Viki’s Fresh Hell
dazzle Rebel Who are you? Well, I was born Darren John Loczy, which is the name you’ll find on any of my songwriting credits. I’ve been known as Dazzle Rebel since 2005 when I was a founding member of Red Star Rebels. From 2011 until the first UK Covid Lockdown I had been kept in a cryogenic chamber. It’s because I was a modernday soothsayer who foresaw the events of the past decade and the authorities couldn’t have me telling anyone, so I got thrown into the fridge. Unfortunately, the chiller didn’t stop me from ageing though. I’m joking, of course. I haven’t really aged a day. Hailing from? I was born and raised in Dunstable, Bedfordshire but as an adult, I moved around a bit. I moved to Nottingham in 2010 and I’ve never felt more at home anywhere else. I now consider it my hometown. Journey so far? The first serious band I was in was called Surefire. We were determined to get somewhere and were together 6 days a week, either practising, writing or performing. With a small line-up change, Surefire turned into Red Star Rebels. I started a MySpace page for the new band and that’s when we really started to cultivate a following. Suddenly, we could access music fans around the country and hit them up when we were playing in their area. It was revolutionary! I do miss the old MySpace sometimes, even the garish profiles. Red Star Rebels bagged the main support slot for the Brides Of Destruction UK 2005 UK tour, at the last possible minute. This was our first proper tour and we dropped everything else to do it. As fate would have it, I ended up not only playing bass for Red Star Rebels on that tour but Brides of Destruction too! That was crazy. I left Red Star Rebels in 2007 for that old chestnut, “musical differences” and started working on my own material. At the time I lacked the confidence to front a band myself and couldn’t find anyone else who suited what I was writing. I moved to Nottingham in 2010 and joined New Generation Superstars. That was fun and it felt good to be playing live music again but I began to feel burnt out, so I quit and retired from making music. It was during the first lockdown that I thought I’d give it another go. I was working as a motorcycle salesman when the pandemic hit and I got placed on furlough. After two weeks of doing nothing but getting drunk and sunbathing in my garden, I realised that I should make the most of the time I’d been given. So, I fired up my 12-year-old Cubase DAW and started recording. I self-released my
debut single “Fortitude” in May 2020 and followed it up with a double-EP, The Attic Transmission. This is made up of older recordings which I had John JJ Watts remix, plus some older demos. By the time I had returned to work the music bug had once again taken over. Now I just can’t stop writing new material! Condor Leader is the next release that mixes the fruits of my lockdown labours with some older tracks I’d been working on for a while. Influences/sound? I think of myself as someone who appreciates good music, no matter the genre. I’m certainly not a square when it comes to my Spotify playlists. I think that’s why I find it so difficult to be nailed down to a certain sound. That’s something that I think has hampered my songwriting in the past but it’s something that I’m working on. Mostly though, I’d say my biggest influences come from the stuff I grew up listening to in the ‘90s. Bands like Alice In Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Terrorvision, The Wildhearts etc. I’ve also got an affinity with Warren Zevon. I describe my music as Fringe Rock, as it sits on the outskirts of traditional rock genres without being too avant-garde. Biggest gig/proudest moment to date? For me, finally having the guts to front my own music is my proudest musical moment. As an introvert, I’m not a natural frontman and I’m by no means a great singer. Still, I do have a voice and I’ve got to a stage in life when I don’t really care if other people like it or not. For years I didn’t think that I deserved to be putting music out there, so it really does mean so much to me when people compliment what I’m doing now. If you’re reading this, thank you for listening. You rock! What does the future hold for Daz Rebel?! Lots, I hope! I’ve got big plans for 2022 which includes fresh material and a full-blown album. I am getting a band together to help make my recordings really rock. I won’t confirm who’ll be in it yet but they are names that Hard Rock Hell regulars may recognise. This will also mean I’ll be able to put on some live shows, something that I’ve not done since 2011. I’m talking to other artists about collaborating with other projects too. All I really know is that there’s a lot more music in me and I’m not going to spend another decade leaving it on the shelf.
WORDS: VIKI RIDLEY
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