ARTISTIC REBELS
ARTISTIC REBELS are an international indie supergroup consisting of Russell C. Brennan, Maiko, Joey Bedlam and Steve Lucas. Russell C. Brennan is the British cult record producer, songwriter, punk ‘cellist & vocalist of pop noir band Psykick Holiday and formerly of the bands Ministry of Ska, Box Office Poison and The Editors. He was the songwriter & producer of cult 1980’s Mod singer Eleanor Rigby and latterly of the established French artist and singer Maiko. Maiko (AKA Aurelie Freoua) is an artist whose abstract work has earned her kudos in the art world and she is being touted as the art equivalent of John Coltrane or Miles Davies (freestyle jazz musicians of renown). Joey Bedlam is lead singer of popular Australian cult indie act DollSquad and has been a model, graphic designer and pin-up artist. Steve Lucas (married to Joey) is lead guitarist and singer-songwriter in legendary Australian punk band 'X' and has supported Iggy Pop, The Cramps, The Damned, The Stranglers, Dr Feelgood, Sonic Youth, Henry Rollins and many more. He has had numerous releases both as a solo artist and with other bands (eg Bigger Than Jesus, Groody Frenzy, Strawberry Teardrop etc) and has also done compositions for films and TV series.
RUSSELL C BRENNAN
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MAIKO
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JOEY BEDLAM
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STEVE LUCAS
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The band Artistic Rebels came together by accident initially. Joey and Russell met many years ago when DollSquad played a concert in the UK on their European tour. She had always been a fan of the production and songs of Eleanor Rigby and was interested in meeting Russell. Russell had heard their music and was a fan of DollSquad too. Joey was keen for Russell to produce music for DollSquad but the distance between Australia and the UK and other work commitments meant it never happened. The two kept in touch and a collaboration finally occurred with Russell producing some music for Joey at a distance (a ‘virtual’ production). When Russell decided to do the new cult themes album Cult Themes Forever in 2019, he asked DollSquad to cover Fireball XL5, one of the remaining Gerry Anderson TV themes that had not yet been released on the Future Legend Records cult themes albums. The track proved to be a popular addition. Steve Lucas guested on the track and Russell noted what an excellent musician he was.
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Russell later did a remix of DollSquad track Good Stuff for the Future Legend Records Femme Fatales of Music album. Joey and Steve also put out a new version of the classic banned French single Je T’Aime (Moi Non Plus) on 7” vinyl and download and then asked Russell to do a special 12” mix for it, which he did. Inspired by this Russell decided to turn things on their head by doing an English version of this controversial track, something that had not been done before. Maiko, although she is French, sang it in English with a French accent and it was certainly a hot and steamy version. Russell then put together a 12” extended Je T'Aime single with both versions under the new band name of Artistic Rebels. Both the 12” extended Je T'Aime download single (Artistic Rebels) and the 7" vinyl single (Joey B & Steve Lucas) were released in February 2021 for Valentine’s Day.
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Russell had previously written lyrics for a song called Welcome to the Bureau of Affection. He gave it to four different musicians, including Steve Lucas, to see if they could come up with a good tune for it. Steve was the only one who came up with a great tune for the song. All four members of Artistic Rebels sang on it and Russell finished it off and produced it. It came out late summer 2021 and proved popular. The sleeve photo was created by Russell and features Maiko.
For the next single the situation was reversed. Steve came up with the tune, asked Russell to put some lyrics to it and the new song I Want to Paint It was born. Maiko & Russ came up with the vocal melody and Russell produced the track, which has an April 2022 release date.
For the next single the situation was reversed. Steve came up with the tune, asked Russell to put some lyrics to it and the new song I Want to Paint It was born. Maiko & Russ came up with the vocal melody and Russell produced the track, which has an April 2022 release date.
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RUSSELL C. BRENNAN MEETS
JOEY BEDLAM
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All four band members have their own music projects and bands keeping them busy, so Artistic Rebels is very much a side project but it’s a very creative one. They hope to keep putting out two singles a year and eventually do an album. To find any of the songs mentioned on this page on iTunes click on the dark blue song title or the relevant cover picture and this will take you to the correct iTunes page.
Be sure to check out the solo projects of Psykick Holiday, DollSquad, Steve Lucas and Maiko (see links below).
Psykick Holiday: https://www.facebook.com/Psykick-Holiday-51518091494
DollSquad: https://www.facebook.com/dollsquad/
Steve Lucas: https://www.facebook.com/SLXPRESS
Maiko (Aurelie Freoua): http://aureliefreoua.com/
Be sure to check out the solo projects of Psykick Holiday, DollSquad, Steve Lucas and Maiko (see links below).
Psykick Holiday: https://www.facebook.com/Psykick-Holiday-51518091494
DollSquad: https://www.facebook.com/dollsquad/
Steve Lucas: https://www.facebook.com/SLXPRESS
Maiko (Aurelie Freoua): http://aureliefreoua.com/