White Rabbits Live on KCRW – Heavy Metal

When I think of White Rabbits, I think of a rock band that is built on beats rather than guitar lines.

Today, they mixed it all up by performing different arrangements of songs off their latest album “Milk Famous”. The set started with Singer Stephen Patterson playing the piano for “Heavy Metal” before the full band joined in. I loved this acoustic set up because it allowed us to experience the songs in an entirely new way. And, as the band told me, they were pretty much improvising throughout the entire session, so we were really hearing music being created in a moment.

The band grew up in St. Louis but moved to Brooklyn to pursue their musical dreams. There are six members and I asked Stephen about the difficulty of being on the road with a big group. He says at one point they all lived in a loft together that didn’t have any rooms, so they got used to each others quirks and hashed out their issues pretty quickly – kinda like band boot camp, from what I can tell. Other bands should try that method of touring training!

Stephen says he gets car sickness when he reads on the road so instead he passes the time jamming on a Casio keyboard he’s had since he was a kid and listens to music.

What music you ask? A compilation called “Music from Saharan Cell Phones” and…Beyonce “4”. He made sure I knew just how much he loves that album.

Check out the full session in the archives here.

RR

White Rabbits Live on KCRW – Set List

Heavy Metal

Are You Free

Temporary

Danny Come Inside

Back for More

I Had it Coming

The Day You Won the War