Get To Know... 1000 Rabbits • Neu • DIY Magazine

Hello and welcome back to DIY’s introducing feature, Get To Know… which aims to get you a little bit closer to the buzziest acts that have been catching our eye as of late, and working out what makes them tick.

Since the 2010s, a vast swathe of groups have been awoken by Brixton’s hallowed Windmill; Black Country, New Road and black midi etched the venue into British musical history, while spawning a bevy of derivative acts in their wake. 1000 Rabbits are anything but. The Suffolk-by-London quintet have swiftly established themselves as worthy successors to the Windmill throne, showcasing a groovier and brighter confluence of art-rock and post-rock across their debut EP, ‘Are we friends yet?’ - a project constructed from oblique rhythms, adept musicianship and confessional lyricism.

With a groove-first approach, 1000 Rabbits are breaking out of the Windmill orbit to stand fast at the vanguard of British guitar music; we caught up with the band to dig deeper into their weird and wonderful world.

⁠If 1000 Rabbits was a shop on the UK high street, what would it be (and why)?
One of those ‘Ye Olde’ sweet shops with about 1000 different types of boiled sweets that they put in little stripey paper bags. Those are so cool. There’s only ever one person working there and it’s either a 90 year old or their 8 year old great grandchild, which I think sums up the different energies we have in the band.

1000 Rabbits was born out of Aldeburgh in Suffolk - how do you think it shaped your music tastes or paths into music?
We didn’t grow up in Aldeburgh but met at a programme for young musicians there. It’s hard to escape music in Aldeburgh - there’s a huge classical music scene around there, mainly down to the legacy of the composer Benjamin Britten, so there’s a lot of music infrastructure for young musicians to play on. More than that, though, it’s just a stunning part of the world. We all live in London now, but to have nature like that to regularly come back to is so nourishing as musicians.

You’ve spent the past year or more building up your reputation around the London live circuit - particularly at Brixton’s beloved Windmill - but it’s only in recent months that you’ve shared your debut EP. How do you think this approach (ie: gigging loads before releasing songs) has informed or shaped the music itself, and the way you write as a band?
One of our guiding songwriting principles is that we never consider a song to be finished until we’ve had a chance to let it breathe on stage in front of people - that’s when you really understand the energy that the song creates. The rehearsal room can be so sterile sometimes. Once you accept that your song can’t be finished there, you realise that a song is actually never really finished; you just need to get it into good enough shape that you can take a picture of it in the studio and release that. The songs that we have released on our EP have continued to evolve, as we hope they will do for a while.

“We never consider a song to be finished until we’ve had a chance to let it breathe on stage in front of people — that’s when you really understand the energy that the song creates.”

The title of the EP, ‘Are we friends yet?’, comes from a question you ask at the conclusion of every live show. Can you tell us a bit more about the genesis of this tradition, and why you think it felt fitting to name your first project after it?
River actually improvised that the first time we played ‘Spring Cleaning’ live - it was originally an instrumental section. It strikes at the heart of one of our beliefs - that in order to make something emotionally resonant, you have to not be afraid of being slightly embarrassed. The idea of asking if we are friends is tender, but vulnerable in a really direct way. I think it catches people off guard sometimes. When someone suggested it as the name of the EP, it was one of those moments where the rest of us said: ‘how did we not think about this before?’.

Would you rather fight 50 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?
The framing of this question is so fucked up. What on earth have we done to deserve being put in a horrible, P.T. Barnum-esque cage fight with either of these beautiful creatures who, rather than death, deserve to live, be studied, perhaps even communicated with. These animals are clearly marvels of nature and we shall speak no more on this subject.

⁠Best football / World Cup song of all time?
Many people won’t tell you this, but ‘Chelsea Morning’ by Joni Mitchell is actually about the football club. So that.

Finally, DIY are coming round for dinner - what are you making?
A minestrone soup with lots of fresh ciabatta. It ticks all the boxes - vegan, Italian, delicious. If you’re lucky, we’ll make a tequila jelly in the shape of a rabbit for dessert.

‘Are we friends yet?’ is out now via Young.

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