Introducing #101 - Rayowa
Fresh after selling out their debut show at London’s Moth Club, we had a chat with Rayowa. A band made up of three brothers, mixing classic and contemporary disco, and when you listen to their music, it’s no surprise they have caught the attention from the ultimate hitmaker - Nile Rodgers.
Where does the name Rayowa come from?
Rayowa means ‘life’.
We were looking for a one word name that focused on the theme of a new beginning. We’ve been in bands before but never as just the three of us, so it was a fresh start and felt like a rebirth.
We spent quite a lot of time scouring the internet for words in other languages. Eventually we landed on ‘rayowa’ which means ’life’ in the African language Hausa. There's a lot of speakers of that dialect in Nigeria, where there was a big Disco scene in the early 80’s, so it seemed kind of a fitting.
You are three brothers, so who is the oldest?
Dan is the eldest, Reece is the middle child and Luke is the youngest! There’s 18 months between each of us.
You share a love for soul, funk and pop music. Where does this stem from?
It's hard to say exactly why we've landed on being so into those styles of music. We all started off liking more guitar based bands but as we've grown so has our musical taste. We’ve all listened to soul, funk and disco for a really long time now and naturally its made it’s way into the music. They’re feel-good genres and have helped us through some really tough times. There's nothing better than sticking on a Nile Rodgers record to lift your mood when you're not feeling your best.
What are your earliest music memories?
We’ve done everything together since we were babies and have always wanted to be in a band together. Its all we've ever focused on. Our earliest memory is probably the three of us sat in Dan’s bedroom around the ages of 7, 9 and 10. We were writing lyrics and plotting how we’d take over the world. We've been working on that ever since.
You recently sold out Moth Club with an eight piece band. How did that feel?
It really was an overwhelming landmark moment for us. It’s been a rollercoaster getting there. We’d previously been in a band for 7 or 8 years that ended in Autumn 2018. It really devastated us and we very nearly quit music. Something held us back though and we ended up working the hardest we ever have over the last year. Moth Club was such a pay off for all that graft. It made the blood, sweat and tears worth it. It was really emotional looking out at all those incredible people who'd come to see us. We sold it out in 48 hours and hadn't even released any music. We couldn't believe we'd managed to do that. It's really fired us up and has given us a taste of what's possible with hard work, belief and a positive mindset.
And why an eight piece band?
We wanted the live shows to be a real spectacle, reminiscent of all the bands and music we love from the 70’s and 80’s.
We also couldn't do the recorded music justice without it being 8 of us.
The band is a collective of friends but without sounding cliche we really are one big family. The three of us are obviously brothers, but we also have Pete (bass) & Mike (percussion) who are brothers, Nico (drums) & Jas (vocals) who are brother and sister, and then Darnell (vocals) who is like an uncle figure. We’re all the best of friends and for the first time in our lives we’re in a band where everyone is a kind person and there are no egos. There really is a lot of love between us. Its a very, very special dynamic and we have to keep pinching ourselves because we feel so blessed.
Your new track ‘Better Man’ is out now, can you tell us the inspiration behind the track?
It’s basically about bettering yourself and beating your inner demons that hold you down in day to day life. It's about being faced with a situation that you have no control over. It’s about the fear of change and being forced to take the positives from a bad-time, allowing you to grow and become a better person. This song holds a special place in our hearts and we hope people find the same comfort in it as we do.
What are your plans for the next few months?
The plan is to release more music, continue writing and to play more shows. We’ve got a couple of gigs with Craig Charles from BBC 6 Music, and then we have our next London headline show at Colours Hoxton on 14th February. We can’t say much more than that but there’s loads in the pipeline that we’re really excited about.