 We have an indie pop rock band best in Kenya. Charatu Klef and Bandana. Let's get up to them guys. Come on, that is fantastic. Now, before we get to know them, they brought the guitar. It's only right. It's only right. Amani aje, it's only right. Like we hear, Ulazoto Meskia, you one. You know, I love to let you in the studio. Maybe in real life, you know. So let's put them to the test. Let's hear them out. And then we come back and talk to them in a few. You guys are amazing. Like you are super talented. Like if anyone doubted that, now they know. Now they know. See studio too. You can actually do that in real life as well. We still need to make our kichunguna nyanya laikuna. We need to say on and off stage. Alright, so let's start from, you know, Klef. Obviously, it can be everyone to introduce themselves. So my name is Klef. I am one of the lead singers and pianist in Klef and Bandana. Awesome. My name is Kubo, I'm a Phasist, singer-songwriter at Klef and Bandana. And I am a bounce, the king of the hearts. Bounce. The king of the hearts. I'm the guitarist and also the rapper at Klef and Bandana. Yeah. Did you guys hear that? You can, and I'm the king of hearts. And of course we have Harbill. Yeah, kind of introduce yourself. I'm Harbill, creative enthusiast, lover of music. I run empire gig and I work with Klef and Bandana. You are with Klef and Bandana. Alright, so we have bounce, we have claves, we have Kubo. Yeah, yeah, Kubo is the one that track. Don't go. But thank you so much for making time. I know not everybody is here. So maybe you can give a shout to the guys that are not here today. Yes, it's just one guy who's not here. His name is Rushi, he's a drama. And he also does beatbox. Beatbox? Yes sir. We love that. Now maybe we can just go from the start and you guys can tell us how you met. You met, you met, you made a gig. How did that come to be? Oh, alright. And also the name, Klef and Bandana. Yeah, alright. Because Kubo, together with bounce and a few other guys, were in KU doing music. Right. And they started the band Bandana. It was called Bandana. Oh, bands. You got my bump on that wave train of like heart underscore. So you got band underscore. Yeah. It was back in 2014. At that time I was doing my own thing and my own as Klef. So there was this competition at school. It's called Solonite. It's still run still now. It's KU actually, we're talking about KU. KU. So... We were in KU, we were in KU. But you never came to Namasoma though. Namasoma. I need to explain here why he said that. It was not, it was personal. It was not the school, it was personal. So yeah, we get it. So after competition, Bandana would be playing for the contestant. And I was one of the contestants. Right. So we did the competition for about a month. It ran for about a month. And then I won. Ah. So after that, this thing can work. So let's try it. So we did a gig together a few years later, like two years later. We did a gig together and the MC was like, let's have Klef and Bandana. And that's how it came to be. Yeah. You're like, why are we looking for a name like that? MC said it, so Klef and Bandana. So how long ago was this? This was back in 2016. Yeah. How was it like five, six years ago? Yeah, at seven after. We were owning our skills, Yeah. And you've come a long way. So maybe you can tell the people who are seeing you for the first time, you can just describe your sound as Klef and Bandana. I know you guys do a little bit of voice, sef rock, alternative rock in the pop. But do you just have like one style if someone, yeah, want to ask? I think we are one of the most versatile groups. We're fine, but we have a lot of influence from rock and soft rock and pop rock. Right. That is the heaviest influence on the band. And then the others, they are just additions. Right. So we need to talk about influence. Who are some of the influences, people that have influenced your sound in the industry? So all, this is like an obvious one to ask because it's a band that looks like us. The pianist is the singer, the guitarist is the rapper. But unfortunately he passed away last night. Last night? That's the script. I'm talking about the script. You haven't heard? I'm so behind me, oh my God. Oh my God. Like everybody loves the script. Who? Paul. Mark, it's Mark. Mark, the guitarist. The guitarist? No wonder people have been requesting the script. I'm like, okay, people love the script. Oh wow. Oh wow. Like I'm so behind me. Like it's Coachella. I saw it was more focused on Coachella and I didn't know, oh wow. That is so sad. Yeah. Yeah. So a band called 1975. Everybody knows 1975. It's like one of his favorite bands for ever. So thank you so much. And they have the most unique names ever. Like it's literally a number, 1975. What's your name? Simple cool. Right, so I love that for you guys and you've come a long way. So have you evolved like since you've begun like in terms of style? Like the more you play, you go and change the way you sound or you still sound the same. If you want to know us, just go to our Instagram and scroll down and see where we've come from and where we are now. And where you are right now. You must be here then we are. Yes. Then we are right now. So it gets better, like it gets better with time. And of course like apart from me, we have Habil right here. So Habil is into more events planning and he's also very creative and all that. So maybe you can tell us a little bit about what you do and how long you've been doing that for. Thank you. Thank you so much for that warm intro as well. I'm an enthusiast. I like music. I've loved music since I was a kid growing up and I have almost the same influences they have. Always been a rocker at heart as well. So this is the perfect venue for this. I'd say. But yes, I work with creatives on a small and large scale. So we at Empire Gig try and find opportunities for bands that are as talented as Clef and Bundana to perform at. And it's digitized in a way that you at home can be able to book Clef and Bundana for a gig. It could be. Even birthdays. Birthdays, weddings, mummits for the Jews. No one is left out. Ideally, this talent you see on TV could come to your home where you are. Why? So that's what we do at Empire Gig. Yes, super talented. So if they're coming to your birthday, you may or you're wedding, they're not coming to disappoints. Like, you know. But I will pay chakula. Meskia Xema, it was worse than it is right now. So as long as you're feeding them, they are good to... Okay, no, they are not paid by food. Yeah, you gotta pay the money right now. To litoka, to litoka kulipuana exposure. We're not doing it for exposure anymore. We've grown, man, bills. The economy does not allow us to get paid by exposure anymore. Right, so for Clef and Bundana, I know you have a couple of trucks out. You just took out one of my favourites like from like, you know, way back, top of the morning, right? Onanifanya, cheesy. So tell us, like when did you release your first single officially because you met like probably six years ago. So when did you like now hit the studio as Clef and Bundana? So the first song we released was back in 2017, December, on the 24th. Yeah, you remember it. Yeah, Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve, yeah. So that was the first song we released. And then we released another one like a year later called Songanami. And then another one called Top of the Morning. And then we took some sort of break. It was not really a break. We've been performing. All these years we've been performing. We usually perform more than a hundred shows a year. That is actually true. Thanks to Empire Deagon. Yeah, we took a mini break during the COVID season. It's still like a hiatus, but not really. Because you were supposed to come on the show. But you couldn't make it because you were not together as a band at the time. Yeah, so how did you find your way back together then? It was a God sent moment, in my opinion. Because we had stayed together for a very long time before COVID. And then COVID came and kind of took us to different places. So everyone came back. And then by the time we were coming back, everyone had gotten comfortable in themselves. They had become something that they wouldn't have if we stayed together for that time. I know, right? But also, I feel like COVID was a blessing in this guy. Because sometimes when you're walking too much and you're walking on these, you have bills to pay and everything. You get so exhausted, you're not creative as you're supposed to be. So that break, I feel like everybody literally needed it to work on themselves. So that when you come together, everyone has different ideas that work for you all as a group. And then I know everyone is talking about everyone having their own business and everything. How often do you meet for practice? Right now, we usually meet every day. No way. What do you make up for that? I remember from that whole period, Tulianza kuka like close to each other. So where I live, I'm his neighbor. Oh, so you live around the same estate. So we usually meet every time, we talk up, we can meet up, we talk. We don't have to practice every day, but we meet up every day. Oh. That is super great. I love the fact that everyone of you in the group knows how to play an instrument. Because sometimes you find that kuna jwa tsani wene, murea me imba, that's it. Like you are the lead singer and you're also good at the keys and everything. So that is like super cool. So would you have any member like wene anajokwimba, but now that you are there, if someone wants to leave. So come on a jokwimba, like come on a jokwimba na ujuksheza, you're out. Is that how you came together? No, we're only looking for talent plus. No, banda na wu stati. No one knew how to play. No one knew how to play. So we taught ourselves. Mi nilianza kitambo, to dogo, but to become a professional takes a lot of practice. So do you practice of YouTube or you took like classes? But me and Bones were in music school at KU, so So that helps. Yeah, the theory part. Understanding what you're doing. And you talk about having like 100 gigs every single year. The last time I checked you had like Clef in Nairobi, there's Clef and friends, there's that. So are you back to doing that? To playing Pomodra as a unit. And we actually did anipi. We released anipi last week. 7 days ago. I'm so loving it. I've actually heard Razamo on the show. Yeah, for real. He's super talented also. So you linked up at events or how did that happen? Yeah, we linked up at an event last year. Last in Naibasha. At a time like this. In Naibasha. We just hooked up and it became something. Let's do this. So platforms like Empire Gig bring a lot of collaboration into the industry. Which is actually lacking a lot. I think that's what the industry is lacking. Because if we all collaborated big artists and small artists, how industry would be bigger than it is right now. So we met at a gig that was organized in the same way that Habil organizes gig. So someone booked Razamo and booked Clef and Vandana and other artists. And then we met at the venue and we created magic. And you created magic. It's an EP. It's four or five tracks. I'm loving all of them. We're going to play I think one or two. But yeah, time is literally getting out. Time is like getting out of hands. Like it's literally living out. But Habil, I know you guys have an event together that is coming up on the 29th. That is like one, two Saturdays. Yeah, after next Saturday the other Saturday. So tell us about that. Yeah, we're going to have our show. First of all we're calling it the plan. So ideally it is the plan we want everybody to come to. It's going to be on the 29th of April at the National Museum. So everybody who's never been this is your chance. Everybody who's been please come. There are more vibes like this. We have performing DJs. We're going to have artists. It's going to be a big show. I'm excited about that. Who are some of the people that are playing alongside the band? We're having a few selections. We won't release everything just yet because we want you to come. But we will have the likes of Kaneda, the DJ will have Nijo will have one and only DJ Max Jones on the decks. Venu and tickets. We're selling tickets at G. That's 1,000 Kenyan shillings for entry and 3,000 for VIP if you're feeling yourself, please do. You're very welcome. It should be good vibes and good fun for a whole night. And where is that? It's going to be at the National Museum. That's along Kipande Road. I'm really excited about that. I'm going to be coming to you. Actually he's playing at the event. So it's going to be dope. If you want to know more about the music and social media then you can give us one last performance because we literally have 5 minutes to go. So let's do that. So social media just such clef and bandana that's C-L-E-F and bandana. Everything is there. We have a tour on Sunday. We have a house tour tomorrow. We'll find all our details in there. Check them out on the socials. Clef and bandana. If you need details on how you can get your ticket on where they are performing next, go check them out. Which song are you performing for us next? I love it. So let's do that. We're still here. We'll have a little bit more of time. We're coming back to check out rock post. Let's do that. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. Yeah, you did it baby. You tore my body and broke it down. Down, down, down. You did it by yourself now. You beauty spots and your pretty smile. Oh Oh You gotta stop making me out like a fool out Oh And I've been taking too long the time I'm shooting out Oh Cause I've been thinking about you No baby No baby How you do it? Cause my friends they say they miss the old me No I never needed no one to get by But you got me on my knees and you don't even try baby stop We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. We're not me fighting cheese. nani faya cheezy nani faya cheezy