In dire need of change and inspired by D’Untouchables, 1st Dimension, Flava Girls and Vibrationzz, my sister (Arleesha Prescott) and I just wanted to try ah ting and see what would happen. Tired of adding rhinestones and feathers to costumes purchased from other bands we would play mas with year after year. We did our research and inquired in 2008 how exactly to go about bringing a section with a band for Miami Carnival. Some bands wanted money upfront and had pre ordered costumes which left no room for creative freedom. That was not the way we wanted to do things. Then there were bands whose main question was “who is your designer”. Which made us sit down and think, does anyone design their own costumes anymore? Or is ordering from China, India or Trinidad the “in thing”. Then we came across One Island Body Paint Band, which is a New York based band. At that time the carnivals were split between Broward and Miami. I found that the Band Leader Rolando Jarvis was able to answer all my questions and gave me the creative freedom to design and show what we could do. Skandalous debuted in 2009 and it was more work than we ever imagined, not to mention, a learning experience. Now for 2010 we are still with One Island whose theme is AVATAR: Return to the Road, and have the lead section in the band, PANDORA. Another year, higher expectations, more work but seeing it all come to life is worth it. This has definitely been a learning experience, but with every year we're getting better.>
Melissa.