The raw passion and heady energy White Rabbits harness on stage is arousing. Owning the crescendo, this six-man strong Brooklyn band make music to get pumped up to.
An affinity exists between band members and mates Stephen Patterson, Gregory Roberts, Alex Even, Matt Clark, David Scalia and Rustine Bragaw, that is electric and tangible in both the boys’ music and their stage presence. Skilled in a plethora of instruments, the outspoken post punk rock sextet originally met at college and experimented with various frontmen before settling upon today’s current line-up. Releasing three studio albums to date, touring with the Shins earlier this year, opening for Muse and Interpol in 2010 and appearing on Later with Jools Holland and The David Letterman Show, the lads are big news in the USA and but not as well established on our shores, yet. Their latest compilation Milk Famous was produced by Mike McCarthy who worked with Spoon on Gimme Fiction and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Harnessing a stirring, howling and timeless quality with their intelligently arranged musical scores, their sound is charged and nostalgic, reminiscent of the kind of risky rock and roll no one makes anymore. i-D online traveled stateside to shoot an exclusive session with the band and find out five facts every die hard fan should know.
1. White rabbits have two drummers. Lead singer and song writer Stephen Patterson also started out in music playing drums and current drummer Jamie used to be the band’s manager.
2. When the band opened for the National in Ithaca there was a tropical apocalyptic storm which caused them to get trapped in one of the university campus buildings, where they met the second album’s producer Eric Harvey.
3. The band named the latest album Milk Famous, purely because they thought the two words looked nice together.
4. White Rabbits moved to Austin after their first major tour, where they spent a lot of their time jamming in the pad’s garage and writing new tunes.
5. The boys describe their second album It’s Frightening as an expression of them “losing their minds”.
Text: Milly McMahon:
Film and Images: Oscar Hudson
