Owen Lans: Smooth sounds in Dewey for 25 years

Looking back, Owen Lans said it’s hard to believe he’s been in Delaware for nearly three decades.

“Honestly, I thought it would be for just one summer, but it turned out so well that it just continued,” he said laughing.

Lans, a 58-year-old native of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, is the bandleader for the Island Boyz, a Caribbean music band that has been entertaining late afternoon crowds at the Rusty Rudder in Dewey Beach since 1990.

Lans came to the Rusty Rudder when the restaurant’s previous owner, Jay Prettyman, made him an offer after watching the group perform in Miami.

“He just loved the group,” said Lans of Prettyman. “And we’ve been here ever since.”

Lans said it wasn’t the first offer to move he had received, just the most convincing. He said relocation opportunities are part of the business for a professional musician.

“He accepted the terms I wanted, and the next thing you know, I was in Dewey Beach,” he said.

The group has changed over the years, but it currently has seven members, and they represent a varied mix of island culture. Lans and lead guitarist Winnie Phillips are from the Virgin Islands; Peter Romane on the steel drums is from Trinidad; vocalist and percussionist Lee Spence, bass player Calvin Ambersley and drummer Gregory Rivero are from Jamaica; and lead vocalist Pet Jeremiah is from Grenada.

Lans said the band plays a number of different island styles – Jamaica’s reggae, Trinidad’s soca and the Bahamas’ junkanoo. He said the band also plays many of the American standards in jazz and R&B.

“Most of us were raised on American music,” he said. “Jazz was very big on the island.”

Lans said band members take pride in being professional musicians. He said they’ve all played for other professional bands and have all traveled.

He said it can be a taxing gig. They play five hours a day, 4 to 9 p.m., seven days a week. They play 40 minutes and then take a 20-minute break.

“You can burn yourself out if you’re not taking care of yourself,” he said. “You’ve got to stay away from drinking, and you’ve got to keep your health up.”

He said they get requests all the time for songs, and despite knowing thousands of songs at the drop of a hat, they can work their way through a song they don’t know. He said the band will take a minute to figure out the beat and then go with it. He said other than requested songs, the band will go all week without playing the same song twice.

From a distance, Lans is undeniably confident. At well over six feet tall and still looking fit, he has the looks and moves of a retired basketball player. His goatee is well-maintained and a gold chain hanging from his neck is visible from underneath a Tommy Bahama-style collared shirt. There's an island accent in his voice, but it's not heavy.

Lans said he started playing the piano when he was 8 years old. He described life in the Virgin Islands, an American territory, as similar to growing up on the mainland. He said many older Americans retire to the Virgin Islands.

After graduating from high school, Lans said he went to college for two years, where he studied music and then went on the road during the summer. After two years, he decided the money was too good.

“I had always intended to go back,” he said with a smile and a things-have-still-turned-out-alright shrug of the shoulders.

He said shortly after that, he came to the mainland, because the money was better. He said employment on the islands isn’t a problem, but there’s more opportunity on the mainland.

By trade, Lans is a carpet installer; it’s a skill he’s honed for 30 years. His hobby is rebuilding classic cars. He said he does all the work himself.

But both take a back seat to his music. Lans said when the band starts playing seven days a week, the carpet installation stops.

“It relaxes me. It’s stress relief. It puts me in a different zone,” he said. “I get to do something I really like and I get paid for it.”

Lans said he’s the only member of the band who lives in Delaware; he lives in Millsboro. The rest, he said, go back and forth between the Rusty Rudder summer gig and southern summer gigs in Florida and the islands.

That’s not to say Lans doesn’t return home for at least a month every summer. He said he’s got lots of family and property to tend to back in St. Thomas.

“I haven’t missed a year yet,” he said.

Lans encourages anyone who has never traveled to the Virgin Islands to make the trip. He said it's hotter in Delaware during the summer, and nice all year round.

Lans is amazed with how the area has changed over the years.

He can remember when the Tanger Outlets along Route 1 were cornfields, and when he first started, Dewey was a ghost town after Labor Day.

“Now, there are still good crowds after Labor Day, and the places are all open,” he said.

Lans said the band’s been playing so long in Dewey that kids who came with their parents 20 years ago are now showing up with their kids.

“They always come back and say, ‘Hi,’” he said.

Lans said he doesn’t know how long the gig at the Rusty Rudder will last, but he doesn’t see it coming to an end anytime soon.

“It’s wonderful here,” he said. “The management treats us well, and the crowds love us.”