 what's up everybody mom we're still here you are rocking with the best I mean we don't mean to brag but we are the only TV station in eastern central Africa the place live rock music on TV like who else does that I think I keep saying this we've earned the bragging rights haven't we I guess rock 254 I'll be talking to you guys in a minute but let's meet our guests for today man I told you three bands actually now we didn't bring all the band members because that will be 20-something people and they will not and for those who don't know so I'm gonna start with Patrick so Patrick right here is from laundry Kenya there okay so laundry are so okay let's just name them first and then we'll introduce them right so there's laundry this nekessa from can we sleep like literally she told us that's what happened like when they were forming the band they'll go up to 3 a.m. and she will be too tired she'll be like like bro can we sleep and they were looking for the name for the band so they're like yeah we have it we got it let's just you know and we are here and of course we have Gakosh from the one and only rush band yeah I know that wasn't awkward at all like not at all of course so because there's just many other people involved so I'm going to just go ahead and let you guys kindly just go ahead and introduce yourselves and probably tell us about the other members of the band I'm gonna start with Patrick guitarist songwriter of the band the other band members are not here but we have a drummer bassist another guitar songwriter as well and vocalist named Teresa Sanders who's my sister she's the last boy the last time she was here she was 11 yeah she was literally 11 and she's almost 15 now right yeah she's 15 now it's been a minute it's been a minute this interview has it's super long overdue but good to have you of course nekessa you've been here multiple times but let's just go through it again from can you sleep it's a duo me and Dennis from the bassist from SLC yeah yeah I drum and sing as well and he does the rest when she says like I sing as well she's just gonna be you know modest it'll be one of the best singers we have in Kenya that's true great vocalist I'm not even mine yeah and then of course we have Gakush from three times a freema winning band anyway I'm saying three because I'm so hopeful about this yeah we are manifesting anyway my name is Gakush from Prash we are a five piece band we have I'm the drummer the rest are not here for today I'm here to represent them as Phelena said we've had four nominations for the a freema one two officially and hoping to back the last the other one I mean this year's nomination actually so rush started I think we started in 2013 right yeah we are going to be celebrating a decade next year yeah yeah so yeah we've worked the rock journey and we hope to have even more bands to be in the scene and let's let's support rock music because I don't think there's anywhere you can feel so good about music if you don't listen to rock music I keep telling them and even for the people who go to events I keep telling them if you haven't you you haven't been to a rock event then you haven't been at any concert in your life like until you've been to a rock concert you haven't been to a concert at all am I lying like you go to events and you see people like analysis performing and people are just sitting down they're just recording with their phone they're like okay cool and then you go to a rock event and you see madness things you'll never see anywhere and whatever happens at rock events stays at rock events so you'll never know yeah yeah precisely right so Patrick man it's been too long four years yeah yeah so tell us how you guys okay these two we've caught up so many times so we're gonna talk to you much more than we're gonna talk to them so please how have you guys been since we last saw you yeah we've been good you know there's been a lot of changes the other year well first of all we change your name right from refuge alone tree but yeah we've had a lot of things going on you know we've gone to play international shows a number of times since then we played in the US a couple times we just came back from our US East Coast tour which is mainly in Tennessee but you know we played up in Pennsylvania and Washington DC as well but yeah we you know we recorded an EP during that time as well number of singles that's all out now it's a refuge to the EP yeah and now we're recording our first debut album so it's you guys have been walking so hard like we are so proud of you guys like you do a lot like this guy's are literally booked twice or three times every single month and they didn't just like go to these two gigs they go to like main you perform the Sauti song yeah you've performed with like you know those big names and all that so we're literally proud so proud of you and of course we've talked about the Chinese so how can you see you've evolved from you know gonna stray to woman like just tell us about that transition from then to this so I guess like um they're gone astray was our first doing yeah we're still refuge but um yeah so it's been a lot of changes um I would say the biggest has been we're trying to expand our sound in a lot of ways we're trying to develop it in different ways and you know we have so many influences individually all the members that of course those sounds from ever all sorts of influences are gonna come to our music and yeah like you like you just compare it gone astray to a woman to completely different tracks but but yeah then again woman was also you know a collaborative track with Ben Soul friend of ours and yeah shout out to Ben Soul but yeah we were just trying something different then you'll see some of those elements in our album our upcoming album as well you also see a lot of like you know real rock and roll stuff in there too so we're excited yeah and of course you talked about different sounds of course having different ethnicities long to almost say the refuge ethnicities these people from Ethiopia you have someone else for okay you guys I don't know from states I'm from the states and I'm half Latino as well from Bolivia oh look at that so you have different ethnicities like does that actually when it comes to making music do combine all of that and just like put it in a song yeah I guess I guess in a way yeah you know our backgrounds have influenced a lot of like what we listen to like you know I grew up mainly on the blues and stuff like that but I've also had a lot of you know influences from reggae to Latin music which came more from my mom's side and you know and even jazz and stuff so like yeah I would say our backgrounds have played a huge role in that and where we're from too so I guess that's why our sound is in a way I would say diverse yeah they must be is key and instead of like you know that some people who release music and the last song just sounds like the other one yeah all the songs sound the people are not willing to experiment I think in the modern day like I think people are not willing to like you know try different like well we're just regurgitating the same stuff from you know each other and in reality everyone's so unique that I feel like there's so much potential so much lost potential within that that could be experimented with right that's true yeah yeah like I said oh what have you guys been up to shout out to Danish like oh wow okay I'm gonna be here a minute like I feel like he's dreaming of what he's gonna have for supper tonight like oh man like you know all right so what have you guys been up to we've been working on our album our first album yeah look at that actually we're doing everything on our own just the two of us so yeah that's what we've been up to yeah and there of course in the the inspiration behind that of course that song we wrote it last year I think before we were even can we sleep like we're just dabbling and then we just started messing around and we wrote the song and you are student yeah yeah and he was in another he still is in another one yeah yeah he's working really hard it's just the typical love song just wrangles between two people and what not it's not yeah yes but not down in a typical the packaging is different yeah everything is different and for those who want to check it out of course it's on YouTube and other streaming platforms as well yes so can we sleep but we is instead of e3 right yeah kind w3 see yeah cool and that's of course we rush is this like you guys are very unpredictable like we think this is going to happen and then you guys go ahead and do this don't you have an album on the way can we sleep have an album well I think we've taken a different approach when it comes to creating our albums after we did the first album we had released like two to three singles and then we compiled the rest of the songs to to the full album but with the second album we've taken a different approach we've been releasing songs as singles but compiling them towards an album hopefully by the end of the year maybe mid next year we should be having a full album come out we just released a single the other day after structures we released Fabiant yes and then and that is the song that has been nominated for the song that I've been nominated for the 22 and 2 Afrim awards for the category of best band in african rock and yeah hopefully maybe in the next one month we should be releasing another song yeah yeah yeah which is going to come with a video not just a song we need like something to play over it so that's cool when you release music with videos you make it easier for us yeah so rush has really grown and I think because of being together for that long we understand each other more just like Patrick was saying about you know when you come when different people come together we have different influences maybe I used to listen to Lingala and you guys play around with Swahili as well exactly so you have to find that niche whereby you have an identity that's only yours and for us we've decided our identity is Swahili hard rock yeah so which is working well for us because I think most people when they hear about Swahili hard rock they want to really find out what is what it's all about yeah so I think that that was saying that I think also it's now a movement because now with other bands like Lonely and I can we sleep and the entire fraternity of the rock scene I think coming together because it's an underground scene so coming together the way we are doing right now it's very important and I encourage guys to continue supporting each other yeah yeah that way we can all share the cake because it's enough for everybody we cannot have just a slice of it and are you feeling the pressure this year's competition is I saw there are people from South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria I'm like oh wow they just took it a notch higher are you feeling you know well there's that pressure but that doesn't mean that we don't trust and believe in ourselves yeah because this far we've come it's because of your guys who are watching us you've been the ones who've been voting for us and we trust the process so we know that you guys are not going to let us down even this time we are voting so we are not afraid we are telling them to bring it on bring it on we already got to yeah we're excited and of course last year I didn't even expect you guys like I was excited about the nomination because you are nominated but then there was also a Chinese who's a Kenyan oh two Kenyans that's gonna mess with the votes but you still won so we're still hopeful and Patrick you guys have played at different stages internationally you've been at you are in Nashville in Tennessee and all these other states how can you even compare their scene to Kenya because you've played at different venues in Kenya and different venues internationally is there a way they relate to them or they relate to us how how do they compare yeah in the rocks yeah well I don't know it's I would say in the United States it's definitely better but like there's like when we've played for mainly you know rock oriented crowds and stuff like that I don't know I just feel like in Kenya people just need to start going to more live shows yeah I think so right across all genres yeah it's just like we need there needs to be a culture that builds you know that live shows become like really one of the main things I don't know what's going on back here yeah so I would just say you know just support your local acts and you support like whether that's rock jazz blues whatever right like yeah you'll never people that when you attend those shows they are worth it so you will go home with a whole experience you know yeah so you won't go home disappointed that let me tell you something not even to try compare rock and mainstream but just I think last weekend we had Ruga in the country right and it was oxy late as well so Ruga played oxy late actually played at the same venue eyes are as BN so I would just say yeah BN played with a live band Ruga not Ruga rather oxy late playback yeah and of course Oxydate was paid much more money than BN but everybody was jumping to BN they were like BN is the only concert I would go to because he has a band and he's singing live the rest of the people are just like you know it's just play back and they're giving you the night I mean if you didn't play back I'd rather stay at home and listen to your music it doesn't make sense for me to come to your concert if I'm going to listen to you and that is something we don't do in rock we don't do that here like what I thought it's like we're not hating but I feel like people just need to do better we just call it as paid as paid yeah because we pay a lot of money for like for those concerts so you have to you know make it worth their while I'm just thinking right and unfortunately time man not his time is never enough I don't know like we need to have three hours bug so as you wind up like let's talk about the doc you just are in a few wise you guys have been filming a documentary oh yeah yes tell us what is that all about so the the documentary was more like you know it was a kind of a recording of a session and this was quite in the past already we haven't released it yet but still in production but it was like a live set we had at Snowball Studios and our main recording area you know a lot of great acts have recorded there and stuff but yeah it's just kind of in it was a more of a live show with a bit of stuff here and there behind the scenes things you don't know about you guys yeah to see that to see you be vulnerable and just be yourself I should have to Snowball I know they are dope and all that right and you guys we are actually everybody here we have an event next week I'm super excited under two three yeah what should finds expect Garkosh Nick Castle then Patrick can you tell us as we wind up this one I don't know it's a whole it's going to be a whole new experience we've done the first one it was magical the second one was even more magical so I don't know guys should and better guys it's it's October it's Halloween you can come with your costumes it's going to be lit right just come we we are not negotiating about this concert it's gonna be awesome like I promise I promise you come check this one out and the hashtag from the shout out to Yvonne she came up with 20 rock gigs yes yeah so you better turn out in the case that can we sleep what do you have in store for us this is our first time actually performing as can we sleep so we're really excited it's gonna be good it's gonna be good yeah yeah all right and Patrick um well I think the fans here expect some real live energy it's gonna be really fun we're doing some like trippy sounds to you so that'd be cool all right you've heard it you've heard it from the horse's mouth if you know what I mean it's like they're not so basically we just keep guys in the know with what's happening in the scene just a little bit sometimes it's Kenya sometimes it's not and then we'll come back to tell you how much the tickets are all right so for our first story is about Irony destroyed they had had had go had go Canyon band and guess what they have an album on the way we're super excited it's gonna be dropping the same day as guys are having the event that's next Saturday on the 20th second I'm so excited it's called Rebus and they released a truck list let's have a look we excited or what man these albums are coming from every direction like bro like I'm gonna excuse that there's no Kenyan rock what are you talking about album album album that is another album like too much and then when we were doing the stories we didn't even know long to we are gonna be here yet we hadn't confirmed we confirmed like really late but they performed at Gecko cafe last week I told you guys even last Saturday that they were gonna be performing so we just got a snippet somehow the show went down let's have a look awesome right now there's more of that next week on Saturday they'll be on stage live right and now on the last one Ulta Bridge now even international bands have albums this coming every week now Ulta Bridge have a new album it came out yesterday it's called Ponds and Kings for people who play chess you know what that is all about Ponds and Kings are now if you love Ulta Bridge go check it out right super dope amazing stuff all rockers are working hard you have no excuse it's all up to you all right now under top I'm going to be hosting DJ Max Jones is going to be playing it's going to be DJing of course and then long three are going to be performing can we sleep are going to be performing rush band are going to be performing as well and it's gonna be awesome well the advance tickets are just 800 Bob right 1000 Bob at the gate so let's do this you just like tell us your last remarks and give us your socials and your social media has really grown by the way I don't know how you guys are doing you need to give me a secret I'm stuck at 14k I'm not moving you need to tell us your secret so you give us your socials and can we sleep as well and of course rush as we wind up all right cool so you can find us basically at Lone Tree Band pretty much everywhere but yeah on Instagram at Lone Tree Band and then Lone Tree on YouTube so yeah awesome can you sleep where do we find you everywhere as can W3 sleep yeah yeah can W3 sleep basically this can you see and then of course Gato your specials as a rush band for rush you can on Facebook it's a rush band 5 on Twitter at rush band 5 on Instagram at rush underscore band 5 and then also I think also we should shout out under 2 and you can also follow the because it's going to be a series of events every year so you can also follow under 2 for you to be informed every time there's a there's an event coming up so at under 2.ke is the Instagram handle yeah all right that's super awesome and Dr. Reed is tuning in right now on a smile and Dr. Tiffy for that metal set it's just what I needed my neighbors must be really happy I know I know make them mad make them you know like they don't have a choice they have to listen to your playlist but fire by force you know