Reek0 was the featured act for the penultimate CLASH Live showcase of the year at Metropolis Studios, created in association with our partners Avirex.
Inspired by his Uncle’s (affectionately called “Uncs”) proximity to homegrown rap and rave groups like Heartless Crew, Reek0’s desire to pursue rap came from wanting to impress a family figurehead. On his debut EP ‘Good Dreams’, Reek0 emerged as a hybrid act. Young, precocious, at times cerebral and abstract, Reek0’s underground sensibility in songs that carry with it a quotidian, street-level resonance, sets him apart from the homogenised scene at large.
Tracing a line through his come-up with Brighter Days Family founder and artist IZCO, Reek0 stresses the importance of having a tight inner circle to grow and develop with. “We naturally came up together. We’d get booked for shows together. We thought about doing a tour whilst he was touring with Nia Archives. We just needed new material to tour with. We had a dream team making sure everything correlated,” he says.
Reek0 evolved his sound further on collaborative EP ‘Wun 2’, released in October. The 6-track project is doused in the neon-tinged glow of after-hours thrills and comedowns, a collection of songs more grounded and mature than its predecessor: a document of a transformative period for both Reek-0 and IZCO. “We both went through a crazy year of adapting, navigating lots of personal stuff. The project gave us the ability to process and release what we’d been going through. (IZCO) made ‘Mountain’ on a very special day; I wrote the lyrics on a special day. There’s a lot of emotion tied to this project,” Reek-0 continues.
Relishing the opportunity to perform at Metropolis Studios, Reek0 deviated from a solitary one or two-man stage set up. For the occasion, he was flanked by a revolving door of friends and session musicians: “I put together some of my mates who are these crazy, talented musicians. It’s people who have never played a show and people who played Coachella coming together. We’re creating from scratch.”
In his set, Reek0 wanted to mirror the subversive, layered feel of his songs in the intimate, surround sound space that is Studio A. “I wanted it to be abstract; congas, bass and keys. My guy Cyril on the congas, Sam on the keys, and Arthur on the bass. Arthur’s friend Joe played drums and my guy is on percussion. It was just my friends really,” he says.
Looking to the future, Reek0 is looking to level up whilst keeping his family and creative community close by: “I do it for my family. Love’s not love without a party; a party’s not a party without love. It’s about doing new things all the time, and trying to be a musician travelling the world making history.”
Watch Reek0’s performance of signature song ‘Good Dreams’ and his full interview with Grant Brydon below…
Interview: Grant Brydon
Photography: Sam Rockman
Video: Garry Jones
