Down the Rabbit Hole

Unless and until Miss Info posts her photos from the show ya'll have to do with my pretty words on the White Rabbits show this past Thursday at the Cavern. Now the Cavern is certainly a place to see a band; smoky, dark, and dirty. Yet it was still surprising to see a band of the White Rabbits caliber play at such a venue. But they still earned their money that night. Miss Info and I both agree it was one of the best shows we had seen in the last six months.
The Cavern's stage is small, leaving us to wonder how a band the size of the White Rabbits were going to fit themselves up there, but after setting up the keys, amps, guitars, mike stand and two drum kits (yes kiddies, that's two, count 'em two, drum kits) the band somehow squeezed themselves in between the mess of instruments. The band started with energy and tore through their set. The two drummers worked as one while the second guitarist ran around between his guitar and another drum, nearly falling over the lead singer on keys several times. The other guitarist and bassist were weaving around each other, knocking into mike stands and each other on more than one occasion. But the leader singer stole the show. Playing two sets of keys in a typical tiered array his hand flew over the faux ivory. Joined for a few numbered by the jack-of-all-trades guitarist, the singer hammered on the boards, letting his large and wonderfully long fingers compete with the quality of his lyrical talents.
It's been said that the White Rabbits have a ska-influenced latin sound but I disagree. This is old Texas Baptist greaser music from the fifties. This is the kind of band who channeled the same essence as the smaller local act Budapest One. Songs about love and individuality come tinged with that humid air of an east Texas spring, where good and evil play between the kitchen and slamming screen doors. If you doubt me, then one look at the singer and one listen to his voice and you could imagine this man walking from his house, down a dirt road to a full service gas station. The White Rabbits are pure east Texas music played with such enthusiasm and righteous as to make their performance more of a sermon than a rock set.
A thin, but animated crowd helped out and more than once I was surprised by the kind of people there for the band and not the alcohol. After an emotionally exhausting day, the White Rabbits show lightened my soul. Well, that and cheap Lone Star.