Bianca Okorocha is always seeking the thrill of something new. Just as clay can be molded, destroyed, and reformed anew, Okorocha is not afraid to learn and relearn. In fact, she yearns for the endless possibilities of the unknown. In her childhood, she spent countless hours immersed in Rock records, eagerly investing her pocket money in expanding her collection. Although seeing her father listen to Rock music may have laid the foundation, Okorocha’s passion for the genre bloomed into an insatiable drive. For her, Rock was not merely music but a reflection of nature itself, an essential element she could not live without. When the opportunity to pursue music professionally presented itself, she seized it without hesitation, vowing to become the best Afro-Rockstar the world has ever known. Dubbed ClayRocksU, she attributes her stage name and passion to the malleability of clay itself, stating, “With time, process, and effort, ordinary clay that you picked from the ground can become something better.”
In this interview with Culture Custodian, the artist opens up about her early beginnings, the driving forces that fuel her artistry in a society at odds with Rock, and the inspirations behind her newly released EP, Hate It Here.
Could you talk me through finding Rock in your formative years and what it did for you?
So you know when you’re at that age where you can finally take the TV remote and pick a channel you want, which is like 9 – 12 years. Outside of those religious stations, my parents made me watch cartoons, I chose MTV, not MTV Base by the way. There was an MTV channel that used to be on DSTV, and they played only Rock music. In junior high, I used to save up money to buy CDs to put in my Disc Man, compilations of white people singing and a lot of it used to be Rock music and soft Rock. People like Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette, Dido, Green Day, and these compilations came out every Friday so I would buy from a guy. That’s how I got into Rock music.
What were you like as a child?
I could never keep a huge group of friends at a time. I had a lot of activities as a child and I was in many church fellowships. At 8, I started singing in the choir, that’s how I started singing actually. It wasn’t because I wanted to be a musician, I was just singing as a hobby. Eventually, I rose from being a backbencher in the choir to the choir mistress when I was 14 or 15. Even in secondary school, I joined the choir and somehow became the choir mistress. I was always singing and dancing. I actually thought I’d be a dancer. Immediately after I finished high school, I took up a dancing job. I started dancing for people like Obiwon, 2 Face, Nigga Raw; all the people that were trending back then, I used to dance for them. But that didn’t last, it was a 2-year thing. I think it was just something I needed to get out of my system. I got bored afterward.
You’ve said you grew up listening to your father’s Rock records. Rock isn’t popular among Nigerians, so why do you think your father fell in love with it?
Honestly, I never really asked him. Although, I know that when my dad was young, he used to play the guitar. So maybe that’s what influenced him, I’m not sure. But I don’t think I have an exact idea of why he started doing Rock music. He used to listen to Classic Rock, and I listened to Modern Rock. At that age, I didn’t know, but in hindsight, I remember now that it was classic Rock. So I don’t think his love for Rock music influenced mine. Regardless, I would have done Rock.
Could you tell me about your family dynamics? How many siblings do you have and what’s your position?
I’m the first child. I have two siblings, a sister and a brother. My dad was a civil servant, and my mom was a stay-at-home mom. My parents are separated. Dad left when I was 12, probably that was what threw me into teenage angst. My mom was supportive of my music but when my dad came back into our lives, he wasn’t happy about it. He was always on my case and there was friction between us. There was a time I had a concert in 2017, the first EP I dropped. I invited my parents and they came. Over 200 people came out to see his daughter perform, and he just saw that I was serious about music and let me do it. After that day, he accepted my music.
So how did you get into music professionally? How did you learn to make music?
I don’t know if I learned. I think everything has to be honed and practiced to get better. I do know that I’ve been writing full-fledged songs that are properly structured since I was 12 years old. When I got into it professionally, of course, I had to practice and get better. A friend of mine from high school, we used to sing together in school, asked me to come to the studio. His name is Rez Tha Poet. He was doing a song and he asked me to do a chorus. So I wrote a chorus, and I sang it. Everyone in the studio was stunned like “Oh my God, this is your voice. You can sing and you can write. Do you have your own music?” They actually believed in me more than I believed in myself. I never saw myself as a singer. That’s how they introduced me to a producer and that’s how my Rock career started.
Due to its aggressive tone and some of its imagery, Rock for some is Devil’s music. You’ve talked about some of the negative reactions you got in your teenage and early adult years due to your immersion in Rock/Punk culture. Can you talk me through the experience?
Especially in church, because my family and I were very into the whole church thing. Like I said, I used to sing in the choir. Outside of music, my style is alternative, emo-goth. Somehow, church and my style couldn’t marry each other. People in the church had issues with me, and I was very stubborn. I would go to church wearing socks in my arms and carry a Mohawk. People used to always report me, look at me funny, or drag me to the main pastor’s office. They eventually backed off. And now, those people who used to complain post me on their stories.
Why have you decided to work in a music genre that’s at odds with popular taste?
To be honest, it’s just natural. Even when I was writing music at 12, in my head they were Rock songs: the instruments and structure, whether it was perfect or not. So when they said go into the studio and make your own music, the only natural thing was Rock. I didn’t need to go far to think because it wasn’t a choice. It was already my genre. Now doing anything else is going outside my comfort zone, for instance, adding Afrobeats is me taking it a step further.
What drives you, and how do you make it work in an industry that doesn’t care for Rock?
Passion. Of course, one is going to get tired and frustrated, but now I’ve just accepted that this is my life. For me, I’m a Rockstar and I can’t see myself doing anything else.
You mix Rock with Afrobeats, is it because of the Nigerian music market (people generally listen to Afrobeats), or is it because that’s where your interest lies?
When I started out, the first couple of songs did not even have pidgin. I vehemently refused. In hindsight, I look at it now and see that I was really young and I hadn’t come into my own. You know, when you’re young, there’s a lot of identity crisis and you don’t really know who you are. But as a full-grown adult, I now know who I am. I love music, I want to do Rock music but I’m also African. Now I cannot deny my Africanness. I love how Nigerian music sounds. I’m a Rockstar, but I’m a Rockstar from Nigeria.
I listened to your new EP, Hate It Here, it has a little bit of everything. What inspired you to make that?
From a music standpoint, a lot of it is from where I am now as a person. I’ve grown and I’m now more comfortable being Nigerian. Rock is a mother term to over a hundred sub-genres. So why can’t we add one more to that list? There’s already Piano Rock, Soft Rock, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Pop Rock, Metal, Pop Punk, it’s too many. So one more would not kill anybody. This is why me and some other people started a movement, calling our music Afro-Rock. It’s Rock music plus a little extra and that’s what I do.
What do you want your fans to get from it?
The EP is about growing up, and realizing that life is not how you thought life would be. It’s like “adulthood na scam,” a crushing disappointment. Especially when you grow up as a Nigerian millennial. It’s a bit stressful for all of us, and somehow the country doesn’t seem to be getting better. The older you get the more you see that you should have just stayed a child. The EP is about growing up in a world of hatred, depression, conflict, pain, deception, heartbreak, and everything going on around us. It’s me trying to go back to the peace that we had in childhood. I would like that we have that as adults.
What’s next for Clay?
Taking over the world! I just dropped my EP, so I’m still right in the middle of all of that. We’re rehearsing a lot in my band, practicing the songs and pushing one of the songs on the EP, Lele. I’m also doing rehearsals for the World Music Day and the Olympics thing. They’re passing a music baton around the world, so every country is going to pick a couple of singers to represent them. I’m representing Nigeria with Johnny Drille. I’m also going back to work on my album because I haven’t dropped my official album yet.
