REBEL RIOT INTERVIEW:

Rebel Riot is:

Bob Concrete (rhythm guitar / vocals)
Jānis Kažemaks (lead guitar / backvocals)
Kristīne Segliņa (drums)
Kaspars Pētersons (bass guitar)     

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BOOTLEG METAL: So let’s get things started with the name. Who came up with the name and what’s behind it?

REBEL RIOT: We started out in 2007 as Rebel Yell. We had our first gig coming up and needed a name. Johnny’s idea was the best so we stuck with it. After a while we got fed up with the name because too many people where associating us with Billy Idol and we also wanted something more distinctive. We didn’t want to change the name completely so we changed only the second part, we ended up with Rebel Riot. We thought this name suits us better as it sounds punchier. BOOTLEG METAL: Cool man, yeah I agree.

BOOTLEG METAL:  Where is the band from?

REBEL RIOT: Originally we are all from Riga, Latvia. Some of the members currently have moved to other cities. But we still have the band rehearsals in Riga.

BOOTLEG METAL: Is this the original line up and how did you guys find yourselves in the same band?

REBEL RIOT: The current line-up has some slight changes, but the latest (third) album was recorded with the original line-up on board: Bob on vocals and guitar, Johnny on lead guitar, Kaspars on bass and Kristine on drums (the same as on the first album). Over the years we had two other bass guitarists, but in 2014 Kaspars returned to the band. We have a substitute drummer at the moment just to keep us going, because our original drummer Kristine (recorded on all three albums) is currently living and working as a dentist in the Netherlands.
Kaspars and Kristine were classmates in highschool. Bob and Johnny joined the band after responding to an internet advert.

BOOTLEG METAL: How long has (the band) been around and how long after your first rehearsal was it before the first show?

REBEL RIOT: We’ve been playing since 2007, so this summer we’re celebrating our ten-year anniversary.
At the very beginning we were quite eager to get the thing rolling and it took about only two months after the first rehearsal before we played our first gig in our hometown Riga.

BOOTLEG METAL: Does everyone contribute to the writing process or does someone generally write the lyrics and/or music?

REBEL RIOT: Bob and Johnny write most of the music and lyrics, a couple of contributions have been made by Kaspars and a few by other members as well. But usually the final versions of the compositions are arranged all together with everyone involved.

BOOTLEG METAL: What are your songs about? Fact?  Fiction? Personal experiences?

REBEL RIOT: We write songs about our personal experiences, how we see the world. We try to bring to attention things that are wrong or broken in society. For example, sometimes it’s the struggle with relations among people, problem with greed, or the dark side of drugs. Questions of how to fit or not to fit in society, and how the culture of rock’n’roll sits in all that. But some grain of wishful thinking might find a spot here and there in our themes. We are not complete pessimists.


BOOTLEG METAL: What genre do you feel (the band) fits in the best and what influenced your writing to get you there?

REBEL RIOT: From the very start we wanted it to sound like oldschool hard and heavy. Each of us have our own musical preferences. Some equal, some a bit different, spanned by good ol’ rock‘n’roll, blues, classic rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, heavy metal, thrash and speed metal, doom metal, groove metal, industrial, punk, some oldschool hip-hop. The list could probably go on. So some bits of everything has inspired our music. We don’t intend to fit in any specific genre. Some experimentation might be involved. But keeping it ‘classic’ is also a natural way of ours. Sometimes we refer to it as ‘Some ass kickin’ oldschool heavy rock‘n’roll at its finest’.

BOOTLEG METAL: What was your latest gig? 

REBEL RIOT: The last one was a local gig in a bar called ‘Aptieka’. It’s like a pharmaceutical bar. A small place, but it was a great show. Couple weeks before that we had a gig opening for ex-Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley also in Riga.

BOOTLEG METAL: Where have you played live this year?

REBEL RIOT: We haven’t had many gigs this year yet. So far six gigs, most of them in Riga, one in other Latvian city – Liepaja. Some shows and tour dates are planned for the summer and autumn in Latvia and abroad.

BOOTLEG METAL: Is there a favorite cover that always finds it’s way on your set list and is there a story behind it?

REBEL RIOT: We have done a lot of covers over the years. Since our own musical material is expanding we tend to play less covers to make way for our own stuff on the set-lists. However we enjoy doing for example Black Sabbath’s War Pigs once in a while. Back in 2009 we participated in a band contest in a newly opened bar at that time called Rock‘n’Riga, where the organizers set some mandatory covers for each band to prepare in a five days’ time. We got the Pigs, which we found to be a healthy challenge that helped us a lot to improve our skills since it’s not the easiest song to cover. Some other rock classics like Stairway To Heaven, Sweet Child O’Mine, Hells Bells, Sad But True were on the list as well. In the end we won the whole contest. That gave us quite a boost. Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin), Beating Around The Bush (AC/DC), Monkey Business (Skid Row) are also a few that happen to slip into our set-list from time to time. BOOTLEG METAL: Very cool.

BOOTLEG METAL: Is there a past show that stands out from the rest?

REBEL RIOT: We’ve done quite a lot of shows – hundreds. A lot of great, not so great, funny and lame shows all included. It’s always nice to play some big, crowded shows with a good sound, usually at some festival. In Liepaja city’s club ‘Fontaine Palace’ we’ve had some really good gigs. It’s a great place for the rock’n’roll spirit. The roomy stages (club and open-air) and accommodation there is outstanding.
It was an honor and quite exciting opening for Accept in Riga in 2012. But smaller club shows with the crowd in your face prove to be quite rewarding at times as well. This year we had a great show promoting our latest release “The Good The Bad and The Heavy” on 3^rd of February at ‘Nabaklab’ in Riga. It was sold out and we had a blast. You can check out some footage from the show on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWXsfWTYaXE

It all depends on the mood and emotions of the audience and ourselves of course. Hell, we’ve even played next to a dump out side at the backyard of a school, or an open-air festival during the night when the temperature drops almost below zero and the mics are heavily discharging electricity that it’s hardly possible to sing, let alone dangerous. Some fun times to remember.

BOOTLEG METAL: So what’s in the works for (the band)?

REBEL RIOT: We released our third album “The Good, The Bad And The Heavy” last November which took quite some time to compose, record and produce, a couple of years give or take. We have a few shows in summer at some local festivals (Playground, Laba Daba). A few more videos are on the way.
Tour dates are being planned for the second part of the year to Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Eastern Europe. Some new music is slowly on the way as well. BOOTLEG METAL: Yeah I checked that album out. Great effort. Big Fat City, When the Stars Align, very cool tunes. Well written and well produced.

                                           

BOOTLEG METAL: What are your thoughts on your local music scene?

REBEL RIOT: There are some old pop, rock and heavier bands still around here who started in the 70’s or 80’s and are considered as classic Latvian music acts. Those were Soviet times back then here. It was especially harder for the more extreme bands at those times, because the regime wasn’t that supportive, even against it. It was almost risky to be a part of a heavy or otherwise controversial band back then. But that was the game.
Surely things have changed quite a bit now. Latvia is a small country and the scene has become quite diverse lately. There are a lot of new bands around nowadays. Some keep it up for a while and are really good and can gather a loyal following, like the guys from folk metal band Skyforfger who are performing shows worldwide almost two decades now.
However many bands unfortunately disband after some time. The fan base just isn’t that big, because we simply are a small nation with not so many clubs for live gigs around the whole country. Just a few cities, to be blunt. The most activity is in Riga. But of course it all depends. If you work hard enough, you can fill up a club easily and make a name for yourself.

BOOTLEG METAL: Is there a recent album/EP release you’d like to tell us about and where can we get it?

REBEL RIOT: Our latest release is our third full album “The Good The Bad and The Heavy” released last November. You can listen to it on all major streaming platforms. Check out our Youtube channel for some action: https://www.youtube.com/user/REBELRIOTvideo/videos.
Get the album on our Bandcamp page: https://rebel-riot.bandcamp.com/

BOOTLEG METAL: Do you have merchandise for sale?

REBEL RIOT: Yes, besides CD’s we have some T-shirts and patches. It’s also available on our BANDCAMP page!  We ship worldwide.

BOOTLEG METAL: Where can you be found online?

REBEL RIOT: You can listen and buy our music on the largest streaming platforms like Spotify, Itunes, Deezer, Google Play. We have a HOMEPAGE. We have profiles on Facebook and other sites:
www.facebook.com/rebelriotmusic
https://twitter.com/Rebel_Riot
https://www.instagram.com/rebelriotmusic
http://rebel-riot.bandcamp.com
www.youtube.com/user/REBELRIOTvideo
https://soundcloud.com/rebel-riot

BOOTLEG METAL: As far as videos, sites, merch, ect. Are you guys more of a DIY band or do you hire out?

REBEL RIOT: We manage most of the things ourselves, except in cases where we need to hire a cameraman for videos or a printing company for merch.

BOOTLEG METAL: Do you have or are you looking for a label/manager?

REBEL RIOT: First two albums were self-released. The third album was released on a small local label called Thunderforge Records. We don’t have a permanent manager. That would be helpful because organizing things takes time and we need that time to write music. But we have some friends and colleagues who also help out with managing some shows. In a sense “I scratch your back, you scratch mine”.

BOOTLEG METAL: One question I like to ask. What song (if any) by another artist do you wish you wrote?

REBEL RIOT: Too many to mention, haha! But to be honest we’ve never looked at any song in such way.

BOOTLEG METAL: Is there another artist or band that is totally not your genre that you listen to?

REBEL RIOT: Yes, we listen to a lot of different kinds of music. For example N.W.A., Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Ministry, The Doors, The Beatles, Down, Pantera, Enigma, Enya, Burzum, Bathory, some world music, folk, celtic...  Again just to name a few.


BOOTLEG METAL: If you could pick, past or present, would there be a dream collaborator (artist/producer) you would like to work with?

REBEL RIOT: Hard question! It depends on how the personalities go together. If the chemistry is there, it might work. If not, forget it! If you don’t know him/her personally then you have no chance of guessing how things could work out.

Chuck Berry probably would have been the best to learn from if you wanted some rock’n’roll in your music.

REBEL RIOT: We had a good communication in the studio while recording and mixing our latest album. We knew what we wanted to do and achieve. The sound engineer just guided us. We recorded the rhythm tracks live. Drums, bass and both rhythm guitars simultaneously. Vocals and solos where added later.

BOOTLEG METAL: How do you think downloading music whether legal or illegal affected the music community?

REBEL RIOT: It has changed the whole community. It’s hard to say for the worse or for the better. It is definitely harder for rock musicians to live off rock’n’roll. We hope that will change in the near future. As technology advances there might be other ways for getting attention and royalties. That is the change we have to accept and try to adapt to it as much as we can. People now are more connected than ever and that is a great benefit. The virtual domain helps that. We hope that there will always be fans that enjoy live shows. Playing live is our best trick.

BOOTLEG METAL: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us and answering the questions. Is there anything you’d like to add?

REBEL RIOT: Thanks for reaching out and showing interest in our music. Best wishes to promoters and fans! See you in da pit!