Celebrating its 30th anniversary with its biggest ceremony to date, the MOBO Awards will land at Manchester’s Co-op Live on March 26.
The biggest and most influential celebration of Black music and culture in Europe, among the nominees for Best Alternative Music Act are ALT BLK ERA. Returning winners after taking home the trophy in 2025, they’ll be up against a seriously stacked list of artists this year, including Nova Twins, Blood Orange, Rachel Chinouriri, Hak Baker, and Michael Kiwanuka.
Tickets for the MOBOs are on sale now at https://mobo.com/tickets.
Ahead of the ceremony – and following the announcement of their new EP ‘Our World’ with powerful single ‘Tissues’ – we caught up with the duo to talk about how different this year feels, what it means to keep carving out space for alternative music at the MOBOs, and why the ALT BLK ERA world is all about unity.
ROCK SOUND: You’re heading into the 30th anniversary MOBO Awards as returning winners and current nominees for Best Alternative Act. How does it feel going into this year’s ceremony compared to how you felt last year?
NYROBI BECKETT-MESSAM: I feel like we’re completely different people. We’ve grown so much in the past year with everything that’s gone on. We’ve had our debut album, we’ve been touring, we won the award… This year, we’re coming into it feeling so much older thanks to our experiences. When we found out about the nomination, we were on the music video set for our song ‘Tissues’. We were freaking out with the whole production team at nine o’clock in the morning!
RS: You’re up against some huge names in the category this year, representing the breadth of the alternative music world. Is there anyone who you’re particular fans of?
NYROBI: We’re new fans of a lot of them. I can’t believe we didn’t know about Blood Orange before, but it’s exciting to find out about new artists. We’ve been able to discover their whole discographies and get into them as fresh fans. It’s always fun to see everyone on the night of the awards, because with the way that the tables are set up you can just go round and mingle. I don’t want to say it’s a party, but it’s not far off!
CHAYA: We’re definitely feeling calmer than we were last year, too. Last year, we didn’t even eat before the award show. We were so hungry, and our corsets were so tight!
RS: You won this award in 2025, and in a lot of ways, that felt like a breakout moment for ALT BLK ERA. Looking back now, what did that win change for you?
NYROBI: When we were first nominated in 2024, we were 16 and 19 years old. It was early days for us, and every year since it’s allowed us to go into situations – whether it’s the studio or music video sets – and have our voice carry more weight. We’ve stepped into ourselves with the support of having these massive accolades, and now our opinions seem louder. We’ve had to fight really hard for so long, but now it feels like we don’t have to fight as hard.
RS: The MOBOs only introduced the Alternative category a few years ago. Why do you think having that specific space carved out for rock, metal and alternative within a Black music awards show is so important?
NYROBI: It’s huge, not just for the artists, but for the fans. We do belong in these spaces, and the alternative community is strong enough to be recognised as an individual category. As we said, we’ve become fans of Blood Orange because of this award, so hopefully, more people will find out about the amazing alternative music artists in the scene. From there, they might get into rock music. It’s like a gateway into a whole new world.
RS: For anyone who still hasn’t seen you live, how would you describe what ALT BLK ERA bring to an alternative stage that maybe wasn’t there before you showed up?
NYROBI: We didn’t grow up listening to alternative music, so our take on it is a recent one. We only started to discover guitar music a few years ago, and the things we have learned have allowed us to express ourselves. As heavy as our music is though, we listen to a lot of electronic music. We grew up listening to rap and pop, so now our sound is a massive fusion. ALT BLK ERA is about saying that we all exist together, we don’t have to separate ourselves.
That’s what our latest single ‘Tissues’ is about. Some people in this world benefit from division and try to make everyone feel isolated, but this band is the opposite of that. It’s all about unity. Whether you listen to rap, electronic, metal or emo, this is somewhere that you can express yourself and have fun. You can see that in our audiences, too. It doesn’t matter what you look like or where you come from, everyone’s there to celebrate each other and to enjoy the music.
RS: Your debut album ‘Rave Immortal’ represents all those different sides of what you do. It’s been a year since it dropped, and you’ve barely stopped since. When you finally got a second to breathe, what were you most proud of about that record and everything it unlocked?
CHAYA: I’m glad that we got to use that record as an introduction to ourselves. It has such a blend of genres, and it’s everything that we both love.
NYROBI: It was honestly scary to release the album, though. I’m talking about my hidden disability in a lot of the songs, and what we go through as sisters dealing with that. It was super vulnerable, but we received so much support from the community. The friendships that we’ve made off the back of the album have made it feel very full circle. The album is about where I was emotionally in 2024, but off the back of those emotions, I’ve been able to connect with artists that I really look up to. Now, some of those people are saying that ‘Rave Immortal’ was their album of 2025!
RS: You’re now rolling into 2026 with the ‘Our World’ UK tour and a new EP on the way. How does this next chapter build on the world you created with ‘Rave Immortal’?
NYROBI: It’s a direct continuation, because we’re concept girlies. The album ends with us stepping into a new world with the people that we’ve carried through with us from the other songs, and this EP is us claiming that world as ours. I don’t want to give too much away, but the title track of ‘Our World’ is about celebrating young and upcoming creatives across all industries. If you’ve ever been told that you can’t make it, you can make it in our world. It’s a message to our old selves, but it’s also something that we want to share with other people. We were told that it was impossible for us to achieve some of these accolades, but we did it.
RS: Let’s dig a little deeper into ‘Tissues’. Where did the inspiration for that track come from?
NYROBI: It’s about being vulnerable with your emotions. Crying is healthy, and we shouldn’t hold our emotions in. All of the division and everything else going on in the world is overwhelming and upsetting, and ‘Tissues’ is about validating those emotions. You’re supposed to be scared, upset and angry, and it’s okay to not know what to do. Honestly, how are we supposed to keep living normally with everything going on? Having emotions is a natural part of being human, and we wanted to acknowledge that, especially with the current social climate. Some people love to see division, and they thrive on it, but that’s not what we’re about.
RS: It’s another song that feels like it’ll take on a whole new life when you play it live. When you’re writing, how much are you thinking about how a song is going to land in a live setting?
NYROBI: A lot, and we also love to dance as we’re writing songs. It’s a bit like a GCSE drama performance, but it helps us and it’s good fun. We had the chance to play ‘Tissues’ a few times on the Pendulum tour, and our guitarist and drummer came to the front at the end whilst Chaya and I hyped them up. The song goes into some heavy rock and hyperpop at the end, and it’s so much fun to play.
RS: Nyrobi, you’ve been really open about your experiences living with a hidden disability. How important is it to carry that conversation with you into spaces like the MOBOs?
NYROBI: I remember being in secondary school, and when we were told about disability, it never showed the full spectrum of what that looks like. We’re not made aware of how many people actually have a disability. It’s treated like it’s a one-in-a-million thing, but it’s absolutely not.
I’m proud to be in the community and to be able to raise awareness of it. Whether I’ve got my walking stick or whether I’m in my wheelchair, I’m still the same person. I still have that wild energy when I’m on stage, and being disabled doesn’t take anything away from my character. I’m lucky that the band don’t treat me any differently either. They help a lot with the physical things, but I still get jokes thrown my way. There’s no holding back just because I’m disabled, and I love that, because I give them hell sometimes too!
We have worked with the BBC to make festivals more accessible for artists, and that’s a five-year pledge. We’re slowly making changes in the industry so that other disabled artists can come through. They can see that representation, they can see the opportunities, and they can see a way for them to become artists. It’s exciting to see what the future holds and how much change we can make. We want to inspire others in the same way that we’ve been inspired by others.
RS: Fashion is also a huge part of this band, and presumably you’ve already got outfits planned for the MOBOs. Can you give us any clues as to what you’re going to be wearing?
NYROBI: The mood boards are done, and we know what we’re going for. It’s going to be white and black if that wasn’t already obvious! We’ve got a meeting with our stylist scheduled in to go over the details, and we’re really excited. Every year, you can see that we’ve been slowly growing into ourselves and our style. My hair is probably going to get a bit longer, because in our first year it was a bob and in the second year it was chest-length. It’ll have to go down to the hips this year!
RS: Even in 2026, there are still plenty of people who don’t see themselves represented in alternative spaces yet. What do you hope they take away from seeing ALT BLK ERA at the MOBOs?
NYROBI: There is space for you, and you do belong. There are people that recognise you, accept you, and love you. We’ve had so many comments over the years from people of different genders and identities, and there have been people who have asked us if that’s okay. That breaks my heart. We weren’t aware of all of the hate that exists in the scene when we first started, but opening up to that experience has made the fundamentals of ALT BLK ERA so strong.
There is no tolerance for discrimination in any form here, and this band is about celebrating everyone in all their different forms. Have you ever seen a rap fan, a furry, and a metalhead all at the same show? Maybe not, but you’ll see it at an ALT BLK ERA show. Everyone is welcome, and everyone belongs. That’s one of the fundamentals of our band. We have the biggest shows of our career coming up in May, but that idea will always be there, whether we’re playing to three people or to 800 people.
