What happens when you mix a 7-time All-Ireland champion harp and banjo player with a bassist and producer with roots in gospel music?
When Lisa Canny met DeJay Edmund on a sunny June evening in 2016 at Battersea Park Studios two worlds collided and MOM + THE REBELS was born! 4 years on, the duo have honed in their unique folk-meets-gospel-meets-pop sound to perfection and have began releasing their music to the world. “Come By Me” was their first release June 12th 2020. The single spent 12 weeks in the Irish Homegrown charts, peaking at #9. It hit #7 in the Spotify Irish Viral charts, was RTÉ Radio 1 playlisted, was “Track of the Week” at Spin and KCLR, was supported by BBC Introducing, took off on TikTok and has since reached 250k Spotify streams organically without playlisting or a PR campaign.
Their latest single “Down by The River” was released in April and has been 2fm and RTE Radio 1 playlisted, BBC Introducing supporting, “Track of the Week” on Spin SW, and has been reviewed as “The best use of banjo I’ve heard on the radio since Mumford and Sons” (Chris Greene, 2fm)
Born in Hollymount Co. Mayo, Lisa is a 7-time All-Ireland champion harp and banjo player who has toured with world both in large-scale productions like Celtic Crossroads and The Young Irelanders as well as with her own solo project. She has sold out tours across the UK, Ireland and Germany, hit the charts at #5 with her 2018 EP “Freedom”, named Future Music’s “Songwriter of the Year 2016”, Sofar Sounds “Best of 2020” and has amassed over 4 million views online. She has a Masters degree in Ethnomusicology and is a part-time lecturer of the same.
DeJay is a songwriter / producer and has worked with artists in Bristol and surrounding areas. Before getting into music production DeJay had spent a lot of time on the road as a session and touring bass player. The lack of opportunity for musicians to also be noticed as songwriters led to him leaving the session world to pursue a career as a record producer.
The pair individually moved to London May 2016 to pursue careers in music. They ended up renting studio spaces in the same building. The rest is history.