Punk rock with bunny masks? We’re all ears

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This article was published 06/05/2010 (5997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When it comes to garage-punk bands dressed as bunny rabbits, there’s no band like Nobunny.

The main man behind the mask is Justin Champlin, who has channelled his love of Hasil Adkins, the Ramones and the Nuggets box set into a wild rock ‘n’ roll experience with songs like Give it to Me, Mess Me Up, Motorhead with Me, Chuck Berry Holiday and I Am a Girlfriend.

Winnipeggers will get to experience the bunny and the band when Nobunny plays the Royal Albert on Wednesday. Admission is $10.

Champlin has a disposable phone of the sort recognizable to anyone who watched the television series The Wire, so he can’t get calls from Canada. He did take the time to answer some email questions, though.

How did you come to start wearing a bunny mask? Childhood trauma? Weird fetish? Pet-store accident? Other? Please describe

I just like masks. I always liked RNR animals. Lots of people wear masks, ya know. I guess I’m just shy. I picked up an issue of Roctober (magazine) that featured the masked history of RNR and it was instantly my favorite zine. Some of the bands inside were the Mummies and Phantom Surfers (Mummies who are from the Bay Area, which I currently call home).

Michael Jackson masked his own face to his own liking.

I love cuddly terror, too. We wanna play plushie BDSM (bondage and discipline/sadism and masochism) parties! Or any party! Costume parties are always the horniest!

What is the origin of Nobunny? Was a jackalope involved, or is that just a rumour?

There is Nobunny.

What would you do on a Chuck Berry holiday?

I’d drop acid. Go see the CB himself. JLL (Jerry Lee Lewis) The Killer would play the keys. Maybe in New Orleans. I’d risk it all.

What happens to a person who Motörheads with you?

We usually become good friends and have some serious REAL TALK. Sometimes it’s quite the opposite.

You have one album on cassette only, Raw Romance. Why do you like that format?

Why do I like tapes? Cuz we have a tape player in our band’s wagon.

Are you touring with a band?

Yes, sir. The lineup will be different for Canada

What happens during a typical Nobunny show?

I’ve not seen such a thing, but I’ll tell ya… this is the last time we will be in Canada supporting our first LP, Love Visions. So for this tour we will typically be playing all of Love Visions and taking requests from Raw Romance and our seven inches. Some of these songs we’ve never played and some we’ll probably never play again.

What happened to the guy who ate the live scorpion off the floor at your Vegas show?

It was in Slab City, Calif., by the Salton Sea. It’s an outlaw/artist/hobo community in the desert in S.E. California.

It was wonderful. After this scorpion crawled in, this punk dude with a blond mohawk just scooped it up and ate it! Me and some peeps went to check on him and he was making out with a girl behind a trailer! We startled them and asked if he was OK. He seemed annoyed and asked for a beer. We of course obliged. Anything for the Scorpion King.

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There probably won’t be any scorpions at the Albert on Friday, but there will be a whole lot of Mongrel.

Local noise-rock trio KEN Mode is re-releasing its debut album, Mongrel, as a digipak on its own label, Arctodus Records, with bonus tracks from 2000 to 2004, their first five years as a band.

Following the re-release party, the group will embark on a six-week North American tour and a trip to Salem, Mass., for to record their fourth album, Venerable, with Converge guitarist/producer Kurt Ballou at the helm. Admission Friday is $10.

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From Kenya to Dubai to high schools across Canada, it’s safe to say Keith and Renée have taken some detours together over the years.

On Saturday the local folk-pop duo will stop touring long enough to release their aptly named fourth album, Detours, at the West End Cultural Centre. Admission is $20.

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca