The company responsible for providing the sound at last month's Soca Extravaganza has branded a band that walked offstage in mid-performance as unprofessional.

A letter was sent to The Royal Gazette by the company, Sound Concepts, in response to an article based on a letter from the leader of the local band "Piece of the Rock'', David. CW Foley.

Mr. Foley said his band walked off stage because of a "lack of cooperation, deliberate or otherwise'' from the technicians.

But according to Sound Concept, the poor quality was due to a lack of organisation on the band's part.

Sound Concepts wrote that Mr. Foley "should have advised the members of his Band of their scheduled Sound Check'' on the afternoon of the concert date.

The company added: "May we point out that it was not the responsibility of Sound Concepts to advise these (band) members individually.'' The letter went on to defend the reputation of Sound Concepts, citing that the company had provided professional sound for international groups such as Byron Lee, Kirk Franklin and Bounty Killer to name but a few.

The company stated that "Sound Concepts has been highly praised by all these groups, including Byron Lee who commented that it was very unprofessional for "Piece of the Rock'' to walk offstage during a concert.'' According to Sound Concepts: "The difference between Byron Lee and "Piece of the Rock'' is that Byron Lee made his sound check on time and members of "Piece of the Rock'' showed up late at 6.45 p.m. when the gates for the concert opened at 7 p.m.'' Sound Concepts re-inforced its views by questioning the band's decision to walk offstage, comparing them with a pilot flying a malfunctioning plane.

"Would the pilot abandon ship to try to rectify the situation?'' the company asked.

The letter added that "from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. all the participants at the concert had a great time, with the sound booming to perfection throughout the whole night with no problems and no complaints''.

The exception to this, according to Sound Concepts, was "Piece of the Rock'' who allegedly displayed a lack of "punctuality, professionalism and sober understanding''.