The camaraderie between the five members of Boston’s Bad Rabbits is as apparent on stage as it was when we crowded the tight space backstage at Harper’s Ferry.  Although Bad Rabbits is relatively recent creation, Dua, Salim, Sheel, Santi, and Graham have been making music together for much longer – they spent five years together as part of the Eclectic Collective. Between the constant verbal and physical blows (leadman Dua was slapped across the face less than two minutes into the interview) that only comes with brotherly love, they spoke candidly about the break up of the Eclectic Collective, the “depressing year” that followed, and the anxiety that comes with starting anew.

It’s hard to put a finger on their sound – some combination of hip hop, R&B, pop and soul might be the closest to the mark, while the decidedly ambiguous label “urban alternative” has also been used. Whatever it is, the band has embraced the dreaded ‘crossover’ label, reveling in the opportunities it has afforded them. The night we caught up with them, they were opening for national rap sensation Wale before they headed off to play a crowded second set at Unit 11. They also serve as the backing band for legendary emcee Slick Rick, and they’ve got spring shows planned with post-hardcore outfit The Receiving Ends of Sirens and operatic prog rocker The Dear Hunter.

–Tim Burdick

Alright, we can start of with names and instruments.

Sheel (SH): I’m Sheel. I play drums.

Graham: I’m Graham, I play bass.

Salim (SL): Salim. Guitar.

Santi (SA): Santi. I play guitar.

Dua: I’m Dua. I sing.

So, you guys want to give us some history?

SH: We used to play in a band called the Eclectic Collective. We played in that band for about 5 years. We toured together. The five of us left the Eclectic Collective to start Bad Rabbits. We started writing our own shit, and that’s where we are now. That’s making a long, long story short.

I remember you guys from the Eclectic Collective, you guys used to play in Northampton fairly regularly. Was it a … happy split?

SH: Not really.

D: It was more like some people’s grind was at a certain percent, and ours was on a higher percentage than theirs.

SH: It had a lot to do with where the music was going as far as how we were placed, what kind of shows we were playing. The whole package wasn’t really doing it for us – aside from all the personal shit.

G: If we had kept going, we would have probably been somewhat successful. We were a killer live band. We probably could have made a living doing that, but we were playing in fucking bars. People would come, have fun at the show, shake their ass; nobody was buying merch though. It was just a dying scene for us.

Are you happier in the scene you’re in now?

All: Without a doubt.

SH: We’re just playing it so much smarter than we did back then. We’re being picky, but we’re not being picky at the same time. We’re writing better songs, that’s basically what it comes down to, the songwriting. Everything else flowed after that. After the Eclectic Collective split up, we got in our practice space for like a year and just wrote dark indie rock songs.

D: I call it the depressing year. It was like when you break up with your girlfriend and write a bunch of hateful songs. That’s exactly what happened. And out of that came a great song, and out of that came more great songs. We started being more upbeat. People started coming to shows; the buzz started. So, we’re just trying to ride that out.

G: We worked super hard on writing the songs from the ground up. We were worried about all the other shit like promotion and getting our online presence or whatever, but at the end of the day what we always kept in mind was: Let’s make all the songs 120% as good as we can. Best tones. Best structure. Best hooks. That was the foundation. If we have a good record, everything else is come into place.

D: When you think ultra-positive, your music is going to come out ultra-positive. It’s simple math.

SH: Also, when you’re inspired by the same things as a band, it helps.

G: There’s such a flow to this band. Everyone listens to a lot of different shit, but then there’s this pile of shit that we all listen to and love. Michael Jackson. Death metal.

SH: I play drums in a metal band, and Salim does sound for my other band, so it’s like one big family of crazy influences. Everything is like a melting pot.

D: And you can see it from our performance that we’re not just some hip hop band or live R&B band or a neosoul band or a rock band. Everything we’ve experienced and everything we are inspired by, that’s what we put out and that’s what we play.

Some artists get sort of worked up about being called a crossover act, is it something that you’ve embraced?

SH: We’re getting that crossover label now and… yes, that’s what we are. We’re crossing over into tons of different genres. At the same time, it’s one cohesive sound.

D: If you look at the music scene right now – If you go to anyone’s facebook page or whatever, there are a billion different artists that they like. Everyone has a different taste. So, I don’t have a problem with being called crossover, but in reality, it’s just music. People that are going to like us are going to like us.

SA: We all chill together and listen to music together. Then we sit in a room and write it together, and it all comes out this one sound.

G: Another thing that we really try and remind ourselves of and keep really focused on is that, besides from working together really hard and grinding, we have to make time to be friends and be family. We all spend more time together than we do with our families. We’ve got to get along and be friends, or else the music is going to suffer.

D: We’re all brothers. I have unconditional love for all these fools. We’re a family in a sense. For a straight year, I didn’t hang out with anybody but these guys. These guys were my only friends at one point–

G: We still are your only friends. (laughs) We fight like a family, but we love like a family too.

D: “We fight like a family.” Tyler Perry over here.

So, what are the current plans? What’s going on with Bad Rabbits right now?

SH: We’re going on a full U.S. tour in the spring. Then we’re going to go to Canada. We’re going to hit South by Southwest. And then we’re going to put out a mixtape with Clinton Sparks. We just merged with karmaloop.com, so we’re going to be constantly doing shit with them, as far as the whole fashion and music thing goes. That will always be hand in hand with what we’re doing. We’re actually getting our own clothing line worked out right now. That will probably launch on karmaloop and merchdirect.com in the next couple months.

So, you guys are from Boston-

SH: Yeah. Well, Graham’s from Brooklyn. Santi is from Philly. Me, Dua, and Salim are from the Boston area. Basically, me, Graham, and Santi met at college. We all went to Northeastern. I’ve known Salim since I was like 12; we went to day camp together. Salim met Dua at a party in Boston.

G: We all just kind of merged. I remember during the first couple practices I could tell it was a good thing.

D: That is a bold-faced lie.

(laughs)

SH: No, Graham was feeling it-

D: No, no, no. The first practice, Graham didn’t like me.

G: That’s not true. Oh, you mean personally? Yeah, that’s true.

D: It took awhile for Graham to get used to me.

G: It was just the music. Right off the bat, we were like, “This is something cool.” And Salim – at first- was writing all these really cool songs. There was the three of these guys, and then me and Santi joined and solidified the lineup.

SH: We basically told Graham and Santi what to do and they did it.

D: And they told me what to say. Actually, on the album my band told me how to sing. None of that shit came out of me. Another thing I’d like to point out about the difference between the Eclectic Collective and Bad Rabbits is that I kind of found my voice, whereas in the Eclectic Collective I was sticking to one… motive. Here, I’m kind of all over the place. I owe that to these guys. They really pushed me to sound different on certain songs; sound the same on certain songs.

SH: Wow, that’s the first time you’ve actually thanked us for that.

D: Shut the fuck up.

SH: This is some new shit for an interview. He’s never actually thanked us for that.

D: I’m not even thanking him. Now I’m taking it back. I came up with all that shit.

How do you guys feel like you fit into the Boston scene?

SL: For us, it’s trying to make the shows something different- mainly, getting away from the bar scene.  At the bar scene you’re just out spending money, which is not the whole point of going to see a show. Tonight the circumstances are a little different because it’s a national act. But to go see to a show for a local artist, it’s like $15 to get in, and then the drinks are mad expensive too.

G: Who’s got money to do that?

SL: We’re trying to take that whole thing out of the equation by doing house parties and basements.

D: And if we’re put in a situation where we play with national acts – I’m not try to sound cocky- but I think can rock any place we play. We’ve always gotten positive feedback. We’ve always turned heads.

G: It’s always different shows too.

SH: Like in May, we’re playing with The Receiving Ends of Sirens and Dear Hunter and all those alternative press sort of bands. So it goes from rocking a throwback Keith Sweat show to backing to Slick Rick to opening for Wale. As far as the Boston scene goes, I think we’re lucky to be in a spot like this where we can do whatever the fuck we want. I was on tour with my other band in Bismark, North Dakota, and there were like no other bands. It just made us realize that coming from the Northeast… I’m grateful for being in this scene. But as far as where we fit in, we basically fit in anywhere.

Are there any local acts that you guys are big on?

All: Passion Pit.

D: Passion Pit. I would do things to them. You can quote that.

D: Bodega Girls are dope.

SH: On the national level, the whole quote-unquote urban alternative thing is where people are lumping us into: Gnarls Barkley, P.O.S., and Gym Class Heroes.

G: We’re always bumping Michael Jackson. Always. I think a lot of people, since he died, are like “Oh shit, Jackson,” but we were on that shit way before he died.

SH: We were in the mixing stages when he died. And we were all crushed, really, because you can hear the influence on our record.

D: It was literally the saddest day of my life.

G: I remember when we were writing all that dark Mars Volta shit, even then we were listening Thriller nonstop. All day, every day. Then, we started writing this song called, “Vera”, and were like, “at the very end of the song, let’s do this Jackson song, “Baby Be Mine.”” It was just this very simple four-to-the-floor pop shit. We recorded it, and we were like, “Fuck. We really hit something. Let’s go in this direction.”

Bad Rabbits play The Paradise Wednesday 2/10