Cosmic Dust Bunnies

In early January, the Cosmic Dust Bunnies achieved a milestone that most Connecticut bands never arrive at: They headlined their own successful, well-attended, blowout of a show atToad's Place.

Keyboardist Chris Sellas describes a consistently upward trajectory when it comes to the path his New Haven-based electronic jam band has taken over the course of the past year.

"We'd been playing shows at Stella Blues and packing them completely, and we did a few Toad's shows opening, and kind of convinced the owner that we would be able to do a really good show if we could headline," he says. "He gave us the opportunity."

As summer festivals begin to solidify their lineups, the Dust Bunnies are poised in an ideal spot, packing clubs and balancing on the line between two thriving scenes that are both hungry for new talent — the jam band scene and the electronica scene.

"I describe it as electronic jam rock with influences from all outside sources of music," explains Sellas. "It's hard to really pinpoint something like that. Sometimes we just say we're a jam band. Sometimes we say livetronica. It depends who we're talking to. When we're opening for Shakedown we might do a little more of the organic jam to get the crowd into it at first, and then bust into the more electronic stuff. We're also very influenced by '80s synth pop, like the Talking Heads and Duran Duran and things like that, so we try to bring that to the table too."

In addition to another impending headlining show atToad's Place, the group has been added to the Rock 'n' Roll Resort festival in upstate New York where they'll share a bill with Conspirator (two of the guys from the Disco Biscuits) and Shpongle/Hallucinogen, two projects by Simon Posford, one of the biggest names in the psy-trance scene. They also hope to play at Strange Creek, Camp Bisco and Gathering of the Vibes, and now that their foot is in the festival door, things should only continue to escalate.

"We originally started out all improv," says Sellas. "Now we're doing more songwriting. Originally the songs wouldn't have endings, so we'd just jam into another song, which we still do. So it has a different feel every time, to keep the crowd not expecting what's coming next. We try to trick them. The guys who've been coming for years are the hardest to please because they've seen us so many times and we don't want it to be stale for them. "

It's these guys and girls, the Cosmic Dust Bunnies' intensely loyal fans, that are making all the success possible, in an age where bands can't even seem to give away their music, let alone to get fans to follow them on the road.

"No other fans are like Connecticut fans," says Sellas. "They travel all over to see us and they're basically like family. They pump the crowd up for us. We couldn't be a band if it wasn't for them." - Mike Sembos

I just read this..

Cosmic Dust Bunnies are a very unique electronic/jam style band that layer in influences from Reggae, Dub, Funk, Rock, Pop, and everything between. The band hits the stage with a fury and an ultimate goal of getting everybody up and moving. With a desire to never let a show drag, the songs often flow from one to another sometimes encompassing entire sets. With a hefty mix of originals, improvisation and a few covers, Cosmic Dust Bunnies have come back from a 2009 hiatus stronger than ever.

I agree with this entirely (even though I dont know how they played before.) These guys are very similar to Lotus, and that means you want to dance. And dance..and dance. Last night they had the crowd pumped with one of their buddies spinning some techno before the show. It got the juices flowing in our bodies and the crowd warmed up. I felt the energy and had some really good vibes with a cool fanbase. The fans knew these guys, and did not just show up at a bar..they followed them. They had a movement..I liked that.

I got into this music quickly ..here are some of my notes...funky, cosmic, vibes, energy, jammy, drums are quick and right on beat, technoish... It definitely had that Lotus feel to it, but a little different. I was not a big fan of the vocals. One of the singers was good..but only in one song that sounded like it was straight out of the 80's..Houston had a good start to it for example, but the vocals really hurt it.

Another Brick in the Wall was awesome and gave us that tad of rage and rebellion we all seek..loved "The Eleven" allusion..right on for 11/11/11..and good to hear some Grateful Dead love too.

The venue was too packed. Not enough room to whip out some dance moves. Stella Blues Bar is too narrow and they cant handle a band with more than 50 guests. Its too bad because I really would have liked to whip some dance moves out, but theyre ready for the next level..Toads Place Booking? Fairfield Theatre Company? These are definitely their next venues..its time.

Overall, a good show. They could have had a quicker set break, vocals can still improve, beats could get a little tighter, but theyre almost there. I think theyre on the mark for a really strong 2012..Cant wait to see them again!

Download the show!
http://www.archive.org/details/cdb2011-11-11.cdb2011-11-11.shnf - Oliver Collins

The two best local acts we saw on Sunday were back-to-back: Cosmic Dust Bunnies followed by The Backyard Commitee. The Cosmic Dust Bunnies live up to their name. Spacey and other-worldly with a gentle jam-band-esque demenor. - The Deli - Meghan Chiampa

The Cosmic Dust Bunnies are a cool collective originating from the CUT (Connecticut) and are made up of 4 key ingredients the bassist Matt Beckett, drumer Eric Hyland, keys Chris Sellas, and guitarist Matt Dempsey. Their flavor is a mixture between experimental rock fused with trance and electronic jams. Its music that’ll make ya move and not want to stop. So check them out on myspace to get those dancin’ feet a movin’. - www.vibethat.com

Cosmic Dust Bunnies (self-released, myspace.com/cosmicdustbunnies)...this is a sprawling disc that shows Cosmic Dust Bunnies to be versatile, verging on schizophrenic. It starts off strong with “Jay in My Life” and “88 MPH,” a pair of playful songs melding electronic music to jammy groove-rock, each based around a simple hook and exploring tangents — dance beats, psychedelia, reggae, riff-rock and onwards, with synth washes and sideways guitar leads all over...
—Brian LaRue - New Haven Advocate