Article for my magazine.

Please note that this is only a draft. Some of the content included in this document may or may not be used so nothing is to be labelled as certain.

Introductory paragraph:

As a method of kicking off our magazine in the best way as possible, Indie-Vidual’s expert journalists have been working hard to bring you a cover story that will really spark our magazine into life!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you RoodePelikaan.

Main article:

When people think of modern music, artists like Jay – Z, Rihanna and One Direction come to mind. Unfortunately, this is the standard image of what people call “music”.

But RoodePelikaanhave a slightly different image.

Just take four ordinary blokes from Eastbourne, an arrogant view on modern music, a range of instrumental skills and an obscure name and you have RoodePelikaan.

RoodePelikaanare the newest and most eagerly anticipated Indie band that the UK has ever had. Having only just come onto the scene in the summer of 2013, they already have their place at Reading festival 2014 booked and a new album on the way. Their sudden rise to fame has happened almost instantly compared to some other artists, which means that they have to be doing something right?

The band consists of four members, all of whom can sing and play their instruments with equal skill. All having been graduates of the same university, James Coots (Singer), Tony LaTuane (Guitar), Daniel Zayn (Bass) and Liam Darlow (Backup singer and keyboard) have spent the past 5 years together, writing songs, jamming and performing at local venues around the South coast of England.

“We have all been together for such a long time now. It may seem that we have had instant success, but the truth is far from that. There have been so many sleepless nights of

writing songs instead of revising and enhancing our abilities so that if the dream did become reality, we would be ready to take it by the horns and ride the whole way smoothly.” – James.

It is apparent that sacrifices were made in order to achieve their goals, which while being an extremely risky move, is one that has paid off brilliantly for them. It is a cliché that the best things in life come to those who wait – but this is nonsense, as RoodePelikaan have proved.

“If you are to get far in life, you have to make sacrifices. It is no good if you are only half hearted towards something. You’re either committed or you’re not – and that is a rule that we have lived by since we first formed the band back in 2008”. – Tony LaTuane.

From speaking to the band for a good hour and a half, it had become clear that almost everything about them, from their stories to their opinions, is interesting. But perhaps the most intriguing thing that we have learnt from the band is how they came to be. An obscure name and short burst of success take a lot of planning… or are they just the work of a mad man? James Coots was the one to tell us the background of the band.

“The band didn’t take too long to come together to be perfectly honest. Tony and I are family friends, but he lived in Brighton. When we both ended up going to East Sussex University, it was definitely time for some catch up. In our small apartment, we would sit and reminisce about all of our memories – one of which was the desire to start a band. From the age of 4, I knew I could sing. I don’t have one of those beautiful voices, but at least I don’t bloody use auto tune. Tony had been playing the guitar since he was 6 years old. So when we both went off to university at the age of 19, he had been playing for a good 13 years. By then, he had become a god.”

“We originally started to write our own songs and jammed a little bit in our spare time. It was nothing of world class standard, but it’s the little things that helped you kick off your careers that you are grateful for when you make it. I think we had written a total off… ummm… four songs? (Looks at Tony for clarification)…. Yeah, four. Funnily enough, one of those four songs, Terrance and the Crowd, is actually included in our album – so if people want to know how it all started, they can listen”.

Coots then went on to explain how the other two members, Liam and Daniel joined the band and how they went on from there.

“It wasn’t until my first law lecture when I met Liam. I remember us both getting along well with each other as we discussed the latest laws on piracy. If there is one thing I will always remember about Liam, it’s when he said “A law against downloading music is criminal”. Well, that was all I needed to hear. After grabbing some cheap fish and chips with Liam after the day was finished, I discovered that he was a passionate singer and a talented keyboard player. I invited him over to mine and Tony’s flat for a jam session.

Every note we hit, every lyric we sung was perfect. I finally felt something coming together. Then came Daniel. The final member of our band.An honest and genuine guy who had a love for music. On campus, he was silent as a mouse. Whenever I heard him ask a question during a lecture, I would almost go into shock because of just how quiet he was. However, down the pier on a warm evening in town, I saw Daniel play. He was a soloist. A solo bass player (You don’t get many of those anymore). I spoke to him after his performances and that was that. He was part of the band before I could even ask him.

Recruiting people to join the band was probably the easiest part of setting up. We all had our instruments, apart from me of course – and we all had our passion for music. What more could you need? Oh yes, a name.

Tony had to take over the interview whilst James went to grab his daily cider.

“The name Roode Pelikaan is obviously an odd choice for a band and we are aware of this. It is not a name that will ring many bells across the world at the moment. However, if we do become bigger than what we are now, it might just become a house hold name. The name was thought of one day when we were writing a song in James’ flat. Daniel and I were sitting down on the sofas, writing down the lyrics to “Alphabetti Spaghetti” when James walked through the door with a face of frustration. At first, we thought it was because of his boring economics lecture, but it was actually because we didn’t have a name for a band. We had been playing small gigs and local pubs for a year before we became Roode Pelikaan, playing our music under the name of “Nameless”. It wasn’t a great name, admittedly, but it was something unique and straight to the point. We scrapped the song writing and sat down together, brain storming ideas about what to call ourselves. It was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do… and all I was doing was sitting on my arse moaning.

I couldn’t stand this; it was draining what little energy I had from a long night of practising. But they do say that the most spontaneous things seem to work the best for people… and Daniel proved that.

As we sat in silent frustration, Daniel randomly shouted out “Roode Pelikaan”. At first I laughed. I thought it was Daniel being an idiot, but when I saw him staring at James’ coffee cup; I knew what he was on about.

For those of you who don’t know – Roode Pelikaan is a brand of coffee. That’s right. A band named after a company dedicated to making coffee. It’s a strange thought thinking that our name came from a simple brand of coffee. However, it does metaphorically suggest that our music will “Wake you up”, just like coffee.”

The name Roode Pelikaan is now taking the music world by storm. With their songs being played all over the country, their name being spoken on every radio station and a die-hard fan base, Roode Pelikaan are now a sensation in the music world.

After James returned from getting his cider, he explained to us the morals of the group and their opinions on modern day music.

“We are not artists, we are erntrepeunuers. Music died a long time ago and we want to be the people to save it. Everything to do with modern day music is criminal. We have stupid television shows like X-factor – who make money out of people’s looks and not their talents. We have pathetic bands like One Direction, who hire people to write cheesy and downright awful songs about washing up liquid and other crap. We have artists who use auto tune to make their voices sound wonderful. I feel sorry for bands like Bastille, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rolling Stones and ACDC – who work so hard every day to make sure that their music is loved by their fans. There are still people out there, pockets of people who love music for what it is. Unfortunately, they are lost in a sea of sick and deluded people. We believe that if you don’t love music – don’t get involved with it. Fakes are fakes. You can pose as a musician, but until you pick up that guitar, pluck the strings and feel a connection – you can’t call yourself musician.”

Despite their arrogant nature, Roode Pelikaan are loved all over the UK and most of western Europe. With their songs being played in France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Portugal. Their songs have even been heard as far as Capetown.

“We may have “taken the music world by storm” but people need to remember that we are just normal guys. We aren’t in this for the fame. We are in it for the revival of music and what it stands for. This is our life now. We know what we have to do to bring back music to the world. We may dedicate hours upon hours to song writing and practising our skills, but away from the media and the headlining, we are still just four ordinary lads from Eastbourne. We don’t have a big recording studio or a big house. In fact we still live in apartments on the South Coast. We have no need to live it big. We have shared our music with the world and we are happy with that. No amounts of money can take away the passion that we feel for music and what music means. Because to be perfectly honest – I am happy sitting on my balcony overlooking the sea, with a glass of cider and my guitar… watching the sun go down.