Following Rabbits Blog — hear it

photo via myspace

Lately I've been rocking out day and night to Scarlett! They have a very Paramore-ish vibe that I totally dig. I'm loving Fingers Crossed and Scandals. You can check em out and download some of their tunes here. I caught up with their guitarist, Arnley Sena, who took the time out for a little Q&A with me! (*Be sure to scroll down for a sweet Scarlett giveaway!!*)

1. Gimme five random facts about you.
1. I've never been on a plane.
2. I'm deaf in one ear.
3. My favorite band is My American Heart.
4. I have 9 tattoos.
5. I have been in 7 bands before Scarlett.

2. Favorite song to perform? My personal favorite is "So The Story Goes".

3. Sort your iTunes library by play count... what's the most played song? Dreams - We Came As Romans.

4. Celebrity you crushed on as a kid? The pink ranger haha.

5. Your BFF built a time machine- where would you like to go? (I should have asked "when" are you going...oops!) Either California or Florida, either one would be gnarly.

6. Who or what inspires you most? My family and Jesse Barrera.

7. Coolest place you’ve ever been? There was this abandoned toy factory called "The Toy Crib" and me a few friends would go into it at midnight and just explore. It was a huge 4 story building. There was graffiti, blood, and rats everywhere. It was really creepy, but awesome at the same time.

8. Favorite sports team? The 90's Bulls, I don't really watch much sports now.

9. What superpower would you most like to possess? I would want a super power that whenever I needed money, it would just show up in my wallet.

10. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? A doctor.

11. Favorite dessert? Any kind of cake!

12. You get to go anywhere for a week, all expenses paid... where you headed? California or Florida!

13. Biggest pet peeve? People not flushing the toilet haha.

14. You just had a 5-star evening- what happened? Just played another show with Anberlin!

15. Favorite guilty pleasure? Listening to The Jonas Brothers haha.

16. You're at Starbucks- whatcha drinking? Nothing, not a big fan of Starbucks.

17. Favorite breakfast food? Those big breakfasts from Mickey Deez were always my favorite!

18. Favorite item of clothing you own? Anything that's Rockett.

19. You just won the lottery- what’s the first thing you're buying? A house made of gold and a completely new guitar rig.

20. Someone has 1 day to experience Chicago. What do you recommend they do? Go all the way to the top of the Sears Towers and look down, and try not to freak out.

Scarlett, based in Chicago, is planning on doing a show in NYC in August. To prepare you, I've got a Scarlett t-shirt and a signed Darling, Let's Not Panic EP going to one lucky winner! To enter, listen to Scarlett and lemme know which song you heart best in the comments section below. (Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you win!) To earn an additional entry, follow me and Scarlett on Twitter and @reply both of us (for example: "@FollowRabbits Scandals by @ScarlettBand #NowPlaying"). Giveaway winner will be chosen in 1 week- at 8pm EST on June 10. Good Luck!

Once in a while you go to a show where the energy of the people performing radiates through the audience. Last night was absolutely one of those shows! Hugo had the crowd dancing, screaming, clapping, and singing along. It helps that Mercury Lounge is an intimate venue, with a lower stage and a cozy vibe, as opposed to the cavernous feel of Bowery or Terminal 5. I scooted towards the front after Burn Down the Mission finished their set, and I'd say Hugo definitely has his fair share of groupies! Excitement over popular songs and shouts of approval ran through the crowd. 

It's easy to enjoy a show and appreciate someone's music when you can tell they're passionate about their craft. I have a hard time drawing a comparison to another band- and that's a good thing! His music is just fun- the kind of tunes that make you tap your foot and want to sing along. He was backed up by drums and bass, with horns on a few songs. I'm still pretty new to his music, but what I've heard so far is great! What You Want and Choke are favorites of mine, and I seem to have had Dear Walker stuck in my head almost every day since I made a Hugo playlist on my iPod.

Last week I asked Hugo where I could get a ticket to his show. He said there weren't tickets, just $10 cover at the door- but that he'd draw me a ticket to have. It should be known that everyone makes fun of me because to this day I still have hard tickets mailed to my house, rather than just printing e-tickets. I like having real tickets for my scrapbook! So imagine how happy I was when Hugo pulled this out of his back pocket for me last night:

Ha! Absolutely fantastic! Made my night complete. Definitely check out Hugo's music on iTunes, and I'll keep you posted on any upcoming shows!

photo via Facebook 

I want to introduce you to Hugo: part piano-rocker part wise-guy (some of his interview answers had me laughing!) who I had the pleasure of stumbling into at the Kate Nash show a couple weeks ago. Hugo was outside of Kate's show giving away samplers of his music. I downloaded it the next day, and was immediately impressed. It's upbeat and very catchy- I've managed to get one of his songs stuck in my head every day since I put his tunes on my iPod. He's headlining the late show tonight at Mercury Lounge- definitely worth checking out! I caught up with him on Twitter and he was gracious enough to take the time for a little Q&A:

1. Favorite song to perform? Crow

2. Favorite item of clothing you own? Reebok Knit Polo

3. Sort your iTunes library by play count... what's the most played song? Dayton Ohio 1903 - Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Sings Newman

4. Favorite guilty pleasure? Bojangles? Waffle House? 

5. You get to go anywhere for a week, all expenses paid... where you headed? London. No, Japan. Wait, come back to me.

6. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Second Baseman for the Chicago Cubs.

7. Who or what inspires you most? The ones that don't believe

8. Biggest pet peeve? See above

9. Favorite tourist spot in NYC? Death and Co

10. Favorite breakfast food? ¿Panquecas?

11. Where did you grow up? NW 'Burbs of Chicago

12. What superpower would you most like to possess? The ability to outsass ANYONE...so... watch out.

13. Favorite 80's cartoon? OOF. Tough.. My roots are equal parts Thundercats, He-Man, and Care Bears. What's interesting here is I actually have Lionel, Cringer, and Tenderheart represented...oh my!

14. Have you ever been in love? Yes

15. Favorite NYC restaurant? Blue Ribbon Sushi

16. What do you see when you look out your window? Someone that owns a balcony. Thanks for dragging that back up.

17. Favorite sports team? The Cubs. Who can be more inspirational in all of sports?

18. You're at Starbucks- whatcha drinking? A bottle of metromint from the place across the street.

19. Favorite dessert? Ribbon Torte.

20. Someone has 1 day to experience NYC. What do you recommend they do? Wake up and go to Sarabeth's (have the four flowers juice). Then head to MoMa. For lunch go to H&H Bagels and grab a few then cross the street and go to Zabar's. Get the country ham or the smoked scottish lox and walk to Central Park for a picnic.  You can stop at Alice's Tea Cup (coincidence?) for high tea. Or chai tea. If you must, go see a show in the theater district. On your way south of the city stop at Joe's Pizza in the village for a slice and then head over to the lower east side. On your way from west to east grab a round of lights and darks at mcsorley's. Go see some music at Rockwood or the Living Room or National Underground. If it isn't too late yet make it to Rice to Riches in SoHo. Finish off the night at Flatiron Lounge. I'm going to go pass out now.

Come check out Hugo's show tonight at Murcury Lounge! Doors open at 9p, $10 at the door, 21+. I'll be there early to get a good spot. Come by and say hello, have a beer and listen to some great music! I'll post photos and a show recap late tonight or early tomorrow. See you there!

You can see/hear more at Hugo's website and his Facebook fanpage.

I went to see Kate Nash at the Bowery Ballroom on Thursday night- love her! She's one of a slew of artists who I discovered on Pandora. She has a lot of silly fun lyrics, and her music is very catchy. I wasn't very familiar with her newest album release "My Best Friend is You", but I really love her 2007 album, "Made of Bricks". She opened with a track off her new album, Paris. It was upbeat and fit in well with the style of hers that I'm familiar with. I also liked Kiss That Grrrl and Do-Wah-Doo, which she recently shot a video for. Some of her other new songs, like I've Got a Secret and Mansion Song were a bit heavier than the fluffier pop songs I associate with her. She's definitely one of those songwriters who throw themselves emotionally into their performances- when she sang You Were So Far Away she seemed on the verge of tears. Her band cleared the stage, she asked that the lights be turned down on stage and told the audience to be quiet, and almost whispered the song as she played her guitar. (Kate recently hurt her ankle while on tour, and she did an impressive job of hopping on one foot between her keyboard and her guitar.)

My absolute favorite song of hers is Nicest Thing. Lots of sentimental attachment to that one for me- it's a really beautiful song. (It's probably a good thing she didn't perform that song Thursday, because I know I would have cried.) If you want a lil taste of Kate, here are my fave tracks of hers, old and new:
1. Nicest Thing 2. Foundations 3. Mouthwash 4. We Get On 5. D******d 6. Merry Happy 7. Pumpkin Soup 8. Kiss That Grrrl 9. You Were So Far Away 10. Do-Wah-Doo

I went to a concert at the Bowery Ballroom last night, namely to see Civil Twilight. They opened for Company of Thieves, who I was vaguely familiar with before the show. AM Taxi came on first, and I was really impressed. They played a 45 minute set including Shake, Rattle and Stall, and they did a rockin' cover of Paint it Black, my very fave Stones song! They also did a song with Genevieve from Company of Thieves which was great. I saw Civil Twilight back in November and was blown away by their performance. I had high expectations last night and they did not disappoint. The same two songs that I absolutely loved the last time were the two standouts again last night- Perfect Stranger and Letters from the Sky... such moving live performances that made me an instant fan of theirs when I saw them open for Evanescence. They also covered Teardrop by Massive Attack and slayed it! Unbelievable. Everyone standing around me, who were mostly Civil Twilight virgins were gushing about how awesome they were. (I, however, stood there singing every word of their set thinking, "yeah, I know.") Seemed like a short set for them, which I was kinda sad about. Company of Thieves came out and I was almost immediately a fan. They have an incredible energy about them, especially Genevieve, their lead singer. She's this adorable, feisty bit of a thing that shook with excitement over selling out the Bowery and hearing everyone sing the songs along with her. Every song was another mental note to myself to download this track, until after 4 songs I just decided I needed their whole album. I wanted to go to the after-party at Angels and Kings, but didn't make it. I actually ended up leaving a bit before the end of Company of Thieves' set. The crowd was getting really pushy and obnoxious where I was standing near the stage, and I was there by myself. Amazing show by all three bands! Would absolutely jump at the opportunity to see all of them again.

Check out their albums on iTunes: AM Taxi, Civil Twilight, Company of Thieves.