Hollywood Carnival 2014 Ends in EPIC Style: Machel Montano Takes Over Xen Lounge
After a weekend of Soca, mas and Caribbean culture on Hollywood Boulevard, Machel Montano helped bring Hollywood Carnival 2014 to a close on Monday, June 23, with The EPIC After Party at Xen Lounge in Studio City, California.
The red-carpet event featured guest appearances by Machel Montano, London Future and Jillionaire of Major Lazer, bringing together several of the creative figures helping push Soca toward new international audiences in 2014. Original Julianspromos promotion advertised the party from 10 PM to 2 AM, with $20 admission and Anya Ayoung-Chee among the hosts.
Julianspromos was in Los Angeles documenting this important early chapter of Hollywood Carnival and the emerging EPIC movement. The surviving footage captures Machel Montano performing live inside Xen Lounge, with the video shot and edited by Julian C. Hackett.
The Finale to a Breakthrough Hollywood Carnival Weekend
The EPIC After Party came at the end of a particularly significant weekend for Machel Montano.
Hollywood Carnival was still young in 2014, but Montano had become increasingly involved after recognizing its potential the previous year. For the 2014 parade, he introduced EPIC Mas as a section within Extacy Mas, bringing approximately 80 masqueraders onto Hollywood Boulevard.
The group included a mix of Carnival and entertainment personalities such as Anya Ayoung-Chee, Director X, Leah Marville, Damien Dante Wayans and Eva Marcille, alongside members of Caesar’s Army and other supporters of the Trinidad Carnival movement in Los Angeles.
One of the weekend’s most culturally significant moments was the appearance of legendary masman Peter Minshall’s Tan Tan and Saga Boy, which were brought to Los Angeles as guests of honor. The iconic dancing figures had originally been created for Minshall’s 1990 presentation Tantana.
The festivities brought Trinidad-style mas directly onto one of the world’s most recognizable entertainment streets.
From Hollywood Boulevard to Xen Lounge
Once the Carnival weekend wound down, the celebration moved to Xen Lounge at 10628 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.
Xen had opened in 2012 as a restaurant, bar and entertainment venue created by actor and producer Duane Martin, alongside actress Tisha Campbell-Martin. The venue was designed as an upscale nightlife destination close to Hollywood and regularly attracted entertainment-industry guests.
That setting made Xen a fitting location for an event intended to connect Caribbean music with Los Angeles entertainment culture.
Contemporary reporting described The EPIC After Party as a red-carpet gala put together with Machel’s friend and collaborator Jillionaire of Major Lazer. More importantly, the night was intended to launch a monthly Los Angeles gathering celebrating Caribbean music, showing that the vision extended beyond a single Carnival weekend.
Machel, Jillionaire and London Future
The advertised guest list reflected Machel Montano’s increasingly international musical direction.
Jillionaire, the Trinidad-born member of Major Lazer, had already worked with Machel during the 2014 season. Major Lazer and Machel collaborated on “Sound Bang,” bringing Soca into the electronic and global club-music space.
London Future had an equally direct connection to the EPIC identity.
The Trinidadian producer produced Machel’s “E.P.I.C.”, one of Montano’s releases for Trinidad Carnival 2014.
Having Machel, London Future and Jillionaire together at an event called The EPIC After Party therefore carried more meaning than simply assembling celebrity guests. The lineup represented collaborators involved in the changing sound and international direction of Machel’s music during that period.
The Beginning of the EPIC Mas Story
Looking back, the 2014 after party also sits at the beginning of a much larger Carnival story.
EPIC Mas started that year as only a section of Extacy Mas. By 2015, it had expanded into its own full Hollywood Carnival band, with multiple sections and a significantly larger target membership.
That growth makes the Julianspromos footage from 2014 particularly valuable.
It captures the EPIC identity before it became an established Hollywood Carnival mas band, during the weekend when the concept was first being introduced to Los Angeles.
Machel later described Hollywood Carnival 2014 as a dream come true, emphasizing his goal of using the event to spread Trinidad and Tobago Carnival culture internationally.
Julianspromos in Hollywood
The EPIC After Party was also part of a much larger Julianspromos assignment in California.
Julianspromos documented Hollywood Carnival 2014, including the Carnival itself and related artist coverage. Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson also interviewed Machel Montano during the Hollywood trip, giving the Julianspromos archive multiple perspectives on this period.
The EPIC After Party footage was shot and edited by Julian C. Hackett.
Together with the Carnival footage and Machel interview, the Xen Lounge video helps preserve Julianspromos’ early documentation of a Caribbean Carnival movement developing thousands of miles from its Trinidad roots.
Looking Back
More than a decade later, The EPIC After Party at Xen Lounge represents much more than a nightclub performance.
It came at the end of the weekend when Machel Montano and his collaborators brought the first EPIC Mas section onto Hollywood Boulevard, introduced Trinidad Carnival culture to new audiences and laid the groundwork for EPIC Mas to become a full band the following year.
Inside Xen Lounge, the connections continued through Machel Montano, Jillionaire and London Future, three Trinidadian creatives working at the intersection of Soca and international music.
For Julianspromos, the surviving footage preserves an early chapter of that expansion.
Shot and edited by Julian C. Hackett, the video captures the night Hollywood Carnival 2014 ended in EPIC style and a new chapter of Caribbean culture in Los Angeles was beginning.
