Music bands are on the increase in Nigeria, as more and more events are been done day after day. Nigerians and their love for Owambe has made this possible and one of the top bands that can’t be ignored in Nigeria today is the PLATINUM BLAZERS Band. The band played at the recent City People Movie Awards on October 8, 2017 and it was a beautiful rendition and medley of classical songs. City People’s DANIJI EMMANUEL caught up with the founder of the band, DEMILADE ADENIYI and he revealed how he started the band among other interesting issues. Enjoy.
Let’s meet you?
My name is Demilade Adeniyi. I am the CEO of Platinum Blazers Band.
How did you get into music?
Well. I’ve always been involved with music from my childhood. I used to play the drums, I sang with different choirs and I also was in different bands as well before I formed my own band. I also manage artistes, one of them just left here. I used to manage Sunny Nneji, Eddy Remedy, Paul Play and so on.
How long ago was this?
I’m talking about over 20 years ago.
With your vast knowledge and involvement in the music industry, which came first for you? Music or Artist management….
(Cuts In) Well, I’ll say all. I really can’t pick and say one came before the other. They all came as a passion for me
I’ve witnessed you perform at quite a number of gigs, but which would you say brought you fame?
I can’t count. We’ve worked with a lot of corporate bodies across Nigeria. Infact, Nigerian Breweries made us their “unofficial” band. I call it Unofficial because we haven’t signed any contract. Every Nigerian Breweries event is been handled by Platinum Blazers Band when it concerns music. On Friday we were at the Golden Pen Awards organized by Nigerian Breweries, on Saturday we were at Akure for another event and today been Sunday, we are here at the City People Movie Awards, so you can see that it would be hard to pick.
Would you say there is competition when it comes to bands in Nigeria?
Well, there is. I must confess that there is competition, but I call it an healthy competition because it keeps you on your toes. It gives you the notion that there is someone doing something great and you want to be better.
So what stands you out from other bands?
What stands Platinum Blazers band from every other band is the genre of music that we cover. We cover a wide range of music. There is no music that we don’t touch and we have a big list of Repertoire. We score songs if not better than the original; one of it is what you just witnessed tonight.
How easy was it gathering all these creative minds and talented members of your band
It has never been easy gathering people together. You know, human management is something that is very difficult. Its not easy gathering all kind of people, but one thing I know I did that worked for me was that I decided to use graduates. Every member of my band must have a degree. For I believe that once you go through the four walls of a university, it gives you a broader picture of what business is really about, that includes music business. You are not just playing music because everyone else is, you are playing it because you know what music business entails. So that’s the criteria to be a member of my band.
So what’s the band size?
We are large, because we handle like 3 to 5 events at a time. I have a band size of about 25.
Do you sing as well?
I used to. I know what music is all about but lately I’ve been focusing on the training. I play the keyboard and drums but for now, I do more of the training. You have to go through a certain level of training before you can become a member of the band.
Have you recorded an original song of yours?
Not yet, but we are working on it. We are working on our own songs and by God’s grace before the first quarter of next year; we would be dropping something in the industry for our fans, because a lot of them have yearning for us to release our own stuff.
