Rebūke on "Dancing Bears" and Building His Next Sonic Era: 'I'd Rather Be Broke and Interesting Than Successful and Predictable' [Q&A]

In his artist bio, Rebūke clarifies the significance of his stage name.

“It’s a play on words on my real name, which I really liked,” he explains. “But it also means ‘to intend to correct a fault,’ which appealed to me too because I was getting bored with all the same old tracks I was hearing all the time. I thought it was time to do something about that.”

Several years since he broke out with “Along Came Polly” on Hot Creations in 2018, Rebūke’s creative ethos largely remains the same. It’s still expansive and subversive, but these days, it’s grown increasingly introspective for the Irish producer who, after delivering his debut album last August, has taken what he calls a “hard look at my career, the support structure around me, and what I actually needed to push things to the next level.”

With World Of Era in the rearview and a renewed sense of clarity, Rebūke has been steadily shaping the sound of his next chapter through a string of high-profile remixes for Calvin Harris and Layton Giordani and Green Velvet, as well as a glitchy, chilled-out spin on Phil Kieran’s rework of Roel H’s “Dancing Bears,” out now via ERA. In a candid Q&A with Beatportal, Rebūke discusses choosing meaning over trends, taking his first LP too seriously, and the new direction he’ll unveil more fully during his EDC Las Vegas debut. Read it below, and catch him at quantumVALLEY on May 17.

You recently wrote on Instagram, "I'm finally figuring out where I wanna take my sound next." How would you describe your new direction, and how does "Dancing Bears" fit into it?

Darker, rougher, less pretty...going back to the Rebūke sound that I started the project to make. I fell into melodic techno by accident. "Syren" with Anyma opened a door into a world I didn't know much about, and at the time, it was super exciting because it felt new and fresh. But I've watched that world shift very quickly into something I can't really get behind anymore. It's fallen more and more into commercialism, and the evolution of the genre seems to have stagnated, so at the end of last year I had to reflect: Is this actually me, or have I just gotten comfortable?

My sound has shifted a lot through the years, from the early Dirtybird/Hot Creations sound to Drumcode techno and, more recently, the melodic sound. One thing I've noticed is that hot trends always have this gravitational pull. Once you're in it, the scene and the bookings push you to stay and give you a false sense of security. Resisting that isn't easy when it's working, but I'd rather be broke and interesting than successful and predictable.

Phil Kieran's remix of Roel H's original came out nearly two decades ago. What inspired you to revisit it now?

I feel like everyone's remixing the same old classic house and techno records, and it feels lazy. The same classics get recycled over and over because artists know the recognition does half the work for them. "Dancing Bears" was a club weapon that never really got the flowers it deserved, so I wanted to put my twist on it and bring it to a new generation. Phil is also a legendary Irish producer I really respect, one of my personal favorites, so it's an honour to have worked with him on this and release it on ERA.

Last August, you dropped your debut album, World Of Era. Do you consider that chapter permanently closed?

Yes – and this will probably upset a few people, but I've come to learn that concept albums in electronic music are largely a vanity exercise, including mine. Somewhere between creating visually striking scenes and rendering imagery for massive LED walls, I forgot that we’re supposed to be making music for dance floors. I'm proud of World Of Era, but it all became a bit too serious. I produced, mixed, mastered, marketed, and created the majority of the visuals myself – something that normally requires a large team. So I came out the other end pretty exhausted and honestly feeling a bit isolated. I had to take a hard look at my career, the support structure around me, and what I actually needed to push things to the next level.

You started the year with two official remixes, one for Calvin Harris and the other for Layton Giordani and Green Velvet. Has experimenting through remixing helped shape this new phase of your sound?

Due to the nature of both remixes needing to be turned around super fast, it brought back the "fuck it" mentality that I'd lost during the album process. It pushed me to stop overthinking and start trusting my gut again. I think most artists deep down know when something works, but we ignore it because we think it's too simple.

You'll make your EDC Las Vegas debut this May. How much will your set lean into your new sound?

EDC is a great place to try out the new sound. The USA has always been very open to new sounds for me; you'd find an Anjunabeats fan at a Carl Cox stage, but that doesn't really happen in Europe, where most fans have their own genre and identity and stick to it.