(c) Suzy Sims
December 2011
“Thank you. We are the Dead Rabbits from Southampton.” It’s not the nicest name for a band. We’re named after Dead Rabbits, the gang from New York, as portrayed in the film, er, Gangs Of New York. I’m not sure why because I couldn’t think of a group of people less likely to start gang warfare, although maybe I will get a bit punchy if they keep saying “We’re from Southampton.” Some of us are from Portsmouth, thank you very much.
So we are Dead Rabbits, and we play angsty downbeat rock, shoegazey dreampop, and lots of other made up genres. (Basically we sound a bit loud but slightly melancholic). At present there are three of us – I play the drums, tall thin Tom is the vocalist / guitarist, and arty man-in-black Neil is on guitar. We did have a lovely bassist called Chloe but she left to go to university. This was probably for the best, as she used to date Tom and they split up recently, which made band practice a little awkward.
My first gig was at Proud in Camden. It’s a very well known indie club where everyone plays in a massive room lit with swirling neon colours and an awesome sound system. All the cool bands play at Proud, it’s a brilliant place to show how cool you are. Except, we weren’t strictly at Proud. We were in the little room opposite the main club, and it was more of a restaurant. We rocked up, stuck guitars onto maximum feedback, and a good ten people upped and left. I then dropped one of the drumsticks but scrabbled around on the floor and managed to retrieve it in time for the chorus. Then when it was time to pack up, I managed to knock over most of the cymbals with my enormous backside.
Most of our shows are in Southampton, as the band is from here (and Portsmouth) but we have been asked to play some a little further afield – plenty in London, Winchester, Huddersfield, and Blackpool. Huddersfield involved a pleasant five hour drive with three people, two amps, four guitars and a few random drum parts all crammed into my Ford Ka. It also involved Tom and Chloe having an onstage quarrel about a song that someone couldn’t remember, and our set culminated in a guitar being thrown on the floor and a bit of swearing. We then spent the night on someone’s floor and someone stole a blanket off me while I was dozing.
Blackpool was less painless, as we travelled in a minibus so had plenty of leg room, and I didn’t have to drive either. We saw the Illuminations and even had a fan travel up from Somewhere Else, Lancashire, just to see us. Sadly it’s not easy to sleep in a minibus in November, especially when it’s Fireworks Night, and you’re parked opposite a nightclub, so once we realized no-one could feel their toes, we went for a walk at 5.30am because McDonald’s was open, serving coffee and free central heating. On the plus side we were paid £20 for the gig. On the minus side, it cost £150 in petrol and van hire.
We’ve been offered an album deal from an Italian label and so we’re in the process of recording (after 2 and a half months, we have one song that is almost mixed correctly, so don’t save your pennies for it just yet), and there is regular talk of gigs in Sweden and France, although I will only do these if a) I don’t have to drive and b) we get paid and have a bed to sleep in, which is APPARENTLY too much to ask.
Come and visit us at http://www.facebook.com/deadrabbitsuk or try searching Dead Rabbits Southampton on YouTube or Google or whatever (we are not to be confused with the identically named Pogues tribute. And I’m not from Southampton).
