Jett Rebel

On January 18, 2019, Rebel released his third EP Yeah Yeah Yeah No. The EP was played live and recorded in the Wisseloord Studios with bassist Xander Vrienten and drummer Willem van der Krabben. This is the second time Rebel has chosen not to do everything alone. On the same day he played for the fifth time at Eurosonic Noorderslag. Rebel could be seen here with a three-man formation. He played his new EP and added two new unreleased tracks to his setlist: Lady On The Hill & Bleed Me An Ocean. In February he kicked off his Unconditional Love theatre solo tour in a sold out Royal Theater Carré. In April he was at Paaspop for the 5th time and was allowed to start the mainstage. He made a big impression with his performance and especially with his appearance in a velvet red dress. Again he was in a trio formation. In mid-March it was announced, during the annual Pinkpop press presentation in Paradiso, that Jett Rebel was headliner at Pinkpop on June 10, 2019. Pinkpop celebrated its 50th anniversary. One day later Rebel flew with his trio formation to the UK for a one-time performance, his first show in London, in the Notting Hill Arts Club. One single of the EP was launched on June 7, 2019, Waiting For The Weekend. The show could be watched via a live stream and was received enthusiastically by the English fans. Rebel will return to London on September 30, 2019 for a number of performances. In March/April he produced the album of Dutch singer Trijntje Oosterhuis: Dit Is Voor Mij. This was the first time he took on a big production. On the record he played a lot of instruments himself. The album was released on July 7, 2019. Oosterhuis was very enthusiastic about the collaboration; "Jelte is curious, empathetic and authentic in his choices and he has left me in my dignity and challenged me to look at it sometimes differently than I would have done myself". On the 11th of October Rebel could be seen for the first time during a performance in the German television program Rockpalast. Jett Rebel announced on November 28th at Dutch television De Wereld Draait Door his new livealbum Live Forever (Jett Rebel album) The release was November 29, 2019.

On July 9, 2019 it was announced that Rebel will start his third solo tour on March 23, 2020 in Royal Theater Carré. Within 1 month Rebel will visit 17 theatres across the Netherlands.

In 2018 Paradiso celebrated its 50th anniversary, the kick-off of the party year took place on January 1, 2018 with a sold-out concert by Jett Rebel which lasted 4.5 hours. Rebel invited several guest artists during the concert. On January 13, 2018 Rebel was on the specially organized Murakami weekend on cruise ship ss Rotterdam. The weekend was entirely dedicated to the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. It is the largest book presentation ever organized in the Netherlands for a foreign writer. Rebel himself, a big fan of Murakami's books, gave a solo performance behind the grand piano. Even before the album 7 was released, singles were released, Amy, Good Boy and Perfect Lady. For the 2nd time Rebel performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Nile, on July 14, 2019. In the summer period he was booked at several German festivals. On the 19th of September Rebel attended the largest clubfestival in Germany, Reeperbahn festival. On September 28, the 7th album 7 was released. On the album the LinnDrum (LM-2) played a prominent role and it was recorded on a Studer A80. On November 1, 2019 he gave a performance in the Posthoornkerk, this was exclusively organized by NPO 3FM. The Posthoornkerk in Amsterdam was transformed into a gigantic bedroom, where listeners could win special tickets. On 17 November 2018 Rebel announced a new tour at RTL Late Night; the Unconditional Love tour in 7 theatres. At the invitation of politician Frans Timmermans, Rebel was asked on December 8 to perform in Lisbon for the European socialists and social democrats, where Timmermans was appointed as Spitzenkandidat for the position of the President of the European Commission. Rebel played with a trio formation his track Stick Together from album 7, an appropriate message for the EU, the member states and the social democracy. Stick Together refers to Country Joe and the Fish, an American band that was mainly known for protest songs against the Vietnam War. Rebel often leaves a political mark in his music and lets his voice be heard in a positive message. In his lyrics there is a sharp distinction between the lighter lyrics and the heavier, poetic, narrative lyrics. In Blonde Like You from the album Don't Die On Me Now, he sings directly to Donald Trump in which he wraps up a serious matter in a light-hearted way; I wouldn't be with a blond like you, I'd kick you out before you knew. Like you're pointing the door to your girlfriend, well if I was your boyfriend, then get the hell out of here. While it's about Trump's desire to keep people out of his country, rebel in interview for music magazine OOR. Another examples can be found in lyrics such as Do You Feel Alright, a track from the Truck album. Rebel talks about anti-nationalism and weapon rights: we have known for years how to get pass our fears, drop you guns. Everybody in control smash down the border patrol, come on in, everybody has a right to win, your skin doesn't make you sin, don't you know by now? Children are starting to see, people only wanna be free, don't you feel alright, racism starting to fall, we don't see a difference at all, don't you feel alright?

For the exhibition Van Gogh & Japan' an introduction video was released on 15 March 2018 in which Rebel talked about his fascination with Japan and Robbert Dijkgraaf took the viewer to the run-up to the exhibition Van Gogh & Japan, which opened from 23 March 2018 to 24 June 2018 in the Van Gogh Museum. Everything about the country interests me; the food, the literature. My music wants to go there, let's put it this way, I always have the hope that one day I will be able to make music there for the people. What fascinates me most about the painters I love is a kind of never stopping you from developing and never stopping learning.

The launch of Super Pop was at midnight on 13 January 2017 during Eurosonic Noorderslag. The release party was in record store Plato in Groningen. During Eurosonic Noorderslag a special pop-up museum was set up in the Der Aa church in Groningen about Jett Rebel, this coincided with the release of Super Pop. At the launch of his album, Jett Rebel gave a solo performance in the Der Aa church and also performed at the Noorderslag event. On February 4, 2017, Rebel played a three-and-a-half hour show in Rotterdam Ahoy. This was followed by his 6th sold-out Super Pop tour in 5 major cities across the Netherlands on April 13, 2017. During this tour Rebel won the brand new 3FM Award for Best Social; for the artist who has had the most impact with his / her social channels. Immediately after the tour Rebel announced that due to success the Super Pop Tour would be in reprise in the autumn with 11 new clubshows. On April 22, 2017, Rebel was the Dutch ambassador of Record Store Day. On this day a 7" by Jett Rebel was released, a double A-side on pink vinyl with the singles "Better Off Together" and "Daydreamin'" from the album Super Pop on it. This single was available for free and exclusively to the first 5,000 visitors of Record Store Day, in almost 100 independent record stores in the Netherlands. On September 7 Rebel wins the ELLE style award. ELLE nominated him and the audience chose him as the winner. After the reprise Super Pop tour he left for a tour through Germany and Spain. On November 10, 2017 Rebel made the title song for the film Old Love by director Nicole van Kilsdonk. Especially for the film he made a remake of the song 'Send Me A Postcard', of which the original was written by Robbie van Leeuwen for the Dutch band Shocking Blue. With deep respect for the original, Jett Rebel has created a new version especially for the film. With countless twists in melody, harmony, rhythm and new parts, Jett Rebel delivers his own sound in a contemporary remake, making an important contribution at the end of Oude Liefde. It's certainly worthwhile after the last shot of the film to sit back in your cinema chair and listen to the result.

The double album Truck was released on January 22, 2016. Truck was fully recorded on a Tascam Porta 4 track cassette recorder. Truck was the first part in a triptych; Rebel released three albums within a year. On August 26, 2016 Don't Die On Me Now was released and on January 13, 2017 Super Pop followed. The three albums are independent of each other, but are connected to a triptych: the Experimentalist, the Musician and the Composer. The release of Rebel's fifth studio album was at Lowlands on August 20, 2016. The Lowlands program booklet contained the mysterious sentence 'Don't Die on me Now' . Festival visitors had no idea what was in store for them at the time. The mysterious act turned out to be the title of Jett Rebel's new album, which he came to play in its entirety on Lowlands. The official release date was only one week later, on August 26, 2016. In the same week it was announced that Rebel would play his biggest show ever in Rotterdam Ahoy on February 4, 2017. At the end of August the 5th tour followed with the power trio Jett Rebel 3 Live In Concert. Rebel played 5 nights in a row in five small intimate clubs, the tour sold out in 24 hours. In this intimate setting Rebel wanted to get back to the essence of pure rock 'n roll. In addition to this tour, Rebel visited several record stores that same week to promote his album.[11] On September 3, Rebel was in the Mega Top 50 with Lucky Boy for the first time and entered the list on #34, the album entered the Vinyl50 Chart on #1. In November he was in the line-up of MTV Netherlands music week, for a special event to present his label Baby Tiger Records to the general public in Rotown Rotterdam. On December 2, 2016 Rebel released a new single; All The Way of the then not yet released final piece of the last triptych Super Pop, which was released together with a lyric video.

On November 4, 2016, DeWolff released a new single and music video for the song Outta Step & Ill At Ease. Jett Rebel plays the piano and provides the backing vocals.

As a young child, Rebel was often taken to museums by his parents. A lot of knowledge has been gathered by him about visual art, especially painting. He has a strong admiration for Picasso, the Cubism period appeals to him the most. The different stages that Picasso goes through is what fascinates him and what keeps him innovating, for Rebel an inspiration for the artist he wants to be. He has a big love for Renaissance painters; Sandro Botticelli, Da Vinci, Michelangelo. Rebel repeatedly visited the Uffizi in Florence, his favourite museum. Rebel used as inspiration for his album cover Venus; The birth of Venus by Botticelli. The cover was painted by his father. The Annunciation of Da Vinci was printed life-size on canvas during the Truck tour in 2016 and used as the background for his concerts. In 2019 he used another painter as background for his shows. The audience of Eurosonic Noorderslag had the scoop to be able to admire the life-size canvas of this rococo painter François Boucher resting girl during Rebel's performance.

In the month of June 2016, Jett Rebel stopped cold turkey with alcohol and (hard) drugs. Rebel had been struggling with severe depression for years. On the advice of doctors, who told him that the use of drugs would eventually obstruct his musical creativity and that if he continued to use drugs, they wouldn't be able to do anything for him. Rebel decided to quit his addiction for good. He independently kicked off. He had to decide for himself that he would never be able to drink a drop of alcohol or smoke a joint again. He considers himself to be a lifelong addict who has to stay alert at all times and manage the little voice in his head. Rebel has always been very open about his depressions and addictions. In doing so, he hopes to support others who are stranded with their depression and/or addiction and to keep hope. Rebel has written a song about keeping hope on his album Super Pop, Just In Case You're Ever Down Again.

On 21 February he sold out the AFAS Live. Jett Rebel started his three-hour show ten meters above the stage of AFAS Live and slowly lowered himself with his guitar on stage. Several guest artists were invited during this show. On April 9, 2015 he wins the Best Live Act at the 3FM Awards. On Liberation Day May 5 Jett Rebel was appointed as one of the ambassadors of freedom. On that day Jett Rebel and his band were taken by helicopter to five liberation festivals: Groningen, Leeuwarden, Amsterdam, The Hague and Haarlem. On 2 July 2015 Rebel was invited by Larry Graham to perform in London and share the stage with him and Mark King of Level 42. A few days later Graham gave an exclusive show in Patronaat (Haarlem) and announced that Candy Dulfer and Jett Rebel would share the stage with him. After having already performed on a number of major stages, Rebel performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Nile on July 14, 2015. The critics praised his performance with his then 7-headed band. Rebel had fallen off the stage during this performance:I tried to enjoy myself intensely, so I closed my eyes for a moment during the guitar solo. But then things went wrong. And then I just stepped right off the stage. Rebel had severe bruising on his ribs. That same evening he came to the rescue of colleague Chaka Khan. Khan had to leave the stage because of voice problems. Her backing band and Khan's background vocalists decided to continue the set. Rebel played the song Tell Me Something Good . In June the first Live double album was released Tight Like A Baby Tiger (Live At The Paradiso) on his own new Record Label Baby Tiger Records. The album was recorded live at Paradiso on December 30, 2014. In October was the first sold-out solo theatre tour, An Evening with Jett Rebel, in six major venues in the Netherlands including the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. More than a month later Rebel left on November 16, 2015 for a ten-day tour in New York, during an annual Live in Your living Room festival. He played there for the first time with a three-man formation. On December 30, 2015 Rebel organized his own festival for the first time, Rebelfest. At Rebelfest five Dutch acts got the chance to present themselves. Artists who performed were Marnix Dorrestein as IX, Bells Of Youth, Amber Gomaa, Echo Movis and Willem Wits. Rebel himself also gave a three-hour performance.

Mid June 2015 Jett Rebel starts his own record label Baby Tiger Records. The live album Tight Like A Baby Tiger (Live At The Paradiso) was the first album he releases on his own label, under division of JJ Music V.o.F. The first 7 albums were exclusively licensed to Sony Music Entertainment Nederland B.V.

Amber Gomaa was the first artist on the new label to release her solo debut EP Sun Gazing. Gomaa wrote the music herself and with the help of Jett Rebel she produced her EP, which was released on August 28, 2015.

In 2014 two documentaries about Jett Rebel were released. The first documentary was Ready For Takeoff, directed by Harm Rieske, who graduated from the Dutch Film Academy with this short film. Riekse and his fellow filmmakers followed Jett Rebel for a short period (September/October 2013). The 24-minute documentary follows the period just before Jett Rebel wins several major music awards and he gets a drastically different life. Rieske explains how the documentary came about: "I thought it would be very cool to make a documentary about the sound of a guitar. I came into contact with luthier Sjak Zwier. Then I also heard about Jett Rebel. He hadn't released a record at the time I met him and was still relatively unknown. Because I wanted to have both Jett Rebel and Sjak Zwier in my documentary, it was exciting when the crew started filming them together for the first time, they didn't know what the click would be. Tuinstra visited Zwier for a guitar and fortunately the chemistry between the two eccentric figures was perfect". The premiere of the documentary was on July 1, 2014 in the Oude Luxor Theater. The documentary was made in collaboration with the AVROTROS and could later be seen on NPO Start or YouTube.

The second documentary that followed was Who The Fuck Is Jett Rebel? made by documentary filmmaker Linda Hakeboom. In Who The Fuck Is Jett Rebel? Hakeboom shows how Tuinstra turned into Jett Rebel and what it does to someone to become famous in no time. The documentary premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam on November 23, 2014; "The viewer is not only an eyewitness to Rebel's growing success and climbing to the top, but also sees how he struggles with his insecurity".The documentary raised many questions and received both positive and negative reactions. The record company and Rebel's own situation were critically examined. Rebel's reaction in that period: "I gave Linda all the freedom she needed. You then make yourself vulnerable. People then start to form an image. That doesn't always work out well. Some people think that I am a transvestite and that I am mainly concerned with lipstick and nail polish. Others find me arrogant. Yes, that image touches me. You know, I try to be myself. Sincerity above all else. When you get this over you... It is also a wise lesson. I'm not going to get excited about imaging anymore. Those things arise outside of me. I choose my own path, regardless of what others think of it."

Jett Rebel frequently honouring favourite artists during his live shows. Rebel has covered over 300 artists live since 2014.

The first EP Venus appeared on May 26, 2013, followed by the EP Mars on January 15, 2014. Jett Rebel shows his versatility. He has played all the instruments and vocals of the EPs himself. The artwork of the EP's is designed (painted) by his father, Steven G.Tuinstra. The three singles of these EP's were enthusiastically received and played by NPO 3FM and other radio stations. He performed live in television programmes Toppop3, De Wereld Draait Door and Serious Request, in the supporting program of the B-52's and was proclaimed by radio station Radio 3FM as 3FM Serious Talent. On April 19, 2014 the EP's were merged for one album Venus & Mars. On April 11, 2014 the 4th and last single of the album Venus & Mars was released. On Top Of The World was specially written by Rebel for the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In the spring of 2014 Jett Rebel launched his first sold out "Venus & Mars-tour" in a series of small and medium-sized venues in the Netherlands. Jett Rebel played over 60 festivals in 2014, including Pinkpop and Lowlands. At Pinkpop he had the honor to play with bassist Larry Graham (known from Sly & the Family Stone and from Graham Central Station). The official debut album Hits for Kids was released on October 30, 2014. He worked with London-based producer/mixer Tony Platt, who previously worked with artists such as Cheap Trick, Motörhead and Foreigner. Hits For Kids is the last record Rebel recorded with digital equipment. In the autumn followed a 2nd sold-out tour Tour d'Amour in 18 large venues in the Netherlands and ended the tour on December 30, 2014 in Paradiso Amsterdam.

Tuinstra grew up in a musical artist's family in Baarn, from early on he has shown an extraordinary interest in music. He started recording music at a very young age (4/5 years), using a cassette recorder and a toy cassette player (a technique called Ping-pong recording). First songs and later complete albums. Before the age of 10, Tuinstra played various instruments, drums (5 years), piano (6 years), (guitar 8–9 years), bass guitar (9–10 years) and after his 10th more deepening in all kinds of synthesizers and other string-wind instruments. Tuinstra has always enjoyed learning to play as many instruments as possible as a hobby. His singing talent also remains not undiscovered. In his childhood he sang in the youth choir of Majel Lustenhouwer, on recordings by Rob de Nijs and Jochem van Gelder, among others. In 2003 he participated with his first band The Edge in the preliminaries of the first Dutch Junior Song Festival. While he was attending the Baarnsch Lyceum, a secondary school, he stood out by winning the 'Grandi Art', a school competition for music, as a pop musician for consecutive years. In this period he played in the locally known bands Bitter Lemon, Fubroz, Metro Mortale and The Zoo. Tuinstra explored many different musical genres, from funk to progressive rock, from jazz to singing medieval choral music. In this period he had already recorded more than 5 solo records without publishing anything. The first solo album he made was Red Coat from 2009. It's a concept album about a teenage love, in which the foundation for the Jett Rebel sound can be heard. He played more than 15 instruments on the record, when he was only 17/18 years old. Together with Willem Wits and Marnix Dorrestein he recorded the debut album of Metro Mortale, in the parental home of Dorrestein, which was released on May 29, 2010 at bandcamp. Tuinstra was 18 years old. Short videos were made of these recordings as in a 'real life soap' in different episodes illustrating how the album was created. In 2009 Tuinstra moves to Amsterdam to study piano and guitar at the conservatorium van Amsterdam. In that period he joined the pop groups The Souldiers and Valerius. After about a year at the conservatorium he quit because of Repetitive strain injury from playing too much guitar and because in the end it didn't meet his expectations. On July 16, 2012, Jelte Tuinstra released a single, Beautiful, under his own name, via bandcamp. The next day the EP Sundown followed with three tracks (Sundown, The Real Deal and Deeply In Love With You). The track Sundown could later be found on Rebel's fourth albumTruck . The album Red Coat was later released at bandcamp April 5, 2013 and removed in the summer of 2018 for unknown reasons. In September 2012 Tuinstra decided to make his own music under the stage name Jett Rebel.

Jelte Steven Tuinstra (born January 24, 1991), known by his stage name Jett Rebel, is a Dutch singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and recording artist. Jett Rebel is a solo artist who performs live in different band formations. He is seen as one of the most colourful people in the Dutch music world.

Tuinstra was born on 24 January 1991 in The Hague. His musical roots can be found in Hengelo. His parents played in socialist music groups and choirs (Verenigde Oost Nederlandse Kompanjie also known as VONK) with which they demonstrated. At a fairly young age (1993) Tuinstra moved from The Hague to Baarn. Every Sunday the Tuinstra family went to Hengelo, to the Kasbah, to rehearse. For him these were the best moments of the week. Music was his passion and those moments were fuelled by the fact that he was allowed to hang out at VONK all Sundays. VONK played a lot at demonstrations such as demonstrations against racism, nuclear energy, weapons. Protest songs were played, such as The Internationale. Later it became increasingly clear how important these influences are in his music. Topics that Tuinstra frequently writes about are about humanity, equality, anti-racism, gender equality and tolerance. Also feeling the freedom that people can express themselves in different ways and showing this in appearance, clothing, religion, sexuality. He gives an example to others. Tuinstra has an androgynous appearance. Where he can feel comfortable in women's clothing, wear lipstick and use nail polish, he can also appear masculine. His appearances can often be called flamboyant, especially on stage this side is often seen. Tuinstra regularly changes in looks and has many phases he goes through to continue to express himself.

Rebel regularly speaks about the contemporary modern techniques used for recording music. You can use modern recording techniques to make everything sound the way you want it to. You can digitally polish an impure singing voice, you can add a string orchestra. You name it. The digital revolution has ruined a lot. A lot is fake. I want to make a statement by going for real and pure. In my opinion, all the music that really matters was made before 1988. What comes next is an infusion of the basics. I have so much love for the craft of making music and see this craft slowly becoming extinct.

Jett Rebel usually works alone. He writes, composes and produces his own music, he does the recordings himself and plays all instruments and sings vocal parts himself. He attaches great importance to analogue equipment and the use of real instruments, he himself used studio equipment mainly before 1977. Rebel is always writing new music and spends a lot of (free) time recording music. He claims to have written about 3000 songs. And to have made between 20-25 albums. He has been writing more than there are albums. For each record there is an average of material for three albums, which he has carefully kept since he was four years old. Rebel is productive and often composes very spontaneously. He does not have a sounding board. Rebel often only plays his music when it's really finished. I get my feedback as soon as I play the ready-made piece. If someone says the first time they listen that they love it, it gives me the confidence to go through with it. I am always very doubtful. If someone would react with: this is the worst thing I have ever heard, I would find a way to understand that. I'm never firmly convinced that what I do is right, I only know I want it that way. For Rebel, an album that is finished is the truth. It has taken on a state as it should be.