Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
10/26
Your ears do not deceive you. A new home-grown scene is on the rise, even if it's not technically a scene yet. Kids who sound like they've been listening to the likes of Sleater Kinney, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr. and other pillars of underground rock are writing their own original music and -- surprise! -- it's good.
This weekend three solid local indie rock bands play a Halloween bash at Martini Red. For you, it's a chance to check out some S.I. rock and, possibly, win the costume contest with your genius. For Dead Rabbit, Murray and The Great Unwashed, it's a chance to perform on a bill with like-minded local musicians.
"We don't fit into the Staten Island scene at all," says Adam Ferretti, guitarist and singer for Dead Rabbit. "I've been playing music in Staten Island forever, but my bands haven't ever been similar to the majority of bands out here. Most bands like ours that are actually from Staten Island either move away or just pretend they're from somewhere else, like Brooklyn. It's really weird."
While Ferretti is moving from the Island to Brooklyn for an easier commute to his job, Dead Rabbit is to the core a band from our little enclave of suburban seclusion -- they live here, they rehearse here, they carouse here. But like we said, Dead Rabbit doesn't exactly have that typical Island sound.
Bassist Steve Goffin and keyboardist Chris Tallie drive out warm, bouncing grooves while Ferretti and drummer Rory Merola provide the group's edge with guitar distortion and taught percussion.
Ferretti's emotive vocals sound like some sort of cross between Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug -- untrained yet instinctively melodic and infectious. But his voice is his own, and that's a common thread you'll find with all three of these Staten Island bands, all of which are already networking to play shows on and off the island.
**Contact AWE music writer Ben Johnson at bjohnson@siadvance.com. BOX
CHATTER: Featuring Dead Rabbit, Murray & The Great Unwashed
When: Saturday at 9 p.m.
Where: Martini Red, 372 Van Duzer St., Stapleton
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE 10/26 ENTERTAINMENT AWE PRINT PULL OUT/INTERNET FEATURE
- Staten Island Advance
Discography
The Destruction EP - June 2006
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Dead Rabbit was born in a burrow on Staten Islands’ infamous Sand Street in 2005. Bred from parents of different backgrounds – jazz, jam, grunge – Dead Rabbit became an anomaly in the hardcore/metal Sand Street scene. Driven by fuzzy bass, Fender Rhodes, thundering drums, and a casual wail, dead rabbit has been turning heads across nyc since their debut show at the Knitting Factory.
We like to say we don’t sound like anyone, but saying that we sound like “The Band meets Nirvana” works too. People who think that's stupid like to say things like Pavement, The Flaming Lips, The Talking Heads, The Police.
We like hand claps, power chords, tambourines, robots, and funky bass. We play, or are inspired by, all of those things.
We've been featured multiple times in the Staten Island Advance and have appeared in numerous venues around NYC including the Mercury Lounge, the Knitting Factory, and The Hook. Our debut EP, The Destruction EP, was released in 2006 and was recorded at The Welfare Line in Royersford, PA – look for a full length soon.
Keep those rabbit ears perked, because this isn't the last you've heard from this cuddly bunny.
Links
