Marc Rebillet is known for performing with as little as a loop station, keyboard, and golden microphone: not to mention a silk robe that he offers to a fan from the crowd at his live gigs. Yet this classically trained pianist-turned-YouTube-sensation only got to where he is now after being fired from his corporate job in 2016.
With his captivating blend of witty and insightful lyrics atop a mix of soul, funk, hip-hop and electronic music, there seems to be no stopping this boy from Dallas, who now resides in New York. Touring relentlessly across Europe and North America to a silk-robe-clad cult following while collaborating with artists such as Erykah Badu and Reggie Watts, Marc has proven that he’s far more than momentary internet hype.
After postponing his gigs for two years in New Zealand and Australia due to Covid, Viva tracked him down for an exclusive Q&A ahead of his three sold-out gigs at the Powerstation in Auckland recently.
As the interview shows, Marc’s unique online persona seems to overflow into most facets of his “real” life.
Viva: Your New Zealand and Australian tour was postponed for two years due to Covid. In that time, you dedicated live streams to the cities that missed out. Do these tours hold any particular importance to you because of that?
Marc: This is a special tour for me specifically because it was postponed for so long. Getting on a really regimented schedule of live-streaming to make up for the shows I wasn’t playing during that time is really what got the momentum going for the Sunday streams that I ended up doing regularly. This [momentum] allowed me to do big tours in Europe and North America now.
How were your Auckland gigs?
The energy was awesome, it’s been huge.
You became well known on YouTube and Twitch. Do you prefer performing to a live audience or one you can’t see?
I feel more at home playing in front of people than online just because the feedback is so much more direct. I do enjoy live streaming — obviously, it’s a big part of what I do and what I have done — but playing live is better.
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Advertise with NZME.How does performing live influence performing online?
I guess I treat my online audience as I would a live audience, so maybe that differentiates me a little bit from a lot of other live streamers, as they might just be used to playing to a camera.
You used to put your phone number on your videos to get inspiration from your audience for lyrics. How did that work?
Oh, man, that makes me miss it! Honestly, I had so many great phone calls. The audience provides me with my best stuff, really — it’s the stuff you can’t predict that is just so good.
You worked as a server and in a call centre for 10 years before giving what you do today a go. What would you tell your younger, less brave self before he took the leap?
Take the leap sooner; take it much sooner. For anyone who’s dreaming about s*** but is scared to do it, just quit your job and force yourself to pay your rent because it’s not going to happen any other way. Just quit your job.
Your lyrics move between themes like taking it easy and wanting to die. Is there any topic you wouldn’t cover?
Not if I feel like I can do something interesting with it. If I don’t feel like I can do something interesting with it, I will not cover it. If I feel like it’s just offensive or inappropriate for the sake of it, I won’t do it. But if I can do it in a way that is interesting or gratifying, I will. But, yeah, only if I feel I can do it justice.
How do your lyrics reflect how you look at your life in general?
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Advertise with NZME.They reflect it very accurately in terms of not taking my life too seriously but occasionally taking it very seriously. It runs the gamut, hopefully. And hopefully, my lyrics should be both extremes: they should be like complete abandon and total insanity and then sincere, sweet, and genuine. I hope I’m succeeding there.
What would you tell Viva readers about your dad, one person who obviously influenced your life in such a wonderful way?
Yeah, I mean, he really was the best. Gilbert was a wonderful human. A huge character who loved me intensely and was the one who pushed me endlessly to get on stage and perform and be that version of myself. If it had not been for him, I would not be doing this. I should have listened to his advice a lot sooner.
Fan question: What ringtone wakes you up each morning?
My iPhone alarm. It’s the really boring one.
What’s the deal with the bathrobes you wear on stage and in your videos?
They arose accidentally, really. It was on one of my first tours when I was staying in a hotel and ran out of clothes. The hotel had a bathrobe, so I just threw it in my backpack, brought it to the show, and got on stage looking like a boxer. Somehow over the next several months, people turned up at the shows in robes, and now it is what it is.
Do you know the lyrical and musical journey that will take place when you go on stage?
No, no idea. The shows are 100 per cent improvised every time. Sometimes I will think of a vague seedling of a thought or a mantra for the first song to give me a jumping-off point; after that, it’s a freefall and I have no clue what I’m going to do.
I’ve heard that you will stop touring for a while. What are you going to do and why?
I’ve been touring for four years straight, even during Covid. We even did a drive-in movie theatre tour, and I’m sick of it. I just need to do it my way. So, I’ll be performing still, just not in the way you might expect. I’m going back to basics, and that’s all I’ll say about it. But it will be happening shortly after this tour, so keep an eye out.
