Your Ultimate Guide To Barbados

Garvie Griffith

Roadhouse is a high energy rock band from the island of Barbados and Garvie Griffith is a singer, songwriter and lead singer in the band. He plays predominantly guitar but he also plays bass guitar, drums and piano. This highly talented dreadlocked musician also performs solo throughout the island as well.

Early Life

Garvie grew up in the Chancery Lane whic is located on the southern coast of Barbados and is the youngest son of Guy and Pansy Griffith. He received his primary education at St. Gabriel's School and his secondary education at Harrison College. He then went on to study at a tertiary level in Miami, Florida where he gained a degree in Graphic Design. 

The word music was not be any means a foreign subject to his household as his mother is an exceptional singer, his father plays the guitar and his brother plays the classical violin. At the very tender age of seven (7) Garvie started to play the guitar and by the age of eleven (11) had sharpened his hearing to the point where he could play by ear. His early exposure and musical influences can also be attributed to listening to the likes of country and western singers such as Jim Reeves, Charlie Pride, Hank Williams, Martin Robins and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Having grown up in a strong family structure that saw him singing in the Methodist Church and afforded him the priviledge of having his parents support his passion, Garvie was well on his way to not only pursuing his dream but also fulfilling it at the same time.

His Musical Career

Clearly not a child who was prepared to dream and not live it, Garvie formed his very own band while attending Harrison College. 'Untitled' was the name given to the band and they received quite a bit of publicity as they went on to perform at Barbados' very own National Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) for five (5) consecutive years. The flood gates continued to open and soon they were seen performing in 1988 at Jazz on the Hill.

Speaking of flood gates opening. Garvie went on to study Graphic Design in Florida and while there, he set up a band called 'Life Strung'. The popularity of this band soon took off as they toured around the state performing in Fort Lauderdale and Hollandale. They were even invited to perform at the Bob Marley Foundation for Bob Marley's birthday tribute at the Hard Rock Café in Miami for two consecutive years.

In 2003, on completion of his studies, Garvie returned to his native Barbados. Another one of Barbados' rock bands, Kite, invited him to be a backing singer and in 2005, he was invited to be Roadhouse's lead singer. In 2006, he collaborated with his old school friend Alex Cummins and their joint forces made up the duo 'Garlex'. Garvie has now switched his attention towards taking the plunge of a solo career.

He is quoted as saying "People look at me and expect that I am going to play reggae or calypso and are often shocked to hear me play some of my favourite artists such as Tracy Chapman, Smashin Pumpkins, Bob Dylan or Harry Chaplin." His original material is acoustic folk rock. He thinks that growing up in Barbados has given his music a certain Caribbean air, however his musical style isn't predominately that of Barbados.

Though we would like to think that his spare time would be kept separate and distinct from his musical career, Garvie can still be found writing songs or composing music in his spare time. Fortunately, he has created a balance as he also enjoys watching movies, playing video games and keeping in touch with his childhood.

His Musical Influences

Garvie is a lover of all genres of music and hence is inspired by a cross-section. His early exposure would have surely been effective in mapping the  course for such an appreciation and as such he is able to draw inspiration from them all. Driven by emotion and depth of spirit, Garvie also draws another set of inspiration from events in life as he uses them to ultimately guide his pen.

Future Plans

Yes there is quite a lot of scope for Garvie and him performing outside of Barbados but despite this, as much as he wants to get on tour he still looks forward to calling and making Barbados home. After all, who would want to rush into giving up the fantastic weather and warm-spirited people Barbados has to offer?