Fossil Fire played at Millennium Square in Pickering in August.
Fossil Fire
By Kathryn Stocks
Duane Alvarez is Fossil Fire’s bandleader and keyboards player. He said Fossil Fire started with a fun project in the summer of 2018. The band Richard Bacon was in was unable to perform at that time and so Richard, Duane and Keith D’Souza thought why not? “We got a couple of guest singers and formed a band,” Duane said. “Whatsapp was buzzing with the excitement of us old ‘fossils’ forming a rock ‘n’ roll band! We said we still got some fire and that was it, we called ourselves Fossil Fire.”
Then Covid hit a year and a half later and everything came to a grinding halt. In 2023, Richard, Keith and a close friend decided to get the band together again. New talent Aneela Dias-D’Sousa and Filipe Menezes joined them in 2024, “pushing this group to boldly go where no band has gone before,” Duane said. Aneela is a singer and percussionist, and Filipe plays guitar. The bass guitar player is Richard, and the drummer is Keith D’Souza, who is also the bandleader in Port United. Everyone sings.
Another important member of the band is Tarquil Dias, who manages the technical side. Tarquil joined Fossil Fire in 2025 after a brief conversation with Duane in a parking lot at a community event. He does mixing, gear setup, troubleshooting, and makes sure everyone hears what they’re supposed to. “It’s been a blast supporting the group and helping each show feel better than the last,” he said.
The band plays monthly in a variety of places that are usually local. They played in six outdoor venues over the summer, but their favourite is the Port Union Community Centre.
In April, Fossil Fire was selected for the Guildwood Village Battle of the Bands. They were on edge because they didn’t know the sound engineer, hadn’t performed at the location before and had a short sound check. So everything that could go wrong did. Filipe lost power to his guitar mid-song, Duane’s keyboard lost power at one point, they couldn’t hear themselves on the monitors, mic levels were too low, and Keith’s cymbal flew off its stand. They were disappointed with their performance, but the crowd and judges loved their performance and they won!
Anyone who has ever seen Fossil Fire perform at our Sunday Summer Concerts, the Waterfront Festival and other venues in the area wouldn’t be surprised. This band always puts on a great show and gets the audience up and dancing. Make sure to catch their performance at CCRA’s Fall Fest on Saturday, September 19 at the Port Union Community Centre. You won’t be disappointed with their lively repertoire of classic rock, country and old standards.
Port United Band
By Denise Bacon
The mention of Port United Band brings joy to people who toe-tapped, danced and had fun at a concert. Keith D’Souza, founder of Port United Band, lives in the area and loves playing here. “It’s like playing at home,” he said about the comfort, familiar faces and mutual love of music felt by all the band members.
Port United Band has been together since 2013, starting as friends brought together at a party where they jammed all afternoon. Then Keith invited Maskie Fernandez and Nigel De Souza to join him as “Keith D’Souza and Friends” at the 43 Division Police Festival in spring 2013. Right away, drummer Quintin De Souza, Nigel’s younger brother, joined the band.
Needing to register a name for a bigger Scarborough event in August that year, the band brainstormed and came up with “Port United Band.” This was a mashup of Manchester United, a favourite football team, and Port Union, the area where the friends lived. The name foretold some of their current signature music.
The four guys in Port United Band added to their vocal range by recruiting Leona, the youngest of the De Souza siblings, about a year later. Leona immediately became a beloved member of the band, belting out standards and a wide variety of songs, using her classically trained voice in this whole new way.
For the first few years, while performing, Keith also had the stressful job of managing the technical aspects involved with projecting good sound to the audience. In 2018, the newest member of the band, Dan Menezes, was welcomed as the band’s sound engineer.
Port United Band’s set list for every gig is customized to suit each audience, giving the people what they want. Band members offer new song ideas and they rehearse to make them work. One of the many signature strengths of Port United Band is to create mashups of different songs that bring popular songs together.
Port United Band is a strong six-person growing concern! It has grown in its talent, breadth of music, number of performances and a big, loyal following. The annual Port United Band concerts at Port Union Community Centre showcase the band’s growing fans. Last July, people came from all over the city for the Sunday evening performance and one person even drove in from Peterborough for the concert!
Port United Band is in high demand, playing corporate events, private parties and functions, along with playing at community events. The band loves performing together and sharing music. They walk a fine balance between their respective full-time jobs and living and sharing this passion.
Here in Centennial, we are thrilled to consider Port United Band our very own “home-town band.”
