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Maverick Sabre Interview
RnB/Hip Hop | Tuesday 8th November 2011 | Annalisa
The Guestlist got together with Maverick Sabre, London born Irish Hip hop Artists to find out the 411.
Maverick Sabre : What’s going on?
Mr Wondah: We good?
Maverick Sabre: Yea alright, I don’t need to wear the headphones throughout the interview do I?
Mr Wondah: Nah you don’t need them really.
Maverick Sabre: Alright nice one.
Mr Wondah: Yes this is Mr Wondah right here playing the hottest tunes, playing the most exclusive interview. Right now were blessed with the presence of one of the UK scenes most accomplished up and coming artists, he given you hits like; ‘Look what I done’ and ‘Let me go’, he’s already collaborated with the likes of Professor Green, Chase and Status and his performance on later with Jules Holland has to be seen to be believed. He’s is being described as a talent with the potential of being as big an export from Ireland as Colin feral or Guinness, we are joined by the singer song writer none other than Maverick Sabre.
Maverick Sabre: What’s going on ? I don’t think I can ever be as big as Guinness, but uno I’m gona try.
(both laugh)
Mr Wondah: Wow wow wow absolutely fantastic brother, I mean your hot new single, ‘I Need’ is tearing up the place right about now, it’s some big things, obviously on general release right about now. So What’s the most challenging thing about being Maverick Sabre right now?
Maverick Sabre: Dealing with everyone’s opinions, not everyone as in the public, but everyone behind the scenes, but uno what the main this is; I’m on the headline tour at the minute and the audience that are coming to the shows are the exact sort of audiences that I wanted, because I try and put out a positive message throughout my music.
Mr Wondah: Yes
Maverick Sabre: There has been such a wide range of people coming to the shows all ages from all different backgrounds, and it’s always been a positive vibe from every show uno, and that’s what I what I like to leave the audience with yea coz that’s what I how I wana leave it with my music uno. Yea it’s been good.
Mr Wondah: Ok that’s a good look man. Ok we will get into the lyrics, because I mean your lyrics , their apologetic, when you hold up a mirror to society sometimes, some of the lyrics that you do that you put into your songs are very hard hitting, but well get into that later, obviously got the album ‘Lonely are the brave’ I believe .
Maverick Sabre: Yea Lonely are the brave.
Mr Wondah: That’s coming next year?
Maverick Sabre: Yea in January.
Mr Wondah: Ok fine, you were born in Hackney in east London and then you moved to Ireland and now your back again in London yea? What’s the story behind all that then?
Maverick Sabre: Yea I was born Stoke Newington in Hackney, Irish family, my father was originally from a town called New Ross, County Wexford, which we moved back to when I was four or five. I was raised there and then pursuing music I moved back London when I was about seventeen by myself.
Mr Wondah: Ok.
Maverick Sabre: I’m twenty one now so yea I got a very hybrid accent, London Irish true and true.
(both laugh)
Mr Wondah: Seen seen , ok What’s your earliest memory of deciding to make music your life?
Maverick Sabre: The earliest memory was I suppose when I was really young, my fathers been in bands since I can remember, so always used to go see him in the pubs, or rehearsing. Was always used to banging around in the background, going on bongo’s or harmonicas, having a go on the guitar or banging away at the drums. But yea I suppose my earliest memory was when I was 8 or 9 and I heard, ‘Stand by me’ by Benny King. I fell in love with the tune, I remember thinking this is a big tune, I got a Drifters tape, remember the Drifters? They did all the old covers of everything Spanish Harlem all that, I used to sit in my room and listen to them over and over on repeat and loved it, I remember asking my dad to teach me ‘Stand by me’ on the guitar.
Mr Wondah: Right
Maverick Sabre: He taught me the four chords on the guitar and that’s all he ever taught me, and then I just started writing songs from there.
Mr Wondah: Right, ok so Benny King obviously gave birth to you sort of.
Maverick Sabre: Yea that’s what he did, Benny Kings basket food.
Mr Wondah: Yea man; ‘See something just aint right, see the government kill others for a wage, look how we waste life, I believe you believe we believe together, getting lost up in the system that teaches us to be separate. That’s some of the insightful and controversial lyrics from the song ‘I used to have it all’.
Maverick Sabre: Ok you’re going in with the lyrics now?
Mr Wondah: You seem very un apologetic, like I said, holding up a mirror to society, I mean is that deliberate or is that just how the creative process just comes out ?
Maverick Sabre: That’s how the creative process comes. I don’t ever want to sound preachy or cliché or cheesy or anything like that because it’s not my profession to judging everything, who knows everything in the world? That’s just my point of view on things.
Mr Wondah: Right.
Maverick Sabre: And I feel like music has always been about unity and talking for the people, especially the youth, and now it’s not anymore.
Mr Wondah: Ok.
Maverick Sabre: I feel that music is more about creating idols and often warranting the title idol on the wrong people.
Mr Wondah: Right .
Maverick Sabre: You see what I’m saying?
Mr Wondah: Yea yea.
Maverick Sabre : Idols used to be people, who were like, stood up for the people. I mean two big influences of mine are Bob Dylan and Bob Marley.
Mr Wondah: Ok
Maverick Sabre: They always had very political messages in their music, not just overly political but spiritual messages like unity and positivity. I feel that now you don’t see that any more, it’s more about what she wearing or what’s he wearing!
Mr Wondah: Yes.
Maverick Sabre: Who’s got this this glad? Who’s got who in the new collaboration? What club are they in tomorrow? Do you know what I mean, it shouldn’t be like that, I’m not gona nock any one, because I can never knock anyone for making money, putting clothes on their back because that’s what they do. I just feel there need to be more, I duno more positive messages within the music, that’s what I put out, that’s what I feel my art form is.
Mr Wondah: Absolutely fantastic the man Maverick Sabre is here blazing a trail to stardom as we speak. The single that really brought you to the attention of the masses was, ‘Look what I done’, again you seem very clear to address issues regarding young ladies, what’s the creative history behind that one?
Maverick Sabre: Uno what, that song was written when I was about fifteen over a totally different beat altogether. There is a very thin line between being done in a preachy way and saying, look what all men have done, I’m an angel d d d d duh, It shouldn’t go on and I’m not saying that! I’m saying look what I’ve done, I’m not gona say all men but have done it but as a man I have played a part in it as well, and I’m not gona say I haven’t, but I feel like someone needs to say something about what is going on. At the time I was listening to all the chats at the time there was all these big female artists icons, and I remember at the time I was going round asking all my girl friends who they like now, everyone was saying these big names and none of them actually ever said anything positive about women in their music and they were females themselves. The lyrics were always about I need a man with money, what? There was nothing , I don’t want to be too critical but im a big, Lauren Hill, India Ariefan , Sinead O'connor fan, positive women that put positive message out through their music, you know what I mean? And I just didn’t feel that was going on at the time. I felt like you know what, actually maybe a man should write a song about it and say, look what ive done , put my hands up and admit I’ve been battered, I’ve added to problems but this is how im expressing myself right now. I never sit down and try and deliberately write something it just comes out, it just wanted to put it in a way that got my point across.
Mr Wondah: So the video its self what was that about?
Maverick Sabre : It was done on a cheap budget, I wanted a loosely based video, quite focused on the girl in the video and have me almost like a ghost in it , being in similar situations that she’s in walking around, I sat down with the girl before we shot the video and said look; just be emotional on it, show emotion through your face, listen to the song and listen to the lyrics. keep it quite simple and the audiences will take what they want from it.
Mr Wondah: Why the name Maverick Sabre?
Maverick Sabre: When I was about fourteen I was setting up a MySpace page on the Irish hip hop scene. The name I was born with is Michael Stafford, I though mc Mickie MC, Mikey MC it’s just not really catch enough, or edgy enough, so I opened up a thesaurus, probably the only time I’ve ever opened a thesaurus in my life and looked under m for my two initials. In m I found Maverick, I was thinking outside the box and that is what I wanted to do with my music, I never wanted to be pigeon holed. Then for Saber ,the meaning I found for it at the time which I’ve actually never been able to find it since was, someone who puts a hard on front to get through hard times, and I feel that everybody else needs to do this at some point in their life, and it kind of ties in with -lonely are the brave, so yeah they are stuck with me, so uno can’t change it.
Mr Wondah: Top of the album, Lonely are the brave. What can we expect from that then?
Maverick Sabre: I keep saying this, for people not to expect anything, expect the difference from ‘Let me go’ to ‘I need’, they are all very different sounding tracks, but they all got the same undertone of saying something within it and its not throwaway music, it’s not like disposable music. Lonely are the brave is going to be my first stamp on music, the first time my cd is going to be in the shop or somebody is going to be able to buy a body of work. some of the songs were out when I was sixteen on it, I just wanted to make music that could stand like the test of time and be relevant in fifty years time. Or could have been done fifty years ago and it still be relevant
Mr Wondah: Now?
Maverick Sabre: Yeah.
Mr Wondah: Absolutely fantastic, making a classic with Maverick Sabre right here on the Guestlist Network. Yes so the big single ‘I need’, ok obviously on that one you seem to be more introspective, what’s the creative aspect behind the track and video to that one as well?
Maverick Sabre : The track I wrote when I was about sixteen or seventeen, id finished school and I was living back in Ireland, I was in like a mental rut. I didn’t know where to go in life,I fi wanted to pursue music or how to pursue it . I had already done two years on the Irish Hip Hop scene and I kind of wanted to push it further and I didn’t know what to do, it was literally the initial stages in that, when you just wake up in the morning and you open the curtains and if its more sunny and you’re more positive like. If it’s raining you’re more likely to be a bit down and just kind of wanting some sunshine and some blue skies, to give me that immediate positivity when I wake up in the morning, and as I went into verses of it I just kinda got a more adept of what I needed in life and what I needed to get out of mentally. I thought what better place to go back and shoot the video than the place then the town I was raised in, new Ross in County Wexford. Had all my family in it and all people I cared about, all my friends, showed parts of the town in it, it was really one of the proudest moments in my career being able to go back to my hometown to shoot that uno.
Mr Wondah: Wow absolutely fantastic , we gona run that right on the Guestlist Network .
Maverick Sabre: This is Maverick Sabre and check out my brand new single ‘I need’.
Mr Wondah: Absolutely fantastic and the single ‘I need’ is tearing up the country right about now as we speak. I mean If people want to hook up with you, stalk you on twitter whatever man, how can they do that brother?
Maverick Sabre: You can catch me on mavericksabre.com, it’s my website, it’s got all my main updates on it, you got twitter mavericksaber/twitter daily, hourly, updates that I do myself and on Facebook.
