Rabbit started taking piano lessons during elementary school but didn't really enjoy them. His teacher accused him of not practicing the songs, which was very true. Often practice time would lead to him creating little motifs on the piano instead of the song assigned to him to learn.
During school, Rabbit would record fake, comedic radio programs with his brother Wombat Boy and their friend, Thaddius. The show was called
KGB Radio which was a conincidence because they didn't know about the Soviet government agency and just thought "KGB" sounded cool. Another of Rabbit and Wombat Boy's friend was Farmer Brown, who appeared on the radio program as guest. Farmer Brown would always appear on the show to tell the story of how he lost his banjo, but would
get side tracked and go on other tangents...only to be invited back on the show again.
Thaddius introduced Rabbit and Wombat Boy to jazz fusion. Rabbit got the urge to play bass after hearing players like Tetsuo Sakurai (then in Casiopea), Toyoyuki Tanaka (The Square) and Marcus Miller. Rabbit bought a white Squier Jazz Bass and a book called basslines with songs by Stanely Clarke, Marcus Miller, Mark King and Jaco Pastorius and bought the CDs of Stanely,Jaco and Marcus. "I was playing things that were way too hard for me "he often says "I attempted to play these after only a week of playing, but it forced me to practice more in the beginning."
Rabbit started recording instrumental music using keyboards, bass and midi drums. "I wouldn't let you listen to those songs" laughs Rabbit "but
they did got me thinking about arranging and how parts go together. I would usually record just one part, the chords or just the bass line and add on to that
until it sounded like a song." Sometimes he would write stuff with Wombat Boy to play on the KGB radio show. The first song was called Dirty Diapers about the
horrors of babysitting, another song was about Elmer Fudd, and there was one about discount family therapy.
When Rabbit went to university, he started listening to many styles of music. He started to buy jazz and funk CDs because jazz fusion artists
would often cite jazz and funk artists as their influences. Rabbit took jazz history and jazz improvisation (taught by Yusef Lateef) while in university.
"I listened to mostly Miles Davis, John Coltrane and of course Yusef Lateef." Rabbit says "but I don't listen to those CDs too much these days. I still
listen to my Parliament-Funkadelic and Sly and the Family Stone ones though."
Rabbit started teaching English. He was recording lots of music but wasn't performing. He joined a Judy and Mary cover band called Ultra Blue (Uruburu). However, the vocalist moved after a few shows, and the band started looking for another vocalist. The band practiced without a singer for awhile. The band thought practice sounded empty without the vocals. So the guitarist and Rabbit would take turns singing them."After a few practices the band decided that they didn't need a singer. They decided that I could sing and since I wrote all the songs (at the time) anyways, I should sing them." says Rabbit "it was a challenge singing and playing bass at the same time at first."Rabbit joined another Judy and Mary cover band called Meruhengohei. Ultra Blue changed their name to Sonic Jungle and also added the guitarist from Meruhengohei.
Rabbit was asked to join Over the Border and also began performing solo. "Well, I went to open mic once. "he says "and I wasn't planning on performing but the club owner asked me to and gave me a bass to play. When I was there, I saw these rappers and singers using backing tracks to sing to. I decided I could record the other parts at home and sing and play bass to that."
He found it interesting that even when he performed the same song in Sonic Jungle and his solo gigs, about half the people he asked perferred the solo version and some perferred the Sonic Jungle version. Rabbit now works full time but he still writes, records and performs solo.
Rabbit finds it hard to describe his music because he likes to record different things. Some things are basic gutiar bass and drums tunes, electronic styles using mostly loops and midi programming and some are combinations. Another reason is he says that people say different things. "People have said I sounded like The Clash, Prince, or John Fogerty (even though I don't really listen to him), Presidents of the United States of America, Thomas Dolby, Devo, Bootsy Collins, The Aquabats and probably some others that I can't remember right now." he says "but I think it you can say it's funky punk pop fusion."
MSN: [email protected]
Yahoo!: half_broken_rabbit
AOL: hypertikibunny
Skype: half_broken_rabbit
LiveJournal: hyperlapin
FlickR:
half_broken_rabbit
Other Projects
- Yuka Fan Band @
http://www.myspace.com/yukafanband
Bunnystudios has rough(er) demos, live versions, jam sessions and projects with other people, tec/
- Bunny Studios @
http://www.myspace.com/bunnystudios
Here's my Japanese page. It's mostly in Japanese but there are different songs.^___^-Sonic Jungle @
http://www.myspace.com/sonicjungle
