The sharp of things to come

Raised in Ireland, playing Oxegen is a big deal for 20-year-old London-based rap sensation Maverick Sabre.

“Earlier in the year I’d been been booked for a couple of UK festivals but I hadn’t been booked for Oxegen or Belsonic in Belfast, so I was a bit disappointed. ’Cos I grew up in Ireland. Oxegen was always the biggest one.”
After losing his underwear and walking around barefoot at Oxegen for three days when he was 16, Maverick knows how to enjoy a weekend of camping and crunking. His ideal festival mates would be his manager Darius, Richard Branson (“he’d be getting the drink, and organising a helicopter ride in and out”) and Alicia Keys (“to add some beauty”).
“At festivals some people just wander in for a look,” he says. “They might have only heard your name. They might not normally go to your gig. It’s also about togetherness and unity.”
Having relocated to Ireland as a child, Maverick moved back to London to make music in his late teens. As such, he has a unique sense of belonging to two tribes.
“For me, playing to northern English crowds is very similar to playing to Irish crowds. Down south in London, we get so many acts and such a variety of music I think we get a bit complacent. We need to be impressed all the time. You hear a lot less up north and especially in Ireland so the crowd are more up for it. They’re just more open.”
The rapper, who was born Michael Stafford, has a South London accent peppered with a Wexford farmer’s lilt. Once the black sheep of the music scene in Ireland in particular, he thinks rap is well-represented at festivals nowadays.
“Over the last 10 years it’s become part of the culture. It’s less the ‘bad boy’ music and more the mainstream. If you look at the charts you can see that. You’ve got rappers that are on dubstep tracks, you’ve got rappers on heavy metal tracks, on indie tracks.
“In a way, rap has been diluted, as it’s spread into more genres. So there’s good and bad sides to it.”
Between playing the Isle of Wight, Oxegen and Glastonbury this summer, Maverick’s finishing a new album, due for release in November.
“I’m writing constantly, so it’s about getting 10 or 11 tracks down for the record.”
He says there is no single best way to write.
“Sometimes I’ll get a guitar riff, record it, loop it and play it over and over again and write to it. I love composing to beats. I’m a hip-hop head at the end of the day. I used to be an MC. I need to go to my room, close all the curtains, be in total darkness – and just be on my own. It almost seems like the room becomes the song.”

Maverick Sabre plays the Red Bull Electric Ballroom at Oxegen on the Friday.