Are you ready to meet your new favorite indie rock band? Introducing Rebel Kicks, an nyc based duo comprised of brothers Anthony and Steven Babino, who craft anthemic alternative pop refreshingly infused with social commentary and powerful personal revelation. The band’s explosive new single, the arena-ready anthem ‘Silhouette,” bursts with pop-rock hooks, atmospheric ambience, and ear-worm guitar riffs – and we guarantee you won’t be able to get it out of your head. It’s the first of a series of releases that the brothers will drop in 2023. Stay tuned for continued updates.
“’Silhouette’ is a fun, upbeat song about realizing that you’ve built up an unrealistic, idealized version of someone in your head, but once you get to know them, you wish you could go back to before you met,” comments guitarist/vocalist Anthony Babino.
We spoke to the band about their latest single, their influences, how the pandemic has impacted them as a band, and more. Read on below, and be sure to keep your eyes on these guys in 2023.
Congratulations on your new release! Tell us about “Silhouette.” What does this song mean to you? Thank you so much! "Silhouette" is about the moment you realize that you've built up an unrealistic, idealized version of someone in your mind, and once you truly get to know them, that fantasy shatters, and you wish you could go back to your blissful ignorance.
Tell us a little bit about the writing and recording process of the song. "Silhouette" was co-written and recorded with Jackson Hoffman and Ryder Stuart, who we also collaborated with on our song, "We Should Go Missing". We started recording as we were in the process of writing the song, which gives it a real sense of immediacy and energy. Musically, it's fun and upbeat, but the lyrics are playfully bleak, so it has this interesting dichotomy about it.
We hear a broad range of influences on the new single. Who are some of your biggest creative inspirations? We've always listened to a wide range of music across all genres, so we have a lot of artists who inspire us creatively. We also try to approach each recording we make as its own unique entity, exploring things musically that will make it different from what we've done before, so the influences we draw from vary, depending on what the vibe of the record we're making is. In a general sense, the foundation of our musical DNA has always been built on music from the 60's, 70's and 80's, the obvious choices being The Beatles (both together and solo), Stevie Wonder, Led Zeppelin, Paul Simon, Tears for Fears, Prince, and then bands like Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Killers, Kings of Leon, Portugal. The Man, Phoebe Bridgers, Halsey, The 1975, and many more.
We loved the video for “Silhouette.” Where were the live performance elements captured? Thanks! The live, in-studio footage was filmed during the two recording sessions with Jackson and Ryder at their studio in Brooklyn, so that's actually us recording the song in real time. The rest of the performance footage and closeups were shot at our home studios.
How has the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns impacted you as a band? It had an interesting effect in the way that it completely halted certain aspects of what we do, like live performances and touring opportunities, but in a weird way, the isolation also spurred us on creatively - we wrote and made demo's for a ton of material during the lockdown. We also put our debut album out during August of 2020 (A Portrait of Man, Pt 1), and then in December that year released an EP (Whiskey & Sinatra: Live in NYC) of live recordings from before the pandemic started, so we didn't let it stop us from putting music out. Meditating, making music, and staying busy by escaping into the creative process during that time was something we took a lot of solace in.
What’s next for you in 2023? We have a string of singles and videos planned throughout the year, and we're currently working on planning a tour, hopefully getting on some festivals along the way. We love performing live, and we're really looking forward to getting out there in front of people and playing our new material.
