We are only three days away from the debut gig of Glytsh. This Wednesday, 14th of June at Grace in Islington, Jennifer Dhiel and Claire Genoud will be sharing the stages with two new bands who are making names for themselves on the London independent music scene: Tom Saint and About Bunny. We spoke with Tom Saint last week and today are absolutely thrilled to sit down with Jemma McKenzie-Brown and Alex Malseed to discuss their songwriting process, newest gigs and what is going to happen when the three bands go live on stage.
About Bunny photographed by Tim O’Holloway
About Bunny is being called “an intoxicating riot that refuses to be quiet or go down without a fight”. Please introduce yourselves to the readers of Indieterria who may have not heard about you before. Tell us who is who in the band and how long have you been playing together?
Jemma McKenzie-Brown: We have me on vocals, Alex Malseed on bass, Karl Hopkin on guitar and Amanda Dal on drums. We’re from all over the UK and Sweden but we formed the band in London in 2020. The ethos of About Bunny is standing up for what you believe in and having a fucking good time!
Is it true the band’s name is based on Tara Reid’ character in Big Lebowski? Do you think there was more to Bunny than her just being a self-centred and money obsessed antagonist?
Alex Malseed: The name came about because we think the movie is all about Bunny! We see her character as a free spirit who is just living their best life, there for a good time and not fucking two fucks!
Your first single “Special” was released in 2020 and received very good reviews from Get In Her Ears, GIGSLUTZ and This Feeling among others. Were you prepared that your first ever recording will be so universally acclaimed? It is still a fan favourite song at your gigs.
About Bunny photographed by Ben Watkins
Jemma McKenzie-Brown: “Special” will always be a special song to us because it was the first song Alex and I ever wrote together. The fact, it became our first single, just worked so well. It’s where About Bunny journey began, so it felt right. It does go down really well at gigs is, I think, because it’s got a fun, poppy chorus, easy to remember so we often find crowds love singing along!
Your music has been compared to Garbage, PJ Harvey, Babes in Toyland and Hole with a heavy dose of alternative pop (solo Debby Harry, Fuzzbox, Blondie, Madonna). What do you think of such a classification? Do you agree with it?
Alex Malseed: We love all of those artists. We are ecstatic that those are the people we’re being compared to!
Talking about inspirations – please name bands that have influenced your own musical journey. Name the artists that had the biggest impact on you.
Jemma McKenzie-Brown: What we love about the band is that we all come from different musical backgrounds and all have different influences. Everything from ABBA to Fleetwood Mac to more modern inspirations like the Arctic Monkeys and Dream Wife. It’s hard to pinpoint one particular artist.
On 14th of June, you will be joining Tom Saint and Glytsh in Grace in London to bring a sweaty, loud party to Islington. Are you excited? What can we expect at the gig?
Alex Malseed: We’re so excited to be playing with Tom Saint and Glytsh on the 14th! At our shows we just wanna have a good time. Loads of energy, dancing and we love to get stuck in and jump into the crowd.
Tell us something about your song writing process. Do you prefer to compose alone or together? What comes first, riffs or lyrics?
Jemma McKenzie-Brown: It’s a collaboration process between us and our producers. Alex and I start with usually a cool baseline and then I just start singing a stream of consciousness and record it on my phone and try and type lyrics out quickly! Then, we just work from there figure out as we go what this song is actually about and what’s going on in our heads!
About Bunny logo
One track that truly stands out for us is “Keep It to Yourself”. It’s two minutes of fury and setting boundaries. It feels like a song that Alanis Morisette would have wanted to write. Is there a particular story behind this track?
Jemma McKenzie-Brown: Love the nod to Alanis Morissette! She is definitely a huge influence of mine in particular. She was one of the first female rock artists and songwriters I ever discovered! “Keep It to Yourself” is about being fed up with fake friends and people that are social climbing and just toxic.
“Keep It to Yourself” is also a part of your first Mixtape Vol 1 released this year. Quite a curious idea. Why a Mixtape and not an EP or a debut album?
Jemma McKenzie-Brown: Because of the pandemic, the writing and recording tracks got really spread out and it didn’t feel like an EP because of that. So, we decided to put all tracks out as a mixtape for people to discover and for us, as a band, to draw a line so you could get on with our new material.
Your music has been played on Radio X, BBC1, BBC Introducing Rock, was added to curated Spotify playlists, you are doing very well. What are you planning for the next few months? Are you able to share some of your secret plans with us?
Alex Malseed: We are so grateful for the support we’ve gotten from our releases so far. As we said before, we’ve sat on those songs for such a long time waiting for the pandemic to pass, so now we’re in the studio recording our debut EP! We’ve got some other gigs coming up in summer that we’ve not announced yet (watch this space) and we’re gonna be playing Nels Hylton’s Upgrade in October with Snayx and Monkanis which has just sold out, so buzzing about that one too.
Last questions are usually fun on our blog. Imagine that your song is going to be recorded by one of the current biggest acts in the world. Who is it and what song is going to be covered?
Jemma McKenzie-Brown: I would love juxtaposition of someone who is not in the Alt world, putting their own creative, completely different vibe on our song. So, maybe someone like Harry Styles or Miley Cyrus singing “Special” could be a shout. In the Alt world, I’d love to hear Yungblud knock out something like “Cut Up”, his voice is so gravely and gorge.
Tickets to their show on 14th June at Grace/Islington can be purchased at:
https://dice.fm/partner/dice/event/88w8w-tom-saint-14th-jun-the-grace-london-tickets
Follow the band online:
https://www.facebook.com/aboutbunnyband
https://twitter.com/aboutbunnyband
https://aboutbunny.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/aboutbunnyband
https://www.youtube.com/@aboutbunnyband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Ywb0MRsHQdzngYBTZyuf9?si=DmlBM93TQ0ugDqHAT-FANg&nd=1
https://www.tiktok.com/@aboutbunnyband?lang=en
Official merch:
https://aboutbunnymerchstore.bigcartel.com/
You can read more about the band at:
https://www.cooltop20.nl/in-the-spotlight/in-the-spotlight-about-bunny/
Rita and Malicia Dabrowicz
Indieterria 