Five-piece
1000 Rabbits have put out their first EP, a six-track collection titled
'Are we friends yet?', via Young Recordings.
Out now on digital formats and 12" vinyl, the record gathers recent cuts '
Virgin Soil' and '
Rubik's Cube' alongside four further tracks. To mark the release, the band have also shared a music video for
'Bear Hunt', directed by South London artist Ché Deedigan.
The material was pieced together over two years across rehearsal rooms, living rooms and stages. While some songs stretch back to the band's earliest sessions, others are far more recent, and all have been shaped and reshaped through repeated live outings.
The EP takes its name from a phrase that has become a fixture of the group's live shows, asked by frontman River near the end of closing number '
Spring Cleaning' - the track that rounds off both the record and every gig the band play.
Speaking about the release, the band explain: "These are 6 songs that we feel capture our first two years as a band. They are, in some ways, us putting our heart on our sleeve, and saying, 'this is us. 'this is what we want to say.' We're going to change and develop. These are just beginnings. Thanks to everyone who came and watched us develop these tunes over the past couple of years. You are responsible for these being our favourites; they wouldn't exist without you."
The line-up is made up of Laura on violin, Liv on synthesiser, Paolo on guitar, River on vocals and Luke on drums. Four members originally crossed paths as teenagers via a music club in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, before later linking up with Paolo when they moved to London to study. The Windmill in Brixton became an early home for the group as they built a reputation on the city's independent circuit.
Off the back of a sold-out headline show at
Third Man Records, the band are heading further afield, with headline dates lined up in London, Glasgow, Berlin, Cologne and Rotterdam, plus festival appearances including
The Great Escape,
Get Together,
Latitude and
Reeperbahn.
The dates in full read:
MAY
13 Napoleon Dynamite Festival, Paris, FR
14 The Great Escape Festival, Brighton, UK
16 Get Together Festival, Sheffield, UK
JUNE
24 McChuills, Glasgow, UK
25 Now Wave Pub, Manchester, UK
26 Cafe Kino, Bristol, UK
27 Circuit Break Festival, Northampton, UK
30 MOTH Club, London, UK
JULY
25 Latitude Festival, Suffolk, UK
26 MIDI Festival, Hyères, FR
AUGUST
8 Haldern Pop Festival, Rees-Haldern, DE
28 Krankenhaus Festival, Cumbria, UK
SEPTEMBER
13 Poplar Festival, Trento, IT
15 Bumann & Sohn, Cologne, DE
16–19 Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg, DE
17 Schokoladen, Berlin, DE
18 Platzhirsch Festival, Duisburg, DE
19 Rotown, Rotterdam, NL
