- Tue, 2011-12-06 16:35
Having spent the early stages of his career flirting with grime and bass music, Maverick Sabre is now making his name in the mainstream as a blue-eyed soul boy with an unmistakable voice. Preparing for the imminent release of his debut album Lonely Are The Brave, through Mercury Records, Maverick is poised to step into the limelight and break the into the big league.
We first heard Maverick Sabre back in 2009 with his track Sometimes, prompting us to jump on the phone for our first interview with the singer to find out more. Since then, Maverick has been hard at work writing songs for his debut, building an even bigger fan base and subsequently, landing in the UK top ten singles chart.
We headed across to his label HQ to chat for the second time, finding out more about his favourite musicians, his inspirations, the universality of music and whether he’ll ever return to his early forays into UK bass culture.
"I Like Music because… music is the air that keeps me alive.” Maverick Sabre
ILM: How have the last couple of months been for you?
Maverick: Very good, just very busy, but very positive!
ILM: I saw on twitter that you went to watch Jill Scott last night, how was that?
Maverick: It was fantastic. It was inspirational. It was good to see someone who’s been doing it for so long and who still has love for it. You can see that love on stage with her and the band. It’s just great watching musicians and artists perform for the love of music and for the love of the audience who have been inspired by and connected to the music over the years. It was just a really enjoyable night!
ILM: What kind of soul music are you into?
Maverick: Everything from Otis Redding to new soul like Lauren Hill, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, India Arie… Everything. Amy Winehouse…
ILM: Prompting you’re cover of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come…
Maverick: Oh, Sam Cooke! Sam Cooke, obviously, yeah. I love Sam Cooke!
ILM: That was for BBC 1Xtra and Trevor Nelson wasn't it? Why did you chose that song?
Maverick: Yeah, Trevor Nelson asked me to cover something old-school. It was just after the riots in London, and I thought it was a fitting song. It was actually my manager who said “yeah, you should do that.” It fitted the time right. I feel like music has always represented the time it’s been made in, and nothing I was hearing on the radio was reflecting anything that was actually going on. How can you have riots in London, and it be one of the biggest events for my generation – because it was my generation that was out there – and then have no-one speak about it? If that was back in the ‘70s you’d have artists dying to speak about it. So I thought A Change Is Gonna Come was a fitting song for the time. We rehearsed it about half an hour before we did it. I was going to do another track – which I ended up doing after that as well: Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles – so I kind of sprung the Sam Cooke cover on my band and had to be like “sorry guys!” We rehearsed it, banged it out and it was like a little magical moment. It’s going on the album as well.
ILM: We last spoke to you at the end of 2009, and you’ve made huge progress since then. Has it been hard work?
Maverick: I’ve put everything into it. I have to, cos if I don’t I won’t make the music I want to make. I have to bear all – if that’s the right way to say it – on tracks. Being a musician is a 24/7, 365 days a year thing. If you could fit in another couple of days after that you would, know what I mean! I just write music that I love, and that I love to perform, and also that’s positive and that people can relate to. That’s the music that got me through life to this point. I might not be sitting here talking to you if it wasn’t for certain artists that spoke to me and made me feel like they understood me, when they were from totally different backgrounds. Artist like Tupac Shakur, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Lauryn Hill… they wrote such powerful music that I could listen to from a totally different background, culture and time and still relate to. That’s what music’s about. For me, music is the most powerful tool in the world. It should always reflect change, and it can bring about change if used in the right way. That’s what I want to do with my music.
ILM: Where does that drive come from? What are the roots of that?
Maverick: I could never point out where the roots are exactly. I fell in love with music at a young age. It’s obviously got a lot to do with my mother and father, and how they brought me up. They were always highlighting injustices in the world, and so I was always very aware of segregation of people, and how corporations benefit from it, governments benefit from it, banks benefit from it. There’s this certain selection of hierarchy that benefits from it while the rest of us kill ourselves. Being aware of that, and being aware that I love music… Spreading a positive message through music just gives me that joy. Everything I see around me every day, on the bus looking out the window, inspires me and gives me that joy. The roots of it is what I see going on in the world.
ILM: Have there been any moments where you've considered doing something else?
Maverick: It’s always been tunnel vision to be honest. There have been times – and still are now – when I’ve thought of writing for other people. But never to give it up and stop being an artist or performing. There have been a couple of points when I was 16, 17, finishing school in Ireland and not doing too well in school, and not really knowing what to do. The pressures of society and what they call ‘normality’ say that you’ve got to go and get a degree no matter what. I was looking at doing about three VTECs before I could even get on to a course, and when I sat down and thought about it, it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I remember having discussions with my mum, who was a firm supporter of me getting a better education for myself, and saying “look, I’d rather live in a cardboard box and be doing what I love doing than be sitting in an office in forty years time and regretting that I didn’t go for it,” and I said “look, if it fails and nothing comes of it, at least I tried. But I can’t go back if I go for plan b. It’ll end up becoming the main focus.” I didn’t wanna do that. I’m not in life for money or gain or anything like that. I’m in it to pursue happiness, and music is what makes me happy so that’s what I’m going to pursue.
ILM: Your mum must be delighted now!
Maverick: Yeah! It was hard, up until the point that I signed a deal. But I’ve had good support. My dad’s a musician so he supported me from day dot. If my dad says it’s a good song, then it’s a good song.
ILM: What can we expect from your album next year? Is it finished?
Maverick: Yeah, it’s finished. I just wanted to put a good body of work together. I wanted to make an album that people would want to listen to from start to finish. I wanted to make it positive so that people could understand me more as a person. It’s like a sit-down conversation. If you were to come into my house and go “talk!” I can talk for days! So I put that into my music. You’ll hear every spectrum of my life. Falling in and out of love, going out and getting drunk and getting into fights, my view on certain social issues that I feel need to be spoken about, political issues, problems with me and alcohol… Yeah, just a lot of different topics that go through my mind. Hopefully people can connect to them. I want it to be an album that can stand the test of time. I don’t want to make music that’s disposable, that people can listen back to in twenty years and say “that was good in 2011 or 2012, but it’s not really relevant now.” You listen to songs like No Woman No Cry; you can play that anywhere now. Play that at a 15-year-old birthday party in Croydon and you’ll get a reaction. It’s just music that’s timeless. It’s written in such a powerful, soulful way that it’ll always connect no matter what decade, or country you’re in, or language you speak. Look at Adele’s Someone Like You: it’s crossed so many different boundaries and barriers. That’s what music is about for me. I hope that I can make music like that.
ILM: There have been elements of grime and drum and bass in some of your past tracks. What inspires that? Will we see any of it on the album?
Maverick: Not on the album. Not production-wise. It’s a more live-based album. I wanted to make it universal. I love dubstep, and I love grime, but I kept that off the album to a certain extent because I felt that it shots off people. Certain people will hear a bassline or an electronic synth and will think “nah, this isn’t the kind of music I want to listen to.” To make music that a 60-yr-old woman from Scotland who only listens to Susan Boyle feels like she can listen to, and someone my age growing up in London or New Ross, County Wexford where I grew up in Ireland can listen to… For a lot of people music has become a product. If you wear baggy clothes you should listen to hip hop, or if you wear dark clothes and paint your nails black you can only listen to gothic or heavy metal music. It’s ridiculous, I should be able to listen to whatever kind of music I want to! I just want to keep my music universal. But you’ll definitely hear more of that bass stuff from me. I’ve got so many tracks just waiting. It’s just about finding the right time. I love all of that stuff, it’s what I was brought up on.
ILM: What are you doing over Christmas? Do you get time off?
Maverick: Yeah, definitely. If no-one gives me time off I’m taking it! I’m gonna go back to Ireland and have a relaxed one with friends and family, drink and food. Get some home inspiration for a bit. Take a good break, get good rest, and come back banging in 2012!
PHOTOS: Maverick Sabre Interview - take a look at the photos taken during the interview...
