Wonderland.

NO GUIDNCE

Get to know the boy band that is taking the UK R&B scene by storm whilst racking up millions of views on TikTok.

One rainy November afternoon, I dialled in to Amsterdam where four magnetic characters greeted me from their hotel room, fresh off the stage with none other than Mahalia. The day I met No Guidnce was the day my love for boy bands was reignited. Zeekay, Josh, Ebubé and Kaci are the quadruple-threat that make up the wildly popular R&B boy band who are winning us over one slow jam at a time.

Since coming together in 2021, No Guidnce has been steadfast in their musical growth and discovery. Inspired by Boys II Men and Drake, this group is bringing something both nostalgic and truly refreshing to the UK music scene. With their fiery single “Spicy” showcasing their ability to do both sensual and slow songs, alongside party infused moments, this talented four-piece are imprinting their mark into boy band folklore with true steeze and style.

We had the honour of getting to know the brothers of No Guidnce amidst supporting their good friend Mahalia on her UK and Europe tour, delving into finding their niche on TikTok (and gaining eight million plus views whilst doing it), what connects them as a group, and changes they wish to see in the industry.

Watch the visuals for their latest single, “White Tee”…

Read the exclusive interview below…

How has 2023 been treating you guys so far?
Probably our strongest year yet, to be honest. We’ve had lots of cool experiences. We’ve been traveling the world, America, France and Amsterdam and we’re due to go to Brussels today.

Where’s your favourite place you guys have visited this year so far?
Amsterdam, Paris and then we did a show in LA, that was one of our best shows.

Talk to me a little bit about how no guidance was born. How did you guys meet?
No Guidnce was born in a car park because that’s really where we first made our first few TikToks. The first viral one was actually in some random office but we decided that it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing, so we changed it up to a car park.

Then we got lucky because our videos started to go viral not long after we posted them. We love trying anything and everything on TikTok, we can just get creative. We were born from social media in terms of presence. It was at a time when TikTok was making a lot of songs go viral, so we capitalised on that opportunity which allowed us to connect with so many people from around the world.

@noguidnce IS IT A CRIME? OUT NOW #newmusic #rnb #rnbvibes #blackmusic #noguidnce #viral ♬ Is It A Crime? – No Guidnce

What is your opinion of the relationship between social media and the music industry, particularly TikTok?
It’s been such a great platform to grow an audience quite quickly. I think there have been lots of good things about the relationship, such as putting music on people’s radars that they may have not discovered before.

It has changed the game, you have to grab people’s attention within 5 seconds, its reduced people’s attention spans drastically. It’s also only a certain section of the song that goes viral, so often you’re making music to please TikTok, a lot of artists are changing the way they make music in the studio because of it.

It also makes you step back and think “How can I make this as creative as possible?”, which is where our car park videos came from. No one else was doing anything like it. You can have a lot of fun visually.

What would you say connects you all?
Our sense of humour. That’s originally built our friendship, just busting jokes 24/7.

Our influences too, we all loved Boys II Men as a sonic influence and aesthetically. We have in general a very common goal of what we want for the group, since the very beginning. We’re driven and we won’t stop until we get there, no matter what adversities we face.

What is it like to exist as a boy band boy group within the British R&B scene?
It’s been interesting. It’s very good that we have each other, mainly because we have each other and we’re navigating being new in the industry together. It helps to not feel alone. UK specifically the RnB scene is niche, but also on the come up at the same time. There are a lot more genres that the UK grasps onto than RnB and its history, people are adjusting, so it makes it a bit harder, but it’s part of the challenge, it’s fun. It’s been about 10 years since a boy band has been entered the scene. We’re watching the respect and the audience slowly grow together.

Another thing about being in a boy band is realising the “Boy Band” effect, realising how powerful boy bands are. People just love boy bands!

Congratulations on your recent single and EP “Spicy”! What does spicy signify to you all? What is the message behind it?
(Collectively laughing) It’s a really deep song about finding yourself… yeah…

We made “Spicy” ages ago, it was a step into a new part of RnB for us, we had been doing slow jams and wanted to show people No Guidnce can go into any avenue of RnB. That’s the beauty of having four of us, “Spicy” gets people hyped, every time we perform it live, it’s a surprise and it’s instantly party time.

No Guidnce has been on the road with Mahalia, what has this experience been like? What has been a standout moment?
It has been just constant giggles. One of the highlights was the show we did last night, we were about to come back to the hotel in Amsterdam, and as we were walking towards our Uber, there was a group of girls that just started singing “Crime”, it was a real “wow” moment that people knew who we were.

Mahalia has been amazing to us, she was one of the few people in the industry who reached out to us and lent that hand of support from early on. It has been so helpful to understand the industry from her point of view, with us being newbies, and allowing us to tour around Europe and the UK so early on is so valuable to us.

We have grown so much since the first show with her three weeks ago, particularly in confidence and performance. Having a run of shows back to back has just allowed us to hone in on our strengths and lock in as a group. Mahalia has given us so many tips and pointers about being on stage, how to just be ourselves and block out the noise.

What would one bit of advice be to someone starting their creative/music journey?
Enjoy the process of getting better. Enjoy that process of always improving and learning what it means to do music.

I saw a video the other day about work ethic and it made me think about the answer to this question. If you want to start to prepare yourself for 10 years, be ready for success to take 10 years before you start.

For us we didn’t plan every little step in detail, we very much thought if we’re always striving to improve and feeding into TikTok and keep building little by little, then we’re on the right track regardless of what is going on around us.

What change do you want to see as a whole, specifically within the UK scene, but also industry as a whole?
I think we need to have the old way of doing things, before TikTok was a thing, maybe a way of them working together simultaneously, because TikTok is great for artists who don’t have a way of getting exposure, to get exposure and they can end up being bigger than people who are fully planted through the industry. But at the same time, because of social media, some people have the whole artist package but haven’t quite yet figured out a social media thing, so yeah I wish there was a way for people to have more help on that side. Artists should be found through their talent and then should be helped through the social media side of things.

The industry is sick at the moment though, I love how it is right because there’s so much going on.

What’s next for you?
We’ll be making new music, there’s one exciting project that we’ve had in the pipeline that we’re excited to be able to share. Next year, there’s going to be lots of shows and elevating the dance to the next level.

Last question, who would be the dream dream collaboration for you guys?
Drake. I think as a group Drake has always been one of the top inspirations that we need to work with one day.

Words
Lucy Pemberton