Martin Roman Rebelski is the unofficial fourth member of Doves, contributing keyboards to their recorded output and on tour since 1998. He is also a composer and recording artist in his own right.

The half-Polish musician was born and raised in Leamington Spa. He started to learn the piano aged 10, on a small keyboard bought for him by his Grandfather, but soon gave up, bored by the traditional methods of learning. It was a few years later, while working in a music shop where he had the opportunity to try out different instruments, that he caught the music bug again and started to teach himself keyboards, learning by ear from songs on the radio.

He started to write his own music at the age of 16, inspired by Kraftwerk, film scores and techno. Encouraged by his family and friends, Rebelski sent out demo tapes to record companies, only to have his efforts rejected or ignored. Frustrated by his failure, but determined not to quit music, he decided Manchester was the place to find like-minded souls.

Moving to Salford in 1994, he continued to write music, and began the search for an established band that he could join as keyboard player. He was unsuccessful, and began to weary of the process of writing, chasing a record deal, and getting nowhere. His experience of people within the music industry left him jaded and he lost his determination to carry on.

In 1998, he was sharing a house with someone who worked for Rob Gretton, at Rob’s Records. Doves were recording Here It Comes as their third release on the Casino label and were in need of a keyboard player. His housemate recommended Rebelski to the band, who then rang him and invited him into the studio. This initial job as a session musician resulted in Rebelski performing with the band more regularly, both on record and live.

Rebelski credits the individual members of Doves with revitalising him as a musician. Finding himself back in a band environment, with a group of people who were totally enthusiastic about the music they were making, Rebelski rediscovered his creative focus. Over the years of touring and recording with Doves, he began to experiment with writing his own material again.

During the 2000 tour in support of Lost Souls, Rebelski was approached by Heavenly label boss Jeff Barrett who told him he believed the keyboard player should be writing again. Encouraged that someone so influential within the industry should think that way, Rebelski got a couple of tunes together and played them to Barrett. The Heavenly boss was impressed by what he heard, and offered to put out an album on the label.

Although he had invested in thousands of pounds worth of recording equipment and samplers with a view to starting writing and recording again, Rebelski still found it difficult to get back into recording his own material. It was during December 2001, when he returned to his parents’ house in Leamington, that he began to write properly again. He pulled out his old keyboard, bought by his grandfather all those years ago, and started doodling. That doodling resulted in two tracks that ended up on first album Thanks For Your Thoughts. One of those tracks was Dad’s Hi Fi, so named because he recorded it through his dad’s hi fi system.

Between December 2001 and April 2002, Rebelski compiled more tracks, recording in stages as time allowed during the sessions for Doves’ The Last Broadcast. The majority of the album was recorded at home, with drums and strings being recorded in the studio of Doves sound engineer Steve Lloyd.

Thanks For Your Thoughts was released in March 2003, taking its name from a line delivered sarcastically by Chris Morris in an episode of Brass Eye.

Rebelski’s first live outing as a solo artist was in support of Doves at their TeenCancer charity gig at the Royal Albert Hall on 27 March 2003. He was joined on stage by Jimi Goodwin for a couple of tracks, but his live band was largely made up of stray members of Beats For Beginners.

It was his friendship with Beats For Beginners vocalist and songwriter Mike TV that influenced the recording of Rebelski’s second album, Stickers On Keys. As he began to think about writing a follow-up album, Rebelski realised that he wanted to include vocals on the new material, to take it to the next level. Not a natural vocalist himself, he decided to recruit Mike to the cause.

Together they wrote the album track In Space For A Day and the second single from the album Little White Lines. It was while they were working on these tracks that Mike inadvertently christened the album. In the hallway of Rebelski’s flat lay an old keyboard he had purchased from a charity shop, and which still had stickers on its keys. When Mike saw the keyboard, he began to laugh and said “Look! Stickers on keys!” Immediately the phrase struck a chord with Rebelski, and the album was named.

Now a firm part of the Manchester music scene, Rebelski had also got to know Salford musician Roger Quigley, of Montgolfier Brothers and At Swim Two Birds. Listening to a couple of the Montgolfier Brothers’ albums, Rebelski decided that Quigley would be an ideal vocalist for the new album. Their method of writing songs together differed markedly from that he shared with Mike. The process began with Rebelski writing the music and giving a copy of it to Quigley. Although the pair were in regular contact, there was no discussion of how the song writing was going until one day Quigley produced a cd from his pocket that had the vocals recorded on it. From that point on, the pair traded cds until the songs, Play The School Piano and Long Slow Drive Home, were completed.

As with first album Thanks For Your Thoughts, the members of Doves offered support and encouragement, and also contributed musically to the album. Jimi Goodwin plays drums on the title track, as well as drums, guitar and vocals on Remote Control, while Andy Williams drums on Scallywag and Jez Williams provides electric 12 string accompaniment on In Space For A Day.

By the time the album was ready for release in Spring 2004, Rebelski and Heavenly had parted ways. A set at Chorlton Irish Club introduced the public to the new music in early March. Soon after, Rick Myers passed a demo copy of the album to Damon Gough. Gough was so impressed that he rang Rebelski up immediately and, over a few games of pool, negotiated a deal with him for the Twisted Nerve label, as well as offering to act as Rebelski’s A&R man.

Gough’s passion for Rebelski’s work was flattering and impossible to refuse, so, on Sunday 23 May 2004 (the day of the Rob Gretton tribute gig FAC511 And You, Forgotten?), the deal with TN was signed.

During the summer of 2004, Rebelski provided support for Badly Drawn Boy at his Festival Hall and Bridgewater Hall gigs. Stickers On Keys was released in November 2004 and Rebelski performed his second headline gig at Band On The Wall on 1 December 2004.

Information in this article was sourced from the following websites and articles:

http://www.poptones.co.uk/interviews/qod_martin_rebelski.htm

City Life Magazine article "Yes, It's The Rebel-M-Ski"

http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/yo1magazine/march/4.html

Online Interview with BBC Manchester

© J R Hargreaves 2004. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the author.