with. This band had been performing in Disney World for like five years.
So they’re really seasoned. It’s a funk band. They had their whole fan base
there. They pretty much had everything going for them. So we’re stand-
ing in the green room listening to this band and I’m not going to lie, we
were scared. We were back there freaking out. But we knew we had ev-
erything we needed to get on that stage and dominate and turn it to our
favor. We went out there and transcended on that stage. Things that we
did to win that crowd over. We had to rip our shirts off at the same time.
We did things in unison, the formation, the music and the way the crowd
reacted…by the end of the day they didn’t even remember the funk band.
That was one of the biggest moments for me because we had to grow up
quick. We had to evolve on that stage.
SL: Quantum Split is very fortunate to be able to go back to Rwanda every
year. This is our third year going back in August. The first time we per-
formed in Rwanda I was going crazy! Because rock music wasn’t huge in
Rwanda. So here we go, twelve thousand people and they’re all use to
hearing afro-beat music, tribal music; even hip hop music. So here comes
a band form the USA to play rock music for the people in Rwanda. At first
I was like “Holy crap, what are we going to do?” Believe it or not we go
on stage and did eventing we could. At first they looked at us with a blank
face because they were so in shock. When they got into it and rocked out
with us they were going insane. They were mosh pitting and they don’t
even really know what it is. People were pumping their fists in the air.
People were going wild. I was so fearful because rock is not their thing.
The next day Twitter blew up with Quantum Split at the KigaliUp Festi-
val. It was so cool because after the show, I’m sweating, I’m tired and this
woman comes up to me and says my favorite song is “Boss.” Women have
a different temperament in Rwanda. They’re very passive. They don’t re-
ally vocalize or have a say. So for them to see someone who looked like
them on stage, being a front woman, telling the boys what to do and tell-
ing them to be the boss of their own life…they went insane. They were
in love with it. Now they bring us back every year. That show was so im-
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