Catch Them If You Can: ALT BLK ERA On Their Debut Album 'Rave Immortal'
Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Written by Rishi Shah
Photo: A. Vassell
It was around 2am when Nyrobi and Chaya Beckett-Messam cooked up the stunning Straight To Heart, a tour de force of pulverising alt-rock, liquid drum ‘n’ bass and emotive melodic vocals. The track opens ALT BLK ERA’s debut album ‘Rave Immortal’, but it began life with two teenagers in a classic bind — namely being told off for staying up too late. “Mum walked past our room and went, ‘What time is it?’” Nyrobi recalls.
Mashing up ruthless electronic drops with powerful modern rock sounds, the stir ALT BLK ERA caused on their local Nottingham live circuit has now spread, with their 2023 debut EP ‘Freak Show’ leading to sets at Glastonbury, Download, Reading & Leeds and Boomtown, highlighting the sheer range of scenes where their boxless sound might take root.
April will mark their first UK headline tour, where they will stop off at legendary venues such as London’s Underworld and the Key Club in Leeds. Bringing the barrage of high-octane noise that runs riot throughout ‘Rave Immortal’ into the live room is a challenge the sisters are relishing. Here, they tell us about their journey to date, discovering The Prodigy, the challenges Nyrobi faces while touring with chronic fatigue syndrome and unifying their eclectic music tastes under one sound.
How did you piece together such a diverse sound on ‘Rave Immortal’ while making sure everything was cohesive?
Nyrobi: “We had to make sure what was in our head came out in the production side, [there was] a lot of communication with our producer. We didn’t really relax until we heard how it was going to sound. We never try to do anything intentionally, ‘let’s mix genres and be really edgy in this song.’ It just happens. We have really different music tastes. Chaya likes emo-rock, a bit of industrial – and she loves singing. She’s got a higher toned voice that’s angelic. I like more electronic music, with the rapping that I do. We meet in the middle. It is really [about] throwing it into the pot, and if it doesn’t sound good, we take it out. It’s impulsive…you never know what style you're going to get next.”
The concept of ‘genre’ is becoming less clear by the day — but does your sound highlight how music fans are more open-minded these days?
Nyrobi: “I think it highlights how broad people’s music tastes are, the fact that our fanbase enjoy music from emo-rock to hard D‘n’B to pop to alternative rap. People do listen to so many different styles. We are all those different styles, in one artist — you don't have to go anywhere else.”
Opener Straight To Heart is such a bold introduction to the album and your sound.
Nyrobi: “The thing about night writing is that you never know how it's going to sound in the morning, because night you is not morning you…”
Chaya Beckett-Messam: “Please, let’s not listen to it in the morning and be like, ‘What were we thinking?’”
Nyrobi: “That song was a little bit of an emotional write, because it is about my experience with my disability. I wasn't sure if I wanted to write about it [and] share this side of me in the lyrics. When you write it down, it feels like it’s true. We’re singing it together, so it’s quite an important song for us both as sisters.”
Why did now feel like the right time for you to feel comfortable opening up about your disability?
Nyrobi: “Originally, I didn’t want to disclose it, because of being discriminated against. I didn’t want anyone to say, ‘She got that nomination because of sympathy, because she’s disabled’ or ‘We don't want to book her for a show because she’s disabled, she’s in pain all the time.’ But, now, we’ve proved ourselves by doing Glastonbury, Download, Reading & Leeds, the nominations [2024 MOBOs and Heavy Music Awards]. We’ve proved who ALT BLK ERA are, and what we can do, disability or not.
“In regards to the actual song, on release date, I was really emotionally overwhelmed. The video is almost a re-enactment of the first two years of my disability, when it was really bad, and I was bed-ridden. I don’t even like watching the video — it just brings back all the emotions. I’m really glad it’s out, though. No regrets. I don’t think it's changed anyone’s perspective of me, because I’m still the same person that I was before people knew I was disabled, which is really nice.”
You’ve got your first UK headline tour in April — how do you prepare for such an intense few days?
Chaya: “It’s a bit more spread out. We can't go from the top of the UK to the bottom, not yet.”
Nyrobi: “We're not able to do as many shows as able-bodied people might be able to do. It’s my first tour, so it’s like an experiment — we’re going to see how my body reacts to doing a tour. We’ve taken all the precautions. Before a show, I have to get oxygen therapy, which is literally just breathing in pure oxygen for an hour and a half, once or twice a week. I’m making sure that I’m not carrying heavy bags or doing anything too strenuous in the days before.
“It’s normal to us now. We know that I need to rest the day before and after to make sure that I can do the show. I can’t believe it when people start talking about the afterparty. No, no, no, I won’t be attending! We have to do it a different way, but I don’t think it takes away from the experience. We’re happy with where we are.”
Drum ‘n’ bass and electronic music on the whole is having a real moment – what was your first introduction to the scene?
Nyrobi: “The Prodigy was our first introduction to the electronic scene. [Watching them] literally changed our lives — we’ve now watched everything on YouTube that’s available. Keith and Maxim, how they own the stage, that’s what made me fall in love with electronic music and be like, ‘This is a bit of me.’ Their heart and attitude, that’s what we wanted to make our own. That's what led me into the wormhole of electronic music, which I’m still unravelling. We’ve seen The Prodigy live, but I haven’t really been [involved in] the club scene. If/when I get better, I’ll be out and about.”
You’ve mainly played in Nottingham so far — how did you find the scene when ALT BLK ERA started out?
Nyrobi: “We still haven’t finished growing up, to the point where we almost ‘childhooded’ in the music industry. Before lockdown, we were doing martial arts and music lessons, but we weren’t going to clubs — we didn't know there was a scene. I’d never heard of Rock City until we played there. We grew up listening to dance, house, Rudimental…but we didn’t get inside the more underground, edgy stuff until recently. We didn't grow up in the rock scene at all…I didn’t know who Slipknot were until 2022. But, in the same way, our drummer didn’t know who Lauryn Hill was. It’s a learning process — we might get that now with the electronic scene.”
Chaya: “We know Rudimental, it’ll be fine…”
ALT BLK ERA’s ‘Rave Immortal’ is out on January 24 through Earache.
ALT BLK ERA Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Fri January 24 2025 - BRISTOL Rough Trade
Sat January 25 2025 - NOTTINGHAM Saltbox
Mon January 27 2025 - LIVERPOOL Rough Trade
Tue January 28 2025 - OXFORD Truck
Wed January 29 2025 - BRIGHTON Resident Records
Thu January 30 2025 - KINGSTON Pryzm
Tue April 15 2025 - MANCHESTER Deaf Institute Lodge
Wed April 16 2025 - LEEDS Key Club
Fri April 18 2025 - SHEFFIELD Corporation
Sun April 20 2025 - BIRMINGHAM Flapper
Mon April 21 2025 - SOUTHAMPTON Heartbreakers
Wed April 23 2025 - LONDON Underworld
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