With nicknames like `Bussy Dread', `One Love' and `Mikey Spice', and dreadlocks, wool caps and dark shades added to the mix, they might be mistaken for a bunch of off-the-wall dreamers, but that would only be through ignorance. Instead, they are regarded as Bermuda's premier reggae band, although the magnificent seven who comprise Jahstice Reggae Movement will never admit it.

"Everyone's calling us that but we would never say that ourselves. That's up to the people," bassist Andrew (Packie) Packwood says. "We just do the best we can."

Coming from a founder-member of a band which is a virtual magnet when it comes to pulling huge audiences, such a statement may seem curiously modest, but this one of its hallmark qualities. There are no egos in this group. Each and every member believes passionately in what Jahstice, as it is popularly known, is all about, and they share a common vision of where they are going and what their ultimate goals are - so much so, in fact, that whatever they earn on gigs is put towards them.

"Jahstice is all about our upcoming studio, which is called `Positive Vibration Studio'," Mr. Packwood says. "We are about positive things, and we are all partners in it. We couldn't have done it otherwise. At the end of the day, when we decide not to play the circuit that much, we can do studio work and recording projects for other people, and then we can make our own time."

While artists of all stripes are generally not renowned for their financial acumen, and many succumb to the traditional pitfalls of the entertainment circuit, Jahstice is not among them. Behind the friendly exterior lies sharp minds which have long since figured out where the big expenses are in fulfilling their dreams, and they have planned accordingly. Not only does every dollar they earn get ploughed back into the studio, but also they are a self-contained unit when it comes to gigs.

"You have to spend thousands of dollars on making an album, and at the end of the day you have a finished product which you have no money to promote, so we will be self-sufficient by making, producing and promoting our albums ourselves.That means we can take our time and do our albums just right without worrying about how much money we are spending to use somebody else's studio," Mr. Packwood says.

"At the end of the day we want to show something for our hard work, so we have our own studio, our own public address (PA) system, our own mixing board and our own transportation."

Behind the goals, the technology, the recordings and the undoubted success of Jahstice lies a long, steady climb that began in 1984 when the band was called `Youth Creation', of which Mr. Packwood was a founding member. Even back then it had what it took. Its proud history included being the first reggae band to play at the Southampton Princess Hotel, releasing a single entitled `Come In A De Land' and cutting an album entitled `Jah's On Our Side'.

In 1991 the name was changed to Jahstice, the last five letters of which stand for `standing tall in Christ everlasting'.

"Jahstice came about from all the changes the band has been through (about 30 people have come and gone since we started) because we always put God first, so we put Jah (God) first in the name, and we feel we will get justice for all the hard work we have put in over these years,"

Five years later it was changed again to `Jahstice Reggae Movement' to reflect the message we have to tell, which is about being positive, staying focussed, and bringing everyone together."

Even so, it may surprise their fans to know that the peace and love the performers project on stage is an extension of their behind-the-scenes interaction as friends and artists.

"We all have a brother-sister relationship, and I don't think we have ever had disagreements," vocalist Ruth-Thyra (Sissy) Bascome says. "Before every performance we get in a circle and say prayers, and we pray before we release too."

"Working together and being strong and connected is what brought us together," Mr. Packwood adds. "Everybody loves the music and nobody is miserable."

So just who are the members of Jahstice?

Apart from Mr. Packwood and Ms Bascome, the others are: Ralph (Papa) Flood and Calvin (Bussy Dread) Jones on keyboards, Alfred (Alfie/One Love) Fubler on rhythm guitar, Michael (Mikey Spice) Williams on saxophone, and Jimmy (Furb) Furbert on drums and vocals, all of whom have had a long history of involvement in the music scene which began in childhood. (see separate story).

Mr. Packwood began playing piano at age nine; Mr. Jones played the recorder and xylophone by age five; Mr. Furbert was nine when he was first introduced to musical instruments; Michael Williams can't remember a time when his music was not his life; and Sissy Bascome's first solo was at City Hall when she was four years old.

Today she is a dynamic and talented performer with a larger-than-life personality who is the band's lead singer and also plays keyboards. She also composes and writes her own music. Given her popularity within and beyond the Jahstice band, it is almost unimaginable that it took relentless persuasion by the musicians four years ago to drag her out of self-imposed retirement following a bad experience in New York, where she had been singing professionally for many years.

"I loved New York and I was with a band called Air - All in Righteousness. During my fifth year with them we were all ready to record a CD when the manager went bankrupt," she says. "It was horrifying, and I didn't want to do music again in my life. I said I would never sing again, not even in the shower, and I returned home to retire for the rest of my life. That was six years ago."

But Fate would have none of it. As a favour, Ms Bascome agreed to sing with Jahstice just once, and the rest is history.

"After we heard her we begged and begged her to be in the band, and finally four years ago she said `yes' and has been with us ever since," Mr. Packwood says. "Everybody loves her and you can't help but be attracted to her."

Indeed, the band has learned to live with part of the singer's stock-in-trade: exchanging banter with members of the audience at will. They never know what she will come out with, but it is always in good fun. Occasionally, it is a question of payback time, particularly when it comes to former teachers. Ms Bascome asked one if he remembered her, and when he obviously didn't she quipped: "Poor you, you must have Alzheimer's." Another, reminded of her prediction that the successful singer would "turn out to be nothing", was told: "Now look at you. You're dancing for me now."

"I gave my teachers hell, not one of them escaped," she admits. "My mother was a school teacher, and my parents sent me to private school and boarding school, and I partied my whole life away, but I got good grades though. Then I went to Fisk University to study music and partied again. I knew I didn't want to listen to or work for anybody."

Instead, it was Ms Bascome's father who encouraged her to be independent and follow her free spirit. A musician and singer himself, he spotted her talent in childhood and pushed her to use it.

"He always said, `A bird who can't sing and won't sing should be flogged and made to sing'. Whenever we travelled - all over America and Europe - he would find a piano to play in the hotel and I would sing. That was his philosophy, and it is the same in life. If it is God's gift and you don't use it, then you should be flogged and made to use that talent. I didn't understand it back then, but I do now," Ms Bascome says.

Clearly delighted to be back on stage, the singer says she is constantly amazed at the number of seniors, aged 80 and over, who love to "get out there and dance", and she glories in their spirit.

Jahstice traditionally attracts well-behaved audiences of all ages and races who really appreciate their shows, and that for the artists is a reward in itself.

"There is a beautiful atmosphere," Mr. Packwood says. "It is lovely seeing people enjoying what you are giving them, and dancing."

The band's repertoire is defined as: "reggae lyrically, R&B musically, 95 percent of which is `conscious music', meaning it is spiritual and deals with nowaday problems, as well as one or two love songs, and original music".

Like all top Bermudian artists, despite decades of experience and success both here and abroad, they know that entertainment is a fickle business, but they are in it for the long haul.

"We don't take tomorrow for granted and we don't exalt ourselves," Mr. Packwood says. "The bigger picture will come. We just have to stick with it. We have prayed and asked for work and blessings and we have had them in abundance. We started in the 1970s with a goal. Now it is up to us how good we become."

For all youngsters aspiring to become professional performers, Ms Bascome has this message: "Stay focussed. You have to fulfil whatever gift God has given you. It is so much easier to be yourself. Everybody wants to be an imitator, but you have to be an originator."