Wow…. Ok, now I’m definitely biased on this review because I’m a drummer, but… Wow.. The White Rabbits definitely surprised me live. I really liked the CD, but it seemed to be nothing special…
The White Rabbits [website | myspace] have 2 drummers. It’s not the usual one drumset, one auxiliary percussionist. They have 2 full drumsets on stage and 2 drummers manning them. Yeah, I know bands have done it before, but to see 2 full drumsets in Johnny Brenda’s with 2 equally skilled drummers behind each made for quite a spectacle. They played to compliment each other, not to just be louder overall. Not only that, but everyone played everything. The guitarist would pick up a tambourine, one of the drummers would come out from behind his set and play the 2nd keyboard, the keyboardist would play a floor tom… Not only great music, but an interesting show to watch.
To actually do a decent account of the show, I guess I have to talk about the rest of the band… The pianist/lead singer played a piano/keyboard that sounded rather like an old-west saloon piano. His hands were a blur for most of the show, I really couldn’t figure out how one man can play that many notes a second… Comparatively, the guitarists were unremarkable. They did their part, and did it well, but were definitely overshadowed. The outcome was a great sounding show, very tight, very clean.
The sound in Johnny Brenda’s was clear and not too overbearing. I’ve not seen a show yet where the sound was questionable (Johnny Brenda’s makes the Electric Factory sound like a pair of airline headphones). I guess the only thing I wasn’t too fond of was the fact that the 2nd guitarist / other singer was front and center on the stage. We expected him to do something awesome, and while he was the lead singer on one or two songs, just basically stood there, played rhythm guitar, and looked at the keyboardist for cues. I wouldn’t really dock them points for this however because it could be due to the small stage size and large number of band members.
Key tracks to check out are While We Go Dancing and The Plot (both on their myspace). Just buy the whole CD, you won’t regret it.
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