Ati Headbanging With KKK?

Vígljós Metal Band. Image source: The Void Journal

“By the way watu huku nje watu wamejam. Wanashindwa mbona the KKK wako on stage,” said Jan.

I felt slightly unmoored. ‘The KKK?’ I thought. ‘They looked like rebellious Gregorian deacons to me.’

Even so, it is difficult to find a reason why the KKK would be fry screaming ‘MARIA!’ at The Shelter in Westlands’ electric avenue. Death by sober-ish people is a sadistic way to go out. Kash, should she write a review on them, will emphatically insist that it would’ve been justified to headbutt Vifagio-head wa keys (and the rest of the band).

For the sake of an enjoyable read, it behooves you to keep the few facts in this paragraph in mind. First, metal rock music is usually extreme. It wouldn’t be odd for a band to call themselves ‘The Devil’s Anus’. Metal is where such extremities become pedestrian. Second, Kash isn’t a metalhead. She brings hella vibes to night escapades, though. And she has no inhibitions in speaking her mind. Her review is one I would love to interact with. Even if it may berate me. Third, costumes are common in metal music e.g Slipknot wear overalls and extremely unfriendly masks.

Dark thoughts and feelings aren’t necessarily evil to the public when dragged into the light in music, moshpits and headbanging front lines. Weirdly enough, metal music concerts make you feel lighter and happier after. Where else would you get to outwardly express your deepest aggressive shunned-by-society feelings without any worries of what people will think? The feeling of community and warmth in moshpits is a unique one.

The week was a simple one. Monday and Tuesday were unofficial holidays due to the matatu and motorists strike. On Wednesday, The Clan of a Can (and others taught and inspired by Patrick Mukabi) showed up to Railways Museum to paint murals in memory of him at the longest graffiti wall in East Africa. The day was spent priming the walls with grey paint. On Thursday through Sunday, people began painting their individual murals. The schedule; wake up, shower, get to CBD, buy some scones or mandazi with a drink, paint murals all day, clean up after, go home, sleep and repeat. Except for Saturday.

Jan and Deedee showed up on Saturday and lent a hand in filling in Ebrah and I’s collab mural. Then we went to Westlands (minus Deedee) to headbang and feel a burn in our thighs with Mutia, Kash and Rity. We showed up late to the concert because you can’t bring your own alcohol into the establishment. Unfortunately, this meant missing Autometal and Irony Destroyed’s performances. Our very own Kenyan metal rock bands. We did get to wild out with the legendary Last Year’s Tragedy. It’s always a great time when they perform. They have such a homely feel about them. It’s like if your mutura guy is also part of a metal band. You feel a certain pride at being around when your guys are performing. LYT have this ‘us’ feeling around them. It’s probably what makes them so magnetic. Then the final act, Vígljós, took the stage.

I was out on the verandah with the gang when I heard the vengeful pedaling of the kick drum. Simple minds have simple plans. I dashed for the front of the crowd where the moshpits live, leaving Jan and Kash to the drunk Indian dude who had called his wife to show them just how much they loved each other. It was amusing, I guess? Who cares, I was there for the music.

While (it seems) most people noticed the all-white costumes Vígljós had on, I noticed their masks. It was like staring into a vortex. It was a circular straw frame, sort of like the bottom of a basket or kiondoo, glued onto a white cloth that covered the whole head. Just imagine hearing a shrill fry scream coming from that straw abyss, which seemed to be moving by itself. The mask of the guy on the keys (Vifagio-head) looked like a bunch of vifagios tied together to make a cone with a base large enough for someone’s head to fit in. The main reason I didn’t think of the KKK when I saw them was because of where the pointy bit of the white cloth on the mask was facing. The KKK’s often face straight up. Vígljós’s was facing back and down. Evil-necromancer-priest style. And they were barefoot too.

Image source: Spirit of Metal

At some point, their manager (I think), tried explaining to me how Vifagio-head’s mask was similar to something or the other in African tradition. Maybe a granary? Or was it a hut? I don’t know. I was half-listening. Why did he think giving me that discourse in the middle of his band performing for the first time in Kenya was a good idea? Lol. But at least I had a point of reference later when I asked him if the band’s badges were for sale.

“Go for it!” he had said.

A few of them were littered on the speaker in front of the vocalist. It was rather dark, so I assumed the abstract shape was a guitar pedal or some other form of music device thingy. It was when he (manager guy) spread them out a bit more that I noticed what they were. That’s how I ended up with the only colourful circular badge in the batch.

The full-on punk rocker next to me grabbed himself a rectangular one. He brought so much energy to the moshpit. He was dressed for it too, with his rugged denim jacket vest and butterfly-like face corpse paint.

I couldn’t tell you what their music was about. All I remember is ‘MARIAAA!’ for the vocalist was mostly singing in Swiss. The experience, I can describe. But it won’t top actively being there. At some point, I was in front of the lead guitarist playing along with him on my air guitar. (Fun fact, playing air guitar made it easier to play the intro to System of a Down’s Aerials the next time I practiced) Then there was a moment of relative calm when the band – except the guitarist - knelt down in supplication. The guitarist repeatedly played a riff to… bless his band members? I took the opportunity to catch a break. I squatted, then sat on the floor when my knees screamed that I wasn’t as fit as I presumed. Slowly, the music crescendoed back into raucous mayhem.

At another point, I was headbanging so close to the vocalist that he accidentally bumped my head with the microphone in between his antics. There were numerous times I was wary of my neck snapping off my shoulders from my vicious headbanging. Then there was the time when I went to check on a white guy who had tripped over when moshing.

“You good?” I yelled over the music. He had already stood up.

“Yeah. I’m good,” he managed to say in between giving me a quick tight hug and a pat on the arm, before zooming back into the pandemonium. I followed suit.

I would’ve known that the performance was coming to a close if I understood Swiss. The vocalist spoke evenly and calmly for a few moments before getting back to screaming on the mic while hunched over. A few minutes later, silence. Save for the cheers from the crowd. Vígljós then calmly exited the stage and the room.

It was at this point that I regrouped with the squad and was forgiven by Kash for “vibing to the KKK.”

“Sawa basi... Shukran,” I said sheepishly. Mutia laughed at me while I tried to figure out why Kash assumed they were The Klan.

But, yet again, simple minds have simple plans. My main concern at that moment was to get a cab and go home. It was a busy week. And I still had to go and finish painting my collab mural with Ebrah back at Railways Museum the following day. Later in the day, rather. It was already 1am.

Much gratitude to Heavy and The Beast for planning and executing the event. Much thanks to Autometal, Irony Destroyed and Last Year’s Tragedy for the awesome performances ushering in Vígljós. Thank you Heavy and The Beast, for trusting us at Geekspeak Radio to aid you with marketing. And big thanks to Sababu band for the behind the scenes work, handling ticketing at the entrance and all.

Most especially, I’d like to personally thank Jay and Joyce from Sababu for keeping an eye on my backpack and jacket while I worked up a joyful sweat in the crowd. Joyce, you stellar bassist you, I owe a sticker pack and some cool merch from myself and The Clan of a Can. Jay Jaaaay!!! The shredder of Sababu! I owe you some turtle soup for sure! And a big rat on a stick too if it tickles your fancy.

And to Vigljos, the light bright enough to kill a man, thank you for the scintillating performance. We at Geekspeak Radio hope to see you back in Nairobi soon.