#soundcheck x afropunk fest ’12 – bad rabbits are most definitely new favorite band material

I first heard of Bad Rabbits in 2009 from my old roomate with the words “I just heard this band you’d love. They sound like Prince if he was a punk.” No more needed to be said. That sentence has New Favorite Band material written all over it.

At the time, Bad Rabbits were fresh from recording their 2nd EP the wall-to-wall fantastic Stick Up Kids. The Boston-based (yay hometown pride!) multi-cultural quintet had previously formed the brunt of the appropriately named The Eclectic Collective. As Bad Rabbits, their musical focus is a little sharper. These days they play a lean synth-laden RnB with a punk energy. Lead singer and mutton-chop enthusiast Dua Boakye is as likely to croon as he is to shout, backed often by gang vocals and chants. It’s the perfect melding of post-punk and RnB. Some alternate (better?) universe where Prince was backed by Gang of Four instead of the Revolution.
Oh, and did I mention that their video for “Neverland” has puppets in it and thus my heart forever? Because it has both of those things.

Like the over-achievers they are, they’ve spent the past few months in the studio working on two new releases for 2012. An EP called American Love, and a full length with producer and New Jack Swing mastermind Teddy Riley. (a masochistic part of me hopes this is the harbinger of a long-overdue New Jack Swing revival.) So far they’ve only leaked bits and pieces of the new tracks, but you can catch some of the new material when they rock Afropunk Fest 2012 in August. Hell yes.

– Words by Nathan Leigh