As Bad Rabbits gear up to release their new album, Mimi, the Boston-based group give us the quick skinny on the forthcoming LP and new music video for "Dollars and Change." Mimi is slated for release Aug. 10th.
EM: Tell me more about the process behind the new album?
Sheel: We went back to working with our longtime friends and producers: B. Lewis & Gavin Castleton for the bones of the album. Salim, Fredua and I spent a good amount of time at B. Lewis' studio in San Jose, CA to put everything together because some of the songs had been sitting around for years and we wanted to touch them up a bit. I also brought on board one of my favorite illustrators/creatives/friends Jimmy Lazer (Lazers Lab), whom I met over 15 years ago, in the DIY metal/hardcore scene in Massachusetts. We also re-involved longtime friend Austin Kihn (Mind over Matter Records) who is handling the hand-made vinyl production in conjunction with Jimmy Lazer and Justin Beck (MerchDirect). All of these humans played a significant role in the evolution of who we are as a band now so it is important to mention our teammates who helped us put this new album together.
Salim: We just cut out all of the noise and distractions that had been surrounding the band at the time. We had just pretty much wrapped up American Nightmare and the creative energy was on the least path of resistance. As Sheel mentioned at the end of 2015 we flew to San Jose to work with Brad who is one of the only other people other than Gavin Castleton that understands where the band needs to be and how our process works.
Dua: B. Lewis and myself sat in his studio and wrote songs, I think we wrote and recorded 4 songs in about 3 days. And every time I came back to his studio that was the formula: listen to ideas, vibe, make a song, record, and repeat. I'm still trying to find a word to describe that experience.
EM: How did the concept for the new music video come about?
Sheel: "Dollars & Change” is a song that makes you feel rich even when you're broke. Our longtime friend and illustrator Jimmy Lazer (@lazers_lab) created the video. We didn't overthink it – it is a pretty simple, straightforward narrative broken up with these ridiculous animations. The scenes just kept getting more and more ridiculous as we went on. Like the protagonist in the video, our only goal was to "put a smile upon your face." The overall vibe is 'don't take shit too seriously.’
Anything else you want to tell me about?
Sheel: “Dollars & Change” was co-produced by Sam Barsh (Kendrick Lamar, Anderson Paak, Aloe Blacc)
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