Biography
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Years Active
1989 – present (35 years)
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Founded In
Novato, Marin County, California, United States
Nuclear Rabbit is a California band, started in Novato. The band's music has been called metal, but incorporates a variety of other styles, making classification difficult. Known for its unusual sound and lyrics, and bassist Jean Baudin's 11-string bass, Nuclear Rabbit has a large fan base despite being a perpetually underground and independent band. They are perhaps the most well known underground band in California, having bands like Papa Roach, Alien Ant Farm, and Deftones opening up for them.
Nuclear Rabbit was started in 1989 by bassist Jean Baudin, who was influenced by a variety of music styles, including Fishbone and Bad Brains, and envisioned having a band not bound to any genre. He was soon joined by guitarist Pat Garner and drummer Steve "Stymie" Sigaty. Originally Baudin performed the vocals, but Greg Parrish was eventually asked to step in as vocalist. Nuclear Rabbit incorporates a variety of genres in their music, including metal, funk, ska, hardcore, punk, jazz, East Indian, and Egyptian. Baudin uses a variety of bass techniques, including tapping, slapping and popping. Their music is often characterized by sudden tempo changes and wacky musical stylings.
The band recorded several demos, some of which are included on the compilation Vicuna. After a quick switch of guitarists, Nuclear Rabbit recorded their first full-length album, Intestinal Fortitude, in 1998. Soon after, Greg left the band and was replaced by Jon Scullion, with whom they recorded their More Human EP.
In 2000, following More Human, Nuclear Rabbit went on hiatus. During this time Jean and Steve formed an alternative rock style group called Element of Surprise, often stylized as "E:OS." The band was formed as a supergroup of underground artists, eventually including vocalist Andy Slipka of Tribal Disco Noise and guitarist Raye Medeiros of Ten Man Killer. Medeiros left the band some time after, and Baudin asked Pat Garner to step in. They recorded two demos,"2:001" and U:pside Down, before the band called it quits in 2002.
Nuclear Rabbit reunited in 2002 with its original line-up and recorded their 2nd full length, Mutopia, the title being a portmanteau of the words mutation and utopia. The album was well received, but the band went through more line-up changes following the supporting tour. A few shows were played in the Northern California area in 2008 with new guitarist Macy Mullen, as well as new drummer Timothy Bailey, though the band is now currently on an unofficial hiatus, with a status of "Writing New Tunes!" on their official MySpace page for 3 years with no updates. In August, 2011, the band announced their first show in three years via JeanBaudin.com, and played an hour-long set on October 8th, 2011, at 924 Gilman in Berkeley, CA.
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