leave for Thailand. Mann, he's a very good guitar player. I will miss him.
Rooster: Really? Why is he going to Thailand?
Evan : Well, he's part Thai. To see his grandmother. And to be in the movies. He's an actor, you know.
Rooster: Really.
Evan: The drummer, David Reed, he's mentioning going to Brazil. And I don't have no intention to replace anyone. They are unreplaceable.
Rooster: It looks like you are calling it quits.
Evan: No, no.
Rooster: Too bad. Earth Forces Band has a very good sound. You are so good up front, Evan.
Evan: Thank you, thank you. For such good encouragement.
Rooster: Be my guest. (laughs)
Evan: But I can never quit, you see. In the beginning it was only me. My guitar and me.
Rooster: (laughs)
Evan: She never let me down. I can never give up solo acts.
Rooster: I heard that. That's true. I've got to say this, I like when you perform your solo act.
Evan: Yes, mann. thank you again. I think you are right. I am more free. It gives me more freedom to sing more of my original music.
Rooster: Before I end this interiew, I heard you used to sing in this group called The Arousing Spirits..
Evan: Oh yes, but I wasn't the lead singer. It was one of my good friends, by the name of Albert Roots. I was just the bass player.
Rooster: Oh, I see. I don't remember seeing you.
Evan: You know why? That group went through so man changes, and I and Albert were from the first group. You saw the second group.
Rooster: I see.
Evan: Where di d you see them play?
Rooster: Oh, at the old Taylor's Bar at the University gate.
Evan: Oh, Albert and me quit long before then.
Rooster: I heard about that guy. Where is he?
Evan: In L.A. He went to study to be a mechanic. Oh my, we used to do a lot of birthday parties in the Caribbean, for tourists. Anyhow, that's the way life goes.
Rooster: Anyhow, Evan Belize, it was nice talking to you. And I hope to talk to you again in the future.
Evan: Thank you very much.
Rooster: Be my guest and keep up the good music. Don't worry, I will remember to play your tape, Mans & Guns. I've got it right here in my pocket.
Evan: All right. Keep up the good work at KLCC RADIO. I listen to you on Saturdays...
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