From The Frontline with Clement Marfo

By Jan-Marie Revers

Tucked away in a secret lair in East London, the hip-hop/punk-rock hybrid Clement Marfo & The Frontline are recording their hit single Overtime featuring Ghetts.

Looking around the room and seeing everyone nod their heads to the rhythmic vocals belted out by the multi-talented group is infectious.

Clement Marfo & The Frontline comprise of a charismatic, seven piece combination of energetic young artists who fit perfectly into the UK’s underground “hip-pop- rock” scene.

Clement describes hip, pop and rock as “the main genres that fuse our music together”.

He says: “But in words instead of genres I would say energetic, anthemic and colourful.”

Rocking every continent

The band first came together three years ago, after lead rapper Clement Marfo left his solo career and put an ad out in search of a drummer, guitarist and vocalists.

The advert was a success and the band are happier now than ever.

Since becoming a group, they have already supported the likes of Florence & the Machine, Alphabeat,Jagged Edge, Plan B, Rizzle Kicks, Example and Estelle, along with a recent collaboration with Sway for RWD TV.

“I believe in the next five, ten years, you will see us doing a lot of tours.  Not just in the UK but I believe we will be rocking every continent. Going to North America, heading out to Asia and doing different tours,” Clement says.

Nothing less than first place

Their debut single, Champion, released in October, was immediately recognised by MTV and i-D magazine to have great potential, which then raised their profile online.

Following on from this was their biggest and most up-to-date single, Overtime, with 76,883 hits on Youtube.

The single presents a positive message of fighting for success and aiming for nothing less than first place.

“Two of our big tracks, Lights Out and Champion, were our first songs. So since then the standards were set pretty high.

“We are on the same page. Obviously we have disagreements here and there but we are like one big family, like the Brady Bunch in a way,” they say.

Dream collaborations

Though they believe the music industry is exactly where they should be, they are quick to suggest what they could be doing instead of music.

The list is unexpected and fairly random, with plans ranging from Clement “training for the Olympics” and Stacey being a cake-baker to Daniel “doing something practical but random like an air traffic controller”.

Their answers are equally humorous when asked who they would pick if they had £50,000 to spend on their dream collaboration.

This immediately instigates a debate which could easily convince you that the cheque is already in their hands.

Names such as Kanye West, Busta Rhymes and Aqua pop up, while front man Clement has the final answer with Wyclef Jean.

 “Personally, the whole reason why I wanted to be in a band is to do a lot of gigs and festivals, as well as clubs and bars and arenas. So I feel we are heading in that direction.”  

 With their aims of “rocking every continent” and heads held high in confidence, it’s fair to say this group have all the ingredients needed to go far.