Local Rabbits have always believed that they were a great band. From their beginnings as ambitious teenagers in 1990 to the present day, they have never ceased to feel that they had something to offer to the world. Both the endurance required to tough out the many sacrifices and disappointments that a life of playing music holds and the care and commitment put into creating and performing music are nurtured by Local Rabbits confidence in themselves and their music.
There were no goals in mind for the Rabbits of 1990 other than simply playing music. At that time, the idea of putting the sounds of three or four instruments and a voice together and having it resemble a song was satisfying in itself for the young Ryan, Ben, and Peter. These high school friends spent many an afternoon banging out tunes in The Gunning's basement with Mr. Gunning on the skins. Their first gig as performers at the Pointe Claire Village street festival had them carting from location to location in accordance with the various complaints being made by store owners. The lineup at the time featured Pete on harmonica, bongos, and vocals, Ryan on bass, and Ben on guitar and vocals.
When the boys decided they needed a more permanent drummer, they brought Brian Waters on board, a longtime neighborhood friend of Ryans. (Actually, they stole him from another band, but thats another story). It was not long before Peter received a Mexican Fender Stratocaster electric guitar for Christmas, learned to play a few things within a matter of days, and they began to feel like a real band. After many jams in the Waters garage, performances at the school variety show and battle of the bands, as well as their first live gig at the famous Station 10 club in Montreal, the Rabbits were ready for something new. They were encouraged by a fan (now their manager, Tom Goodwin) through a friend (now their publicist, Tim McAuliffe) to cut an independent EP of songs they had recorded on a homemade demo. Sure enough, they contributed what they could from their summer earnings and managed to put out a six song CD regrettably entitled The Super Duper EP on a cooperative Montreal label called EnGuard records. The Rabbits reaction upon hearing their very first release was that of pure enthusiasm, an enthusiasm that was perhaps inflated by their need for it to overshadow a shared but unspoken disappointment. While the original vision was to record the songs live and off the floor, the result was an audio tug-of-war between a fairly sloppy band playing rough and ready tunes and a producer trying to pretend that they sounded like a bunch of bands which they did not like. (No, really, I swear to you, if you plug this acoustic into the board it will sound just like a dobro). In retrospect, the tunes were also musically and lyrically juvenile, but, being sixteen and seventeen years old at the time, the Rabbits didnt notice that. To look at a half full glass, the Rabbits were displaying a quality which they have retained through all their work: a freedom from the paralyzing self consciousness and anti-music snobbishness which still runs through indie music today. The Rabbits were trying to pull off two blues songs on the album: Walter Jacobs Cuttin Out and an original called Hole in My Shoe, and though the Rabbits may collectively get a case of bad goose bumps when they listen to this today, it demonstrated that aforementioned characteristic so integral to the band.
Fortunately, the founders of Halifaxs Murderecords, Jay Ferguson in particular, were hand delivered a copy of the original Local Rabbits demo recording and offered to release a seven inch by the group. The record, released in early 1995 was called Put on Your Snowsuit, Youre Going to Hell and featured a new original called Youre Such a Stupid Idiot and a Lightnin Hopkins cover entitled Play with Your Poodle. The single was a rough, off the floor taste of the Rabbits disinterest in committing to a sound or genre of music; a philosophy which extended to their first full length release on Murderecords a year later. Throughout 1995, the Rabbits were lucky enough to join up with the group Sloan for a few of their dates in Ontario in support of their seven inch, and played a number of other gigs of their own between southern Ontario and Halifax. These mini-tours, combined with the cult following enjoyed by all Murderecords acts at the time, produced a favourable tone for Local Rabbits next release.
You Cant Touch This (co-produced by Jay Ferguson), released in 1996, is the album that the band had wished to make when they recorded The Super Duper EP back in 1993, but the musicianship, songwriting, and overall taste of the band had grown considerably since then. The Rabbits felt they had made, as the title suggests, an album that nobody else they knew could pull off. Employing mostly cheap instruments, an amateur horn section comprised of Ryans two stepsisters, a live music and vocals recording setup, and an intense albeit sometimes misguided and uncontrollable enthusiasm, Local Rabbits created an album they could finally be proud of. The albums strength, and perhaps its only consistency, lies in its total adherence to the philosophy that the spirit of the music would overshadow any of the rough edges brought on by such an off-the-cuff recording style. The album was critically acclaimed in Canada and Local Rabbits won the support and admiration of a number of bands and a handful of college radio listeners. They also won the hearts of music lovers on their two cross Canada tours of various lengths in 1996 and 1997 with Superfriendz and Inbreds, and on tours with Thrush Hermit, Zumpano, Kelly Deal 6000 and Plumtree, but this time with a new kid on the skins.
The Rabbits had a hard time around the time of the recording of You Cant Touch This due to problems with their drummer, Brian, who was clearly no longer interested in making the necessary sacrifices to remain an active member of the band. The Rabbits had already begun playing shows with a new drummer by the time that the recording was being done. Jason Tustin, a little older than the others hailed from a home literally two doors from the Waters household. He was originally a temporary drummer, but the band soon settled back into place with the mighty Tustin providing the beat. Though Jason had a difficult time adjusting to the often irritating and alienating sense of humour, as well as the all too rigid method of critiquing music developed by the other three members over the years, he managed to tolerate them, and took nicely to his position within the band. Jason also brought a new level of musicality to the band, which was not so difficult, considering the bands insistence on keeping everything bluesy, when being bluesy meant anything from not using a tuner for the instruments, to allowing room for improvisation within the songs. The Rabbits learned, reluctantly, that they could plan a punch or decide on an ending to a song without jeopardizing the elements of spontaneity. Consequently, the songs could be taken further in terms of their arrangement, and this major shift in the bands philosophy laid the groundwork for their next album. Importantly, though, the Rabbits have never shed the characteristic improvisational element in their music, evident in their revered live performances.
Basic Concept, released 1998, was introduced in a small increment in 1997 with the release of a seven inch featuring Stomp Your British Knights Down, a new song, and a disco version of Pops and Company originally on You Cant Touch This. This release was not indicative, though, of what the Rabbits were striving for. It resembled something that could have appeared on You Cant Touch This, so when Basic Concept was released, fans of Local Rabbits were perhaps taken aback. Hopefully, they were surprised and glad that the band was growing and not alienated by the degree of effort and attempted precision applied to the new songs. On this record, the songs were complemented by strings and horns played by guest musicians, as well as keyboards and piano, played by Peter, who had, over the last few years, taught himself to play a mean set of keys as he had done with guitar. All of Local Rabbits challenged themselves (with the help of producer, Rod Shearer) to play as good as they could play and to make the songs as good as they could be. If any Rabbits fans were disappointed by it, it is likely because they had been listening to the Rabbits for something other than music. In any case, the album was a critical success in Canada, and it is the best album, lyrically and musically, that Local Rabbits have put out to date, in their own eyes.
Before touring across Canada in support of this one, the boys were asked to back up Country & Western singer Neko Case (who had played with the band a year or so earlier when she was drumming in Vancouver band, Maow) on a tour of the Eastern States as far down as Atlanta and Birmingham. Another leg of the tour also included a number of dates on the Lilith Fair including shows in Toronto, Milwaukee, and Denver. Once again the Rabbits surprised and impressed audiences (though mostly audiences whod never seen them before) with their ability to adapt to a completely new project while still throwing their own touch into the mix.
Following this, Local Rabbits had a chance to push their new goods by joining longtime fans and supporters, The Rheostatics, on a Canadian tour, and by taking part in Edgefest 98. They have since then toured across Canada twice, once on their own and most recently as part of the Frontman War Tour, with The Flashing Lights. They have earned a loyal cult following by working very hard at making their music available to people, and they appreciate the fans who have shown up and continue to show up, rain or shine, whenever they roll through town.
Local Rabbits have often been characterized as wacky, and their music has been misinterpreted as tongue-in-cheek. The first problem is attributable to the fact that they were still rambunctious teenagers when they had begun doing interviews, and their obnoxious brand of humour became central to their image, if you will, from the get-go. Their (and particularly, Brians) reputation for crashing the stage during other bands shows seems to consistently outweigh anything insightful they could say about their music in an interview. The assumption that their music is in any way tongue-in-cheek probably stems from the inability of the indie-head to wrap his or her head around anything that does not happen to be chic at a particular time. Unfortunately, many of these people write for music magazines and newspapers or work in television, so they have the frightening ability to turn their assumptions into fact. What is truly horrifying to the Rabbits is that some of their fans could possibly believe that their music is less than genuine. Local Rabbits are serious about their music and proud of it - and there's nothing funny or ironic about that!
