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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Daniel Dylan Wray

‘Difficult, time-consuming and painful’: Nihiloxica on the ‘hell’ of touring the UK

Nihiloxica: (from left) Henry Isabirye, Jacob Maskell-Key, Henry Kasoma, Jamiru Mwange and Peter Jones.
Seeing red (tape) … Nihiloxica: (from left) Henry Isabirye, Jacob Maskell-Key, Henry Kasoma, Jamiru Mwange and Peter Jones. Photograph: Marco Meazza

“Have you ever been involved in, or suspected of being involved in, war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide?” asks an automated voice, over warped tones and hissing atmospherics. It’s a recorded sample from one of many fruitless phone calls to government departments the band Nihiloxica have made, chasing visas or potentially lost passports that have been held on to for months on end.

After enduring endless issues with UK visas and passports, Nihiloxica – whose members are based in Uganda, Britain and the Netherlands – have funnelled all their frustration into new album Source of Denial. “We wanted to create the sense of being in the endless, bureaucratic hell of attempting to travel to a foreign country that deems itself superior to where you’re from,” they announced ahead of its release.

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