Sadhbh sits down with IB REBEL to discuss their upcoming project “shoot the saxophone player” and the process of music creation.
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SADHBH: I’d like to start by talking about track 1 on the project ‘Crash & Burn’ featuring Roisin Mckeown. How did you find her? I think she killed it on this track.
REBEL: I found Roisin on Instagram through an Irish artist spotlight post. I actually already had a guy who was meant to be on the track, but he wasn’t really a fit for the beat. Then I heard Roisin and said, “Wow!” and I contacted her from there with a beat. Like you said, she killed it straight away. When she sent it back, I was so gassed. I think I listened to it more than any song on the project. She’s a highly underrated artist.
SADHBH: So would you consider that track to possibly be a favourite of yours on the project?
REBEL: It definitely was at the beginning. My favorite changes a lot! But right now, I would probably say “Child of the Sun” is my current favorite. I honestly fuck with all of it, but I don’t really like “Apex” that much anymore. I’m kind of over it now that it’s out in the world already. I listened to it too much while in the process of making the project.
SADHBH: So what does the process of writing a song look like for you?
REBEL: Well, first off, I gotta find the right beat, and I take it in. I try not to write to it straight away. I listen to that beat all day, just walking, going about my day with that beat in my earphones. Once it hits 1 am through 5 am, that’s when I’m writing, and the words come to me during that time period. It just flows. It’s whatever I’m experiencing at the moment after having it in my head all day.
SADHBH: How long was the actual writing process on the project? And when did you start?
REBEL: For this project, I wrote the whole thing in like one week and a half. Of course, it took a lot longer to get the entire thing finished because I had to find which rhymes sit on the correct beats, get it mixed and mastered, and figure out the order of how I wanted it to sound, etc. But the actual bars, I was finished writing them in like a week! I started this project in October last year, and I commissioned the cover art back then from an artist called Misschiiif. She is so cold! And that was the start of it all.
SADHBH: What about the project title “Shoot the Saxophone Player”? Where did that come from?
REBEL: You know how people have that little voice inside their head that’s telling them “don’t do this or do don’t do that,” etc.? Well, the saxophone player is my take on that. He’s inside my head, and this whole project is about me shooting the saxophone player and getting rid of him, making that noise in my head, and just locking in and following what I really want to do.
SADHBH: Continuing on the topic of noise, what music/songs had you got playing during the process of this project? If you can name three songs in particular for our artist picks playlist?
REBEL: That’s a hard one, but I’m going to put you onto these three:
- ‘Choro de Oliveira’ by Artur Nunes,
- ‘AM Radio’ by Earl Sweatshirt
- ‘Quantum Leap’ by Rosenblanc { SoundCloud only for this one }
SADHBH: What does life look like for you after this release?
REBEL: I’m gonna have like one week where I do nothing, no writing, no instrumentals, nothing. I think it’s important to have a break and just experience life. That’s what I write about. I have this project out on May 10th, and a whole other project in the works that I recorded at the beginning of this year is on the way as well as a project I’m part of with my guys in Paris. That’s why I was there last week. There are a lot of singles too, so I really just need the break to experience life again so I have more stuff to write about. I think that’s really important, and I don’t wanna be repetitive in my writing.
SADHBH: Any plans to perform live?
REBEL: No current plans in the mix, but I definitely want to perform live this year. It’ll happen.
IB REBEL on his new project “Shoot the Saxophone Player” out May 10th.
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