Babades-led Veetage Band is on a mission to change the narrative

Music bands hold a special place in Nigerian social life.

They not only provide the soundtrack for social events and celebrations but also play a vital role in repurposing famous pop records and classic songs, which they excitingly convey to everyday listeners

One band whose live renditions have become popular, especially in high society, is the Veentage Band led by the enigmatic  Desmond Emokiniovo AKA Babades.

Versatility, range, and seamlessness to provide music that meets the needs of different events, whether weddings, birthdays, or funeral celebration,s is premium currency for a Nigerian music band. This is a currency the Veentage Band has in extravagant supply.

Veentage Band was created in August 2013 and in the over ten years since its launch, the band has gained popularity for its exciting music that takes from different genres and cultures to create a rich sound.

Although Veentage Band has become a shining light in Nigerian live music, the journey to success wasn't an easy one.

The band has had different phases that saw some founding members leave the fold.

"Most live bands are highly undervalued, disrespected, and not appreciated," says Babades on some of the peculiar challenges the band had to navigate in a society where bands are priced cheaply and treated with less respect in comparison to pop stars.

"The artists already have a celebrity status and would always be treated with special preference over the live band that renders mainly covers."

The special treatment pop stars are ascribed is a stark contrast to the way bands are often viewed as a cheaper and more engaging alternative.

"A musician performs for a few minutes and earns a lot more. The Band performs for the entire duration of the event and earns less."

Babade's statement provides nuance on the assumption that running a band was more cost-efficient than a musical career.

While this might be true, the income disparity between the two shows a large underpayment of musical bands.

For Veentage Band, getting to the summit of their ecosystem means combining different elements offerd by the individual to create a compelling unit.

"We are a 15-piece band which comprises highly skilled musicians and professional singers with an array of repertoire too numerous to mention for different events."

Borrowing from the timeless records of different global musicians, Veentage Band crafts sets that are shaped by events and often adjusted in real-time to fit the needs of the audience.

"As a live band, you need to examine the range/level of your versatility before you define the array of audiences you can perform for. For instance, if as a band, all you do is juju music, you can't entertain a corporate audience," Babadee explains the reason Veentage band embraces versatility.

While popular songs shape their repertoire, the band has original records they use in punctuating their performances which they also hope to record at some point.

This desire to show the depth of his talent as a songwriter and musician that has motivated Babadees to kick off his solo career which he launched in April 2025 with the release of his debut single 'Congratulations'.

On what inspired the song, Babadee describes it as a source of strength in his darkest time.  

“The darkest time of my life was when I lost my wife in 2020. This song gave me hope again. Just confessing the words ‘only congratulations are permitted in my life’ became a source of strength for me. It’s rooted in my faith."

'Congratulations,' kicks off a new chapter in the career of Veetage Band leader Babades, whose sights remain fixed on leading the band to legendary status.