RB Exclusive Interview: Discover The Man And The Music Behind SBCR And The Future Of The Bloody Beetroots

On Friday November 20th was Arizona’s second installment of Global Dance Festival and I don’t think a single fan was let down. With a massive line-up, an amazing production, multiple stages, and a strange but fitting atmosphere of dance music and wild west decor, this was a festival for the books and the first of it’s kind.

One of the wildly successful international names to headline the bill at this year’s installment was Italian electro-punk sensation SBCR, or Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo of The Bloody Beetroots. As SBCR took to the decks for his Tombstone stage headlining performance, his energy was so raw and ecstatic that it was almost impossible not to get that late night surge of punk rock adrenaline. Despite the fact that the crowd had thinned by 1:30 am, Sir Bob had the crowd raging and moshing just like they would be in a crowd of thousands.

Prior to his performance this weekend, I had a special opportunity to sit down with the Saint Bass City Rocker himself to discuss why exactly he decided to take on the SBCR project following such a strong 9 year run with The Bloody Beetroots and what the future would hold in store for himself and his band. Find out a little more about Sir Bob and The Bloody Beetroots below!

Where does your interest in producing and performing music originally come from? Was it always about producing and performing or do you prefer one over the other?

I think that they are two things that go together, that’s why I love both producing and performing. Sometime I love playing unreleased tracks just to see the reaction, so that gives the perspective of if I should produce the track.

As far as actually doing the live performances, like The Bloody Beetroots as the entire band, was that always the plan from the very beginning or did it come along a little later?

Yeah, with The Bloody Beetroots that was the plan from like day zero.

With The Bloody Beetroots, you have really evolved since the group’s inception from playing DJ sets to the live performances and now back to doing DJ sets as SBCR, how do you believe that this evolution came about? What was the process of that evolution?

Well, as I said, that was the plan, I mean, that’s my full expression. That’s what’s happening in my brain, The Bloody Beetroots Live, that my expression 100%. With SBCR I want to create new blood to the Bloody Beetroots, because it’s faster, changeable, less expectations, and I can be really flexible in terms of traveling, set-up, the way I play, so I can direct differently, even with a new crowd I don’t know. And then I’m going to translate all this new experience to The Bloody Beetroots, and I will bring back The Bloody Beetroots in 2017.

That’s fantastic news! As far as the SBCR name goes, it stands for Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo, but also Saint Bass City Rockers, where does that differentiation in titles come from and what does it mean?

The thing is that I really love playing with names and acronyms. But thinking about that, I love using plurals too, just because I feel music is a collective, even with The Church of Noise and The Bloody Beetroots, I always try to use the plural, because it’s not only me producing, it’s our sounds all together experiencing something.

When you say that you are really into playing with names, do you design your tracks based around a name?

Oh yeah, as soon as I have a good title, then I go back to the studio and I produce the song because of the title. The story is the title.

https://soundcloud.com/thebloodybeetroots/the-bloody-beetroots-feat-paul

Throughout your career as a musician you’ve collaborated with artists like Peter Frampton, Paul McCartney, Steve Aoki, do you ever see yourself bending genres even further and maybe going into uncharted territories your fans might not expect?

Well, you know, it’s just music for me, it’s what I believe. I always want to evolve myself and my life, and that’s why I want to be open-minded to collaborate and to break walls and to push the limit. But that’s because it’s my lifestyle, it’s something that I want to do all the time, day by day.

Do you have any special collaborations coming up that you can talk about at all?

Yeah, I collaborated with Gallows, which is a cross-punk band that we love and that’s probably one of the craziest productions that I’ve done so far. It’s coming out next year, and it’s pretty cool stuff. But with SBCR, I basically am producing and collaborating with unknown artists and producers just because they give me new blood to what I do. And you never finish working, that’s why I really want to do something new and get out of my comfort zone.

With that said, what can we expect from the next volume of SBCR & Friends/Adversaries?

Stuff you’ve never heard before. Volume 1 was something different from Volume 2 and 3 is going to be different from Volume 1 and Volume 2. Something new. I really want to be honest with people and express what is going on in this place in my career. It’s music I love and it’s music I love producing and it’s there, that’s why I have been producing so much lately.

Do we have a title on Volume 3 yet?

*laughs* No. Not yet.

Can you give us a little insight into the look of The Bloody Beetroots and SBCR? Why do you use the specific mask that you use? Is there a story behind it? Is there a specific feeling you’re trying to bring to the audience with it?

Well, the story is because I have a deep root in the Venecian Comedia del Arte which is based in masks and then, of course, it is directly inspired by Spider-Man, but that’s not the reason why I wanted to use the mask, the main reason was to use the mask as a catalyst to bring people’s attention to my music, because at the end of the day, I’m just a guy who came from a small town in the middle of nowhere in Italy and that was the only catalyst I could use. But, it’s been working *laughs*

Masks definitely help with the branding, that’s for sure *laughs* Can you give some advice to the aspiring producers looking to make it in the industry, specifically for artists who are into the hybridization of DJing and performing live, and how you can succeed using that unique mix of producing and performance?

The thing is I really love people to bring back the music and the meaning of music and not think about the industry and the business. Money is good, but you know, at this point you really need to have music with content and substance, so first of all you must think about the music, then you can think about the industry.

There you have it. SBCR has a lot on the up and up, including a return to form with The Bloody Beetroots set for 2017. I can’t wait. Can you?

Stay Connected with SBCR:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sbcrofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SBCROfficial
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thebloodybeetroots