ON THE RISE
Rebel ACA began his journey into the music industry as the owner of a Buttercuts Record Label. With a career or working alongside incredible rappers and musicians, it was no surprise when he began to create music of his own. Now recording under his own label, Rebel is collaborating with iconic names in the industry and creating interesting and honest tracks of his own.
Rebel’s most recent project is a single titled “Mygraine”, in collaboration with Jamaican dancehall powerhouse Spragga Benz and UK icon Rodney P. “It is just a song about migraines,” Rebel explained. “I get them pretty regularly and that’s just the kind of thing that I feel I can be writing about.”
Not having come from the background that entices him to rap about the traditional topics, like money, sex or life in the streets, Rebel is creating his own narrative, pairing electric beats and melodies with seemingly usual and relatable topics.
While the general idea of “Mygraine” is the pain and discomfort of a headache, Rebel’s collaborators have taken the song and pulled it into a realm that fits their own more traditional style was well. “They really liked the song when I showed it to them,” he explained. “They took my idea and put their own spin on it… It’s not so uncommon to use weed as a remedy for migraines.”
Blending the backgrounds of all three musicians, they were able to create a song that is captivating and easy to connect to.
To go along with the release of “Mygraine”, Rebel noted the release of a remix of the song by DJ Phantasy, as well as a music video that went along with both versions of the track. For fans who are interested, the project will be available purchased in a vinyl format.
Alongside of his work as a solo creator, Rebel and some of his creative friends are taking their personal therapy sessions and sharing them with the world. “For a while now, some friends and I have been getting together just to create music together,” he explained. “We all have really different styles and backgrounds and putting that together has helped us create something that I think is really cool.”
Rebel and his two colleagues formed the group ADHG to share their experience and connect with their fans on an honest and incredibly relatable level. “Our goal is to connect with people,” he said. “We are all coming from really different places and we’ve got a lot to say.” The trio will be releasing old school A and B side singles on a regular basis for the foreseeable future. If Rebel’s music interests you, this is not something you are going to want to miss out on.
Be sure to stay tuned in to Rebel ACA and ADHG on various platforms for new music, visuals and social posts.
Website
Rebel_ACA
Spragga Benz
Rodney P
DJ Phantasy
Amazon Music
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Spotify
ON THE RISE
Blossoms caught up with NME to discuss competing with The Beatles and Johnny Marr for this week’s Number One album. With ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ in the running, the band also explained why making things themselves remains such an important part of their work as AI becomes more common.
The Stockport group put out their sixth album last Friday, October 2. By the midweek update, it was sitting at Number Two, between The Beatles’ expanded edition of ‘Rubber Soul’ and Johnny Marr’s latest solo album, ‘The Age Of Everything’.
“It’s mad, to be honest,” singer Tom Ogden said to NME about the chart race. “Liverpool on one side, Manchester on the other and Stockport in the middle. If you’d told us this 10 years ago, when we were releasing our debut, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I mean, we’re in good company aren’t we?”
Discussing the stories behind the album, Ogden described ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ as “about being married and all the everyday stuff that comes with it”. He married Katie Donovan, the sister of Blossoms drummer Joe, in 2021. Married life has since given him a new appreciation for what he describes as “the extraordinary ordinary”.
“Saying the wrong thing in an argument, losing your wife’s no claims bonus, crying at the Kardashians, it’s all in there,” he explained. “The album is named after Stockport Town Hall, which everyone round where we live calls the Wedding Cake, and it’s where I got married, so it couldn’t be much closer to home.
“The last album [‘Gary’, 2024] had a song about a stolen fibreglass gorilla, which everyone loved, and that gave us the confidence to bring the same playfulness to this one, just with more personal subject matter this time.”
Alongside tracks that came out of writing sessions with Declan McKenna in a hot tub, the album reflects the band’s desire to stay involved in every part of the creative process.
“It started with the recording,” Ogden explained. “We made the album with Shawn Lee, playing live straight to tape, and once you’ve done it that way you can’t really go and fake everything else. We sat down as a band and picked the colour palette, and everything visual followed from that. We had body scans taken of ourselves and cake toppers of the five of us 3D printed, put them on a real cake and photographed it. I’ve directed and edited the videos, and the sets are all built by hand, no green screen. For the pop-up shop on launch weekend, a local artist hand-painted the album cover for the sign outside.
“It’s more work, but you end up with a world that’s yours, and I think people can tell when a band’s had its hands on everything.”
With AI tools and digital effects becoming increasingly widespread, that approach feels particularly relevant. For Blossoms, though, the motivation is simple: “the fun is in the making”.
“Tape doesn’t let you cheat and neither does a real cake,” Ogden said. “If a set’s a bit wonky, it’s because one of us or our mates built it. I think the more stuff gets generated, the more people want to know a human being actually did it. We’ve been in this band together for over 10 years, five lads from Stockport, and that isn’t something you can ‘prompt’.”
Maya Jama also appeared in the video for the album’s first single, ‘Meet Me In Love’. Her appearance came shortly before the UK launch of Celebrity Traitors, where she took on the role of a traitor alongside a cast that included Richard E Grant and James Acaster.
“She was brilliant,” Ogden recalled of working with Jama. “We’d met her at the MTV EMAs in Manchester a couple of years ago, so we took a chance and sent her a DM …and she said yes. Next thing she’s in a theatre in Cheadle miming my vocals while a load of people dressed as me serenade her. She got the idea straight away and was a proper laugh about it.”
The conversation then turned to whether he thought Jama could take home the win on Celebrity Traitors.
Ogden joked: “As for Traitors, she spent a whole day pretending to sing my song and I almost believed her, so I’d say she’s got every chance.”
Fans can listen to ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ now. In November, Blossoms head out on a UK arena tour with The Royston Club. Tickets and further details are available here.
Before the tour begins, the group is also scheduled to appear on SNL UK on Saturday, October 24.
