The golden age of Rock

By Tony Mochama and Stevens Muendo

It can officially be put on record, and written in stone that rock is here to stay. Long queues and jubilant fans of the genre came to party in Carnivore and Choices last week. The two entertainment spots were hosting Roctoberfest and Nairobi Rockfest respectively and both attracted huge crowds.

Rock culture seems to have come of age. If it was a bouncing baby in the 1990s, then the genre is now a kicking teenager as 2009 draws to a close, with a close-knit group of homegrown Goths in their early 20s to power it on.

Rock bands and DJs have gained notoriety.

"Jo, I may be the King of Rock in Kenya, but we have got many princes too, like DJ Gordo,"says DJ Jack who last weekend was spinning at a packed Nairobi Rockfest at Choices’ on Baricho Road.

And Rock event organisers are now basking in fame, bouquets but also throwing the brick-bats. It is the fastest growing music culture in urban Kenya.

And with the new awakening has come FM radio stations and programs specially dedicated to rock, numerous Rock TV shows and a rock club culture, which is gaining momentum day after day.

So, here came Halloween and the annual Rocktober Fest was back with its usual noise and bang. Sweat, blood, heavy metal and resounding drums, wailing and laughter… all the ingredients that make the rebellious genre of rock! As Doors’ legend Dick Morrison once put it "Rock is the music not just of the princes and drunken paupers, the poets and the pedestrians, the bad and the bard, but of the fallen angels and of the gods."

Carnivore rock

At the Carnivore grounds, an estimated 1,800 rockers turned up for the annual Rocktober Fest last weekend, making it one of the biggest events to be held at the venue this year. At some point, there was hardly any walking space, let alone dancing space at the Simba Saloon.

Of course, most youthful Rock fans are slightly more affluent than, say, their reggae loving counterparts.

Not even the — seemingly — rival event taking place at Choices affected the turn up.

The Choices event, by contrast, also packed Rock revelers to the rafters – but the audience there was more of the late 20s to adventurous early forty-lifers who grew up listening to the nifty early years of rock – from ‘REM’ rocking on KTN’s weekly rock programme on 1992 Saturday midnights, to Don Smith’s wild Psys in the mid-1990s – when chairs were barrels, the floor covered in sand, walls with flags (with legends like ‘The South will Rise again!’) – and revelers were allowed to smash beer bottles against a special corner in the club – as long as they paid for them.

Earlier in the week, heated debate had ranged among Rock lovers in Nairobi on which concert would be greater – the one at Choices, or the Carnivore event. Which event to attend – with some well-oiled rockers intent to attend both.

The war even spread across Rock bands (we will not name), Djs, FM radio stations (Capital vs XFM) and other sponsors, as well as Internet sites as each of the organisers relentlessly battled for supremacy.

"Our event was hundred percent successful. We had six Rock bands and an equal number of rock Djs. Nairobi Rockfest at Choices only had two popular Rock bands," said Dan Odhiambo, the brain behind Rocktober Fest.

Manager Ben at Choices was equally adamant: "We are a smaller, cosier club and went for older rockers. Besides, we had Kenya’s two best rock deejays on our decks, King Jack and Prince Gordo."

"The battle was intense!" Dan admitted, "We had huge support from Capital FM, while our rivals went to the new XFM. Safaricom and East Africa Breweries sponsored our event and Carnivore also did good marketing. Basically, it was all a result of great team work," he adds.

By Thursday evening, the organisers had fully paid the bands to avoid last minute hitches, with rumours flying around of organisers trying to steal each other’s bands. Paranoia was in the air. This wasn’t going to be a ‘love-is-in-air’ and ‘let all rockers join hands, band, banter and bond’ kind of affair. It was ruthless ‘biashara ni biacara’ cut-throat, throw rocks-at-each-other bizness.

Facebook rockers

The Facebook hits from people confirming attendance had risen to 3000, mainly from Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu, the latter two rock fans taking road rides all Friday night to be in the city for Saturday night action.

And true to that, the bands which included Calabash, Blakastonian Redemption, Black Fog Angel, Beat Hog, The Awakening and Bloodshed did not disappoint. Neither did the Djs; Ben, ProtÈgÈ, Collo, UV and Dream Team as they kept the two stages alive with popular rock hits, which the crowd rocked to while singing back line to line.

As Mike Tawfique, whose rock nom de guerre is ‘Slaughter’ (and who is an experimental Rock VJ) says: "Because of the poetic complexity of Rock music, its hardcore adherents are more likely to go looking it up on the Google, cramming the dark lyrics and spitting them when they hear them."

At some point in Carnivore, it all looked like a scene from hell as rockers dove on the grounds, raved and moshed, in their hundreds to pay homage to the great legends of Rock. It was purely an environment typical of an international Rock festival, as fans donned scary Halloween outfits and head masks with others even carrying dummy swords for the event which fell on Halloween weekend.

"The event has been the breaking ground for several bands and DJ acts all across the country – Calabash, Rock of Ages, UETA, Seismic, LYT, M20, DJ Edu of BBC UK, DJ Zoom, DJ Ben and Dream Team.

This event also gives the bands the opportunity to make ‘their’ music heard. It has been the only event that has regularly and consistently promoted Rock talent and catered to local Rock aficionados," said Bleed of Bleed Team, one of the fastest rising rock promoters around. His rock gear, like that of many rock aficionados, is made by a lad called Taz based at Century Plaza.

"Ours has been a consistent growth and our competitors should know that you cannot become an authority in the Rock scene in a day." Bleed asserted. At Choices, a rRock fan called Cook croons to a Green Day song (East End Jesus) and one cannot help think of the nicknames of these rockers – Slaughter? Bleed? Cook?

"Look, you can be sure next year will be bigger. We are already in talks with Nickelback rock band (famed for the Burn it to the Ground, Rock star and Someday hits) as well as the US-based Bullets For My Valentine rock band for the 2010 rock season," he adds.

Choices Rock

At Choices, Jabez, the organiser of Nairobi Rockfest who also runs the rock show on STV, is planning major intercity shows. Big Ben is equally confident that Choices "will be always the best place to complete a weekend at – any given Sunday – with the best of rock."

As for Slaughter, as he prepares a Rock onslaught on the market, with Carnivore and Fareed Khimani of X-FM on board as partners, he can afford to crow "I have the best collection of visual rRock in East Africa," and for an hour Pulse is treated to everything — from 1980s Dire Straits, 1990 Queen, to 21st Century Sum 41, all off his laptop over a glass of Grouse.

Just not-too-many years ago, Rock used to be viewed as an underground music genre, associated with drugs, sex, devils, death and violence. But all that has taken an about-turn. These days, it’s the codeword for cool. Everyone is claiming to be a rocker. Even well-known senior lingala-ists like columnist Mike Owuor.