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This Is How I Focus My Creativity

Mon, 2 May, 2022Fri, 29 Apr, 2022 Dazzle RebelLeave a comment

Creating Your Own DIY Music Video

This week I have put music creation on hold to concentrate on getting the music video for my new single “Cookin’ in the Sun” edited and ready to launch on 13th May.

I don’t know about you but I find that when creativity hits, it hits big. A flood of ideas wash over you all at once and it’s your job to sort the flotsam and jetsam. You’ve got to try to prioritise, to save the living, breathing creatures with a future and discard the driftwood. For a life-long procrastinator, it’s not easy!

It’s particularly difficult when such waves of inspiration crash over you whilst you’re slap-bang in the middle of another project. A project that requires your immediate attention, because you’ve got a self-imposed deadline to hit. So, what do I do to satisfy my creative mind while maintaining focus on the task at hand (editing the music video)? Well, I simply record the very rough and usually basically hummed idea into the voice recorder on my phone. Once there, it’s like throwing the mess from your bedroom floor into a cupboard to sort later. Your immediate vicinity is now in order but you know that you’ll have to go back and sort out your cupboard later.

Until I found this technique, I found it incredibly difficult to focus. Especially during those days and weeks when the universe was pumping out its sweet creative juices directly into my brain. I would highly recommend any creative struggling with an overflow of ideas to give it a go. Find a way to note down the basic concept that’s found its way to you and you’ll find it’s easier to move on and focus your energy on the most pressing project.

And so to the project I’m talking about. The music video for my new single. If you’re part of my Facebook group then you’ll have seen a sneaky preview of what I’ve been working on. I’m going for a retro, highly colour, high contrast look. Something that pops with colour but also looks old and faded, just like some late 70s/early 80s ice pop commercial!

Anyway, here’s what I’ve got so far:

Dazzle Rebel – Cookin’ in the Sun (Official Music Video), preview from Facebook

The final pieces of the puzzle will be put together this week and it’ll be ready to launch when the single drops on 13th May.

If you wanna talk about anything, anything at all, I’d love to hear from you. You can drop me a comment here or find me on once of my social channels:

That’s all for today, have a fantastic week!

Dazzle Rebel

This Is Why It’s Good To Be A Freak – New Music Friday

Fri, 29 Apr, 2022Sat, 23 Apr, 2022 Dazzle RebelLeave a comment

Before you start furiously shouting at me in the comment section that the music that I’m talking about today isn’t strictly “new” music. Not in the sense that it’s been released in the past month, well, kinda. Regardless of that, it’s new to me and I freakin’ well love it! Okay?

It’s cool to be a freak. That’s what all the cool kids say anyway. The trouble is those cool kids claiming their freak credentials are often anything but freaks. They’re the norms. Sure, such artists may target the real freaks and geeks but usually, they themselves are anything but freakish and different. They’ll often and quite predictably have the backing of a major record label and have a sound that’s been polished to remove all the patina. They’re often quite dull, actually.

That’s certainly not the case with the music that I’m bringing you today. First up is a band that wears their freak credentials on their tattooed sleeves. This is a band that puts the “eak” in “freak”! People of the world, I give you Surfbort.

Surfbort are not afraid to be different. They are freaks because that’s who they are, not because that’s what a label is pushing them to be. They were the kids that wore fancy-dress to the supermarket, the kids that licked the ice on metal rails just to get stuck and give their mates a right good laugh. They are exactly how they look, it’s not an act. They’re total nutters and I love them!

I mentioned earlier that the music feature this week isn’t “new”. The Surfbort track I’m bringing you is from their 2021 album “Keep On Truckin'” but they have just dropped a brand new video for the song “Open Your Eyes”. A video that features none other than skateboarding legend Tony Hawk! So, it’s kinda new, sort of.

The song is an infectious pop-punk number, in the traditional pop-punk sense, not this modern auto-tuned bollocks. It’s complete with a sunkissed, surf-rock feel-good vibe and I can’t get enough of it.

The music video is really close to my heart. No, I’m not a skateboarder. Far from it. My Marty McFly aspirations were killed back when I was around seven or eight and had an oversized adult skateboard that was just too difficult to do anything with. I am however someone who makes my own music videos and the DIY green screen efforts in this flick are something to be proud of. There is no attempt to hide the janky animation and I don’t think anyone would suggest that it wasn’t intentional. I absolutely love it. A middle-finger to over-produced bullshit and that’s something I fully embrace.

Open Your Eyes (Official Video) – Surfbort Ft. Tony Hawk

Keep On Truckin’ – Surfbort – Album 2021

Pub Rock for the Masses

My second music this pick also hasn’t released anything “new” in the past month. However, I only heard about them a few weeks ago and they’re totally busting the fuck out of America at the moment. I present to you Amyl and The Sniffers.

This Australian band is a riot of Punk and Pub Rock. The music they produce is raw and punchy. It’s like visiting some dodgy shithole pub somewhere in the outback and getting into a fight with the natives.

They are certainly not the kind of band that you’d expect to be featured on mainstream US TV but that’s exactly what happened recently on Late Night with Seth Meyers!

Amyl and The Sniffers – Late Night with Seth Meyers

The band are the epitome of “No Fucks Given”. Just get out there and play your nuts off, the music you wanna play not the music some suited arsehat is saying sells.

They’re a band that I’m sure will cause a riot when they hit the UK. Which is why I’ve already got tickets for the 5th June show at Nottingham Rock City!

What music have you been rockin’ this week? Anything you think I should be aware of? Leave me a comment or hit me up on social media. Have an awesome week!

Dazzle Rebel

New Feature: Weekly Highlights

Mon, 25 Apr, 2022Sat, 23 Apr, 2022 Dazzle RebelLeave a comment

I’ve decided that I need to push myself a little harder. I used to do a lot of blogging, which is where this website originated in the first place. There are plenty of old ditties from over a decade ago flying around the vaults of this website. I used to find writing things down helped me remember things better as I remember writing about them if you get that?

So, every Monday (give or take) I’ll be posting a regular bloggy-type thing where I give a brief rundown of my highlights from the previous week. This will be anything from stories of what I’ve been up to that week through to things pulled from my social media pages and beyond.

I feel that the past decade has flown by, so I’m doing this as an exercise for me to keep track of my own life! The fact that you’re reading this and wanna come along for the ride is a brilliant added bonus.

So this being the first post I’m actually going to go all the way back to Easter Bank Holiday weekend. Here’s something from Facebook:

Big thank you to Lisa, Celina and Gemma for being superb sports today. Also to Gill for taking some fantastic photos and Jason for letting us use his gaff.
This is just a very quickly done test clip but it will give you a little clue as to what this video is going to turn out like.
Thanks, everyone, enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday weekend!
Daz

The rest of the week I was busy mixing another new track. Mixing is a funny thing, every time I think I’m getting the hang of it I realise how far away I am from anything sounding like it was done in a proper studio. Sure, I’m working on a computer that’s a decade and a half old and a DAW that’s about the same age but I know I can produce a decent sound if I put the effort in. It’s the learning curve and lack of time that always sticks me in the ribs.

Maybe it would be easier to upgrade my studio? Maybe that would make a difference? I dunno, I just figure that’d be cheating or a bad workman blaming his tools. I am determined to get as good a sound on what I’m using as possible before I invest in something else. Maybe I’m my own worst critic? You’ll find out soon when the first of my “rough cut” singles comes out on 13th May!

Well, that’ll do for today. Have a smashing week and I’ll see you again soon!

Dazzle Rebel

Blue Bones and Warm Tones ~ New Music Friday

Fri, 22 Apr, 2022Fri, 6 May, 2022 Dazzle RebelLeave a comment

This is my first in a (hopefully) weekly roundup of new music that I’ve been listening to this week. First up I’ve got this smashing number by Billy Nomates.

Blue Bones was released on 6th April so it’s been out a few weeks but I’ve been playing it at least five times a day ever since. I first heard about Billy Nomates through her collaboration with Sleaford Mods on the single Mork N’ Mindy. After hearing that I instantly went to see what kind of back catalogue she had and was greeted with some absolute bangers.

Blue Bones is a bit more mellow than most of her previous work but it’s one of my favourites already. Tor Maries aka Billy Nomates has a beautifully unique voice and I highly recommend checking out her stuff, if you haven’t done so already.

Billy Nomates Bandcamp

Billy Nomates Spotify

The second release that I’d like to share this week is from my friend Aaron James’ (aka AJ Superstar) new band, The Rebel Yell$. They were formed just before the lockdown and wrote this EP during that summer.

The Rebel Yell$ Spotify

My favourite track from the EP is The Past is a Bullet which I’ve added to my Summer Hot Rocks playlist that I’m currently building. If you have any suggestions for new music to add to this playlist let me know!

What have you been listening to this week? Anything you’d like to make me aware of? Hit me up below or find me on my socials!

Have a great weekend!

Dazzle Rebel

I Recorded One Song Per Day, Here’s The Result

Fri, 25 Mar, 2022Tue, 8 Mar, 2022 Dazzle Rebel

On New Year’s Eve, I decided not to go out and party. It got to around 7pm and I was bored with the TV, so I decided to set myself a task. Could I record an entire track in one evening, my last recording of 2021?

If you’ve followed me for a while, then you’ll know that I managed to crack that task and a stripped-back, acoustic version of ‘Condor’, the title track from my 2021 mini-album Condor Leader, was the result.

Well, that got me wondering if I could continue the one song per-day challenge and cover every song on the album? So, I went ahead and tried and Condor Dealer is the result!

Condor Dealer is out today and available for FREE download through Bandcamp, including bonus digital content.

If streaming is more your thing, you can head over to https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dazzlerebel/condor-dealer and choose the service of your choice.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what you think of this release. It’s a bit of an experiment, really. Is it possible to put out something pretty raw, that people actually want to listen to? Only you can be the judge of that! I’d love to hear from you with your feedback. Drop me a line in the comments or find me on social media:

Have a fantastic weekend!

Condor Dealer – Out Now!

Fri, 25 Mar, 2022Tue, 8 Mar, 2022 Dazzle Rebel

5-Star Rated Mini-Album, Condor Leader returns with stripped-back acoustic versions and a new title, Condor Dealer!

You may have already heard that Dazzle Rebel spent his New Year’s Eve recording an acoustic version of Condor Leader title track, Condor? He managed to accomplish it in one night and in less than 5 hours. Well, he found the exercise so liberating that he decided to carry on and record the rest of Condor Leader, one song per day.

The result is this raw, honest and stripped-back version of his sophomore collection of songs. Condor Dealer is out now and available for FREE download through Bandcamp, including bonus digital content. If streaming is more your thing then it’s also available through all major streaming services.

To find it through your streaming service of choice, go ahead and visit https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dazzlerebel/condor-dealer and add the music automatically to your collection.

Condor Dealer releases one week today!

Fri, 18 Mar, 2022Tue, 8 Mar, 2022 Dazzle Rebel

5-Star Rated Mini-Album, Condor Leader returns with stripped-back acoustic versions and a new title, Condor Dealer!

You may remember last week’s press release announcing Condor Dealer, a stripped-back acoustic version of Condor Leader? Well, I just thought that as today is New Music Friday, I’d stop by and personally thank everyone who has already pre-saved the release on Spotify and Apple Music.

It is also worth mentioning that Condor Dealer will be available for FREE download through Bandcamp, including bonus digital content at midnight on 25th March 2022. If you’re not already following me on Bandcamp you can head over there and do that now, or you can click below to subscribe to my latest posts, as I’ll be posting the behind the scenes story when Condor Dealer drops on 25th March.

To pre-save the release on your streaming service of choice, go ahead and visit https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/dazzlerebel/condor-dealer and let the music automatically be added to your collection.

Until next week, have a fantastic week!

New Music Announcement!

Fri, 11 Mar, 2022Tue, 8 Mar, 2022 Dazzle Rebel

5-Star Rated Mini-Album, Condor Leader returns with stripped-back acoustic versions and a new title, Condor Dealer!

The result is this raw, honest and stripped-back version of his sophomore collection of songs. Condor Dealer will be available for FREE download through Bandcamp, including bonus digital content at midnight on 25th March 2022. The mini-album will simultaneously launch on all major streaming services.

I recorded this song in one night on New Years Eve!

Fri, 11 Feb, 2022Wed, 2 Mar, 2022 Dazzle Rebel

New Single, Condor (Acoustic Version) out now!

It was knocking on 7pm on New Year’s Eve, 2021 and I was bored. I had made the decision to not go out and celebrate but I was already getting tired of the overhype on the TV. So, I decided to spend my time productively and re-record the lead track from my mini-album, Condor Leader as an acoustic track. I didn’t think that it turned out too bad, so I decided to release it as a single and it’s out on all major platforms today!

As it’s my birthday week, I’ve also dropped the track onto my Bandcamp where you can download it for FREE!

Get “Condor (Acoustic Version)” FREE ON BANDCAMP

I’ve also launched a new collection of apparel to celebrate the release. This collection will only be available for 6 months, so if you want to grab a limited edition t-shirt now is the time to do it!

Condor (Acoustic Version) limited edition collection apparel

Buy “Condor (Acoustic Version)” apparel