Mdou Moctar started performing with the band at traditional weddings in his home country of Niger, which consist of really big and loud events, with amplifiers cranked up to maximum and the whole town in attendance. Bringing this kind of energy and sense of community to a new audience was an important goal for the band. Early concerts in the US were sometimes organised with seating, but this is no longer the case. With over a hundred shows behind them, the line-up has emerged as one of the most vital rock bands in the world, well rooted in the Tuareg tradition but undeniably a thing of its own. A concert of Mdou Moctar it's all to dance to, if not to mosh. "Ilana was a presentation album, to make us recognise ourselves as a wild rock band. Afrique Victime was a summary of that kind of vision," says Coltun, which compiled the result of more than five days of recording in an empty house in upstate New York. "With Funeral For Justice We wanted the political message to have some prominence, given everything that is going on. As the band got tighter and heavier live, it made sense to capture this urgency and aggression: it wasn't forced, but very natural.