Our greatest achievement was when we won a church choir competition: Downtown Trips

Ola Entertainment Blog met recently with Fredrick of the upcoming music group Downtown Trips and this his what he told our correspondent about the group:

 Ola Entertainment Blog: Good evening, can I meet you?

Frederick: My name is Frederick Onoharigho from Delta state, currently based in the city of Lagos. I’m a music artist in a music group called DOWNTOWN TRIP, which includes me and my two younger brothers. My stage name is Freddy. Simple and short.

Ola Entertainment Blog: Family and educational background?

Frederick: Okay so I’m from the family of six, I’m the first born and I have three younger brothers.

The last born is not a member of our music group, He's not into music for now, well that's because he’s still very young. We are all in different school, I’m in the University of Nigeria Nsukka, the Epe campus, studying Computer science. It started from a talent hunt in school,this was back in 2011 or 2012. It was just Kevin, myself, and a friend of ours. That lasted for about a year until we discovered Eric was really really good at music .We decided to make it a family thing since all of us had passion for music and we’ve been doing that ever since then.

Ola Entertainment Blog: How did Downtown trips start?,any Up's and down's in this career?

Frederick: We’ve had a lot an ups and down since we started this journey. As kids ,we thought it was just to record a song and people will like it, and that was it. Later we realized that it was more than just recording a good song, but many other things followed like media promotion and all of that. I think our major obstacle is the financial aspect of the career, It’s a huge hurdle so basically we’ve been stucked in between looking for record labels and standing on our own, but so far so good, I think we waning progress, baby steps though but it counts for something.

Ola Entertainment Blog: Your greatest achievement?

Frederick: To be honest, the fame and doing what we do best keeps us going. We know this is one of the things that we do, and stresses us to the very least, and besides,who doesn’t want to do what they are passionate about?. Wanting people to see our creation because music is life.

Ola Entertainment Blog: What motivates the group?

Frederick: As a group, musically, our greatest achievement so far was when we came second in a church music competition. This was very important to us because our parents were like, no circular music for you boys until you sing for God.

So we did that and it was really good, biggest crowd we’ve ever performed in front of. So yes, musically that stands out high for us.

Ola Entertainment Blog: Your role model?

Frederick: I don’t have a role model personally, I don’t know about my brothers.

Ola Entertainment Blog: What's makes downtown trips stand out?

Frederick: Our flexibility. The thing is we are three individuals with different styles of music, so if you listen to our EP you’ll find out that you would hear different styles of music and that's really the key because I feel that way we can reach out to more audience of different taste. So personally, I feel that’s our strongest attribute and that makes us stand out. 

Ola Entertainment Blog: How do you cope with school and music?

Frederick: In my school, it’s nice you know. I get a text once in a while from people saying they would like to collaborate In school and all that. I mean it’s not all crazy and wild but I mean I’m known enough for people to know, okay this guy is an artist. So it’s a gradual process and all that so we keep on grinding.

So music hasn’t really put any pressure on us in terms of having to skip classes yet. So for now, music isn’t getting in our way with school work

Ola Entertainment Blog: Which artiste will the group like to work with?

Frederick: The new generation artist ,the likes of Oxlade , Fireboy, Joeboy, Omahlay. It would be a really good opportunity doing a song with any of them.

Ola Entertainment Blog: Your most memorable experience?

Frederick: The making of our first music video, there was this really huge pack of sands very high like a mountain. We've never seen anything that's as  big close to a river along Lagos Ibadan expressway. Getting the vixens to climb all the way up to shoot.

It was a crazy experience, stressful and fun.

Ola Entertainment Blog: Do you think the Nigeria music industry is making progress?

Frederick: I think it’s making huge progress both locally and internationally and the audience is listening to varieties of sounds. The competition is in another level right now,and I think it’s the biggest industry in Africa for now.

Ola Entertainment Blog: Your advice to the youths?

Frederick: Same thing we tell ourselves, keep pushing,keep grinding, keep trying, and things would eventually work out.

Ola Entertainment Blog: Where do you see downtown trips in future?

Frederick: Up there with the best, at the very top but locally and internationally. I know we have what it takes to get there.

Ola Entertainment Blog: Thanks for your time.

Edited by TEMPTYTEA