Hot Water Music's George Rebelo appears in Modern Drummer!

George Rebelo
Force & Finesse

Gracing the main stage of the entire Vans Warped Tour last summer was no easy feat for most of the acts involved. The grueling summer festival tour pace took its toll on many of rock's up & coming, leaving carnage in the form of shredded voices, exhaustion, and aching muscles. Yet veterans like the Florida-based punk-rock act Hot Water Music were able to keep their composure day in and day out, primarily through sheer experience and know-how.

Driven by the consistent and charged rhythms of drummer George Rebelo, Hot Water Music is one infallible touring machine. While greener drummers on Warped expunged every last iota of energy hunched over their kits with grinding, clenched teeth and wound-up skeletons for their half-hour sets, the upright-seated Rebelo made his relaxed pounding seem all too easy. His impeccable timing, fluid motions, and captivating stage performance became the tour's daily hallmark of drumming efficiency. Chalk it up to having a few extra years over his younger peers.

"It's something that definitely happened over time," Rebelo says of his stage show. "I noticed that when I start concentrating on something that I'm doing, I start to make mistakes. There's no time to second-guess yourself. You've got to just trust your instincts, talents, and abilities."

With a one-two punch of sheer force and near ballerina finesse, Rebelo certainly has a grasp of the best of both drumming worlds---he just doesn't know it yet. "If I could be the son of Stewart Copeland and John Bonham," he laughs, "I'd be one happy kid!"

Waleed Rashidi

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