Why We Love: Blac Rabbit

Psychedelic rock band, Blac Rabbit from Rockaway Beach in NYC, are phenomenal, and from a place literally named Rockaway, they certainly live up to the name. Sometimes you listen to a band, and from the completely developed and slick production you assume they’ve got a massive presence with multiple albums and touring huge arenas around the world. However, upon discovering deeper into the lifeline of Blac Rabbit, I was incredibly shocked to find out they’ve yet to release their debut album and that they’ve made fame from busking in the New York subway, performing Beatles covers. 

Think of combining the influences of greats such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd along with the contemporary magnificence of bands such as Tame Impala or MGMT. Formed of Bassist Josh Lugo, Drummer Patrick Jones, Keys player Justin Jagbir and fronted by guitarists, singers and twin brothers Raheim and Amiri Taylor. Blac Rabbit quench the thirst after listening to modern bands such as Tame Impala or Post Animal, psychedelic music is well and truly making its resurgence and taking it’s a stand against the flow of typical indie bands these days. Their song ‘Mindspace’ starts off and you can really hear that ‘Innerspeaker’ flair and the tightness these guys have for playing their hearts out is fantastic.

After spending their days playing Beatles songs to New York commuters, the guys of Blac Rabbit quit their day jobs to pursue music full time. Releasing their debut self titled EP around Christmas 2017, the band have gained some pretty stellar traction amongst like-minded music lovers, within fanbases of bands such as Tame Impala and of course The Beatles. The bands work definitely evokes the stylistic choices of The Beatles but definitely gives it a natural twist for it to fit in the modern streaming world, as well as really specifically nailing that psychedelic 60s sound for a modern audience. With the psychedelic rock genre, it’s hard to go about without getting references and comparisons to Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala slabbed all over the place, but Blac Rabbit seems to relish in that, actively saying that Tame Impala is one of their biggest inspirations. In this day and age, it’s almost a trope for young bands to list all the classic artists from decades gone that they admire, and forget about mentioning current relevant artists that may have had the same effect on them. So to see Blac Rabbit admittedly praise recent contemporaries is actually quite a refreshing and honest thing to do.

I first heard ‘Over The Rainbow’ last year and immediately fell in love with the sound of the band. Because of such a diverse range of musical inspiration, the blend of classic and modern production and songwriting feels so current and important for the indie scene today, to be able to break out of its repetitive nature of the last decade. I’m a big sucker for Psychedelic rock I have to say, but hearing this track for the first time really did transport me to another dimension, and all I needed was a pair of headphones. In their live performance of the track on Paste, you realy get a taste for the rawness of their playing as it really feels live.

Twin brothers Raheim and Amiri announced their debut album just before keyboardist Justin Jagbir joined, subsequently dropping the lead single ‘Seize The Day’ in 2018. Between then and now though, the band seem to have had quite the number of false starts in terms of getting the record done. Being such a new band, as you can imagine, getting the funds to get an album made is no easy feat. The band set up a crowd funder but unfortunately didn’t reach their goal, a trope that far too many up and coming bands have had to face. But after some publicity online and a couple of Ellen show performances, the band got signed, put together their own home studio, and their debut album Interstella managed to get recorded and mixed, just waiting on the mastering process as of July this year. Still awaiting an official release date, we’re pleased to know it should come sooner rather than later.

The most recent drop from the band is the mind-melting Windy Cities. The clash of the phaser driven guitars, the grounding drums, slick lead guitar and the ethereal vocals make for an out of body listening experience. The teasers from the new album and the concrete polished production compared to some of the rawer sounds from their self titled EP just make me so ecstatic for Interstella. Desperately wanting to hear it NOW! But good things come to those who wait, and from what we’ve heard thus far, the album will be well worth the wait.

Check out Blac Rabbit on Spotify, and keep up with them on social media such as their Instagram.