Pulse 8

With Island People rumored to drop a "surprise" bomb of having Rihanna model one of their costumes at their launch next Sunday it got me thinking of how competitive the mas arena is these days and how few choices there are compared to the number of people wanting to play mas.

With Poison out of the game there should be more than enough masqueraders to go around, some may even say that there will be a surpluss of masqueraders with no viable option of a band to play with.The fact is the top two large bands among the 18- 40 age group are Tribe and Island People( Harts has a niche clientele) . Each of those bands cater to roughly 3500 masqueraders, so you can see that the thousands upon thousands who were absorbed by Poison are now left "homeless".

Now that Tribe has their loyalty card system, effectively making it near impossible for new masqueraders to register with the band for 2007, I am guessing that Island People may have something similar since they did allow Galvanize supporters to register with them first last year.
So what options are there for persons who do not get/want to register with Tribe or Island People?

Well, coming out of Poison's depature from the Carnival scene are two bands, Pulse 8 and the Dream Team which is to be headed by Maxine Richards. And I have yet to hear anything about Sonia Mack though some sources are saying she has joined with Island People which remains to be seen, but as a designer and section leader her costumes and service has always been top mark so if she brings a band I know she will get alot of support.

I have seen nothing from the Dream Team as yet (and personally I do not find Maxine Richards' previous sections to be great, hope she hires a new designer for the band) but Pulse 8 had their media launch on July 11th and previewed a few costumes. Carnivalscene has photos from that launch and the few costumes look interesting ,albeit seemingly stamped with the Poison brand. I like the white costume, the gold is ok and that blue is not too appealing to me personally. With TRIBE and Island People creating a new standard in costume design, I think I am looking for something more than I have grown accustomed to when it comes to costumes.

To be fair, my sources have informed me that the sneak preview from Pulse 8 is only a teaser, the more spectacular costumes are still to be released so I am looking forward to see what will be revealed at their launch on September 3rd. Apart from having great costumes I know alot of my friends who always play with Poison are somewhat skeptical that Pulse 8 will be just another Poison with 50 sections and counting. From everything that I have read about Pulse 8 they will only have 14 sections and the entire band is all-inclusive, which is a great depature from the Poison formula of a mega band with individual all-inclusive sections and varying levels of service.

Each band that debuts for the first time has challenges as is to be expected, but something tells me that Pulse 8 will attract many masqueraders who have no interest in playing with the top two bands because they are perceived as "hoity" and populated with the young, thin, beautiful people. Masqueraders who have always enjoyed Poison's "we have more fun", bacchanalist, anything goes vibe will be looking for a substitue and so far, from the responses I have gotten from Poison loyalist, Pulse 8 looks like they fit the bill.

I can't wait to see what they bring to the table at their launch!