Get to know... 1000 Rabbits

1000 Rabbits are a band built in the space between opposites. Soft and abrasive, intimate and explosive, playful and emotionally exposed, the London-based five-piece make off-kilter art pop that feels truly novel, and as suited to quiet reflection as it is to bodies in motion.

Formed from four childhood friends who first made music together as teenagers in Suffolk, the group found its final shape after moving to London and meeting guitarist Paolo. Since then, Laura’s expressive violin, Liv’s playful synths, Luke’s restless drumming and Paolo’s angular guitar work have gathered around River’s magnetic vocal performances, earning 1000 Rabbits a reputation as one of the capital’s most distinctive new live acts.

Their debut EP, 'Are We Friends Yet?', captures those first two years of discovery in motion. Written across living rooms, rehearsal spaces and stages, its six tracks have been shaped night after night in front of audiences, evolving alongside the band themselves. Warm, vulnerable and occasionally feral, it's both a definitive opening statement and a warm invitation into their world.

Following the EP’s release earlier this year, and a run of shows across the UK and Europe, we caught up with 1000 Rabbits to discuss growing up together, finding freedom in trust, the strange symbolism of rabbits, the emotional pull of their live shows, and how they are still learning what the band can become.

 

 

For anyone coming to A Thousand Rabbits completely fresh, how would you introduce the band, your sound, and the world you’re trying to build?

 

River: "I would say that what we’re trying to do as a band is express things and ideas that are often not touched on, and the nuances of two opposed things at once; soft and hard, sweet and gritty, sexual and innocent.

"A lot of our sound is finding that strange middle ground, the uncanny middle that is the human condition. That sounds quite conceptual, doesn't it haha.

"From a sound perspective, I feel like saying we’re pop music. What we’re trying to do is be non-cynical. There’s no irony, I think, in what we do for the most part. Cynicism feels like such a block. The sound needs to be non-cynical because we want people to access it and we don’t want people to be turned away. It should feel like people are being invited into something, not left out.

 

Luke: "Yeah, We’re not trying to appeal to a specific type of person, fit into a niche or a genre. Whoever wants to enjoy the music and feels able to be a part of it, that’s great. It’s for everybody."

 

 

Let’s go back to the start. Four of you met as teenagers in Suffolk before the band eventually found its way into London’s live scene and you picked up another member. What did those beginnings give you that you may not have found elsewhere? How has that developed through meeting Paolo and playing through the London live scene?

 

River: "Four of us - Luke, River, Liv and Laura - met as teenagers in Suffolk, making music together. When we moved to London, we adopted Paolo and the band kind of became what it is.

"For me, because we were friends growing up and making music (that was like jazz and classical music and folk), playing and learning together, we all know each other so well musically, and Paolo slotted into that so seamlessly. That’s how we knew it was made to be with Paolo, because it was easy.

"I remember those early gigs in London and having this distinct feeling that I could do anything. I could make any mistake, decide to do anything random or change the set onstage, and I would be immediately caught by the people around me because they knew me so well.

"We could read the cues. That gave us a sort of free pass or a head start because we found our feet playing together when we were 14."

 

Paolo: "From my perspective, as the latest addition to the Suffolk crew, coming from somewhere else and ending up in London, I always say to everyone that I got adopted by a Suffolk cult, haha. 

"It’s quite nice to have that community feeling. I feel like that sense of belonging to something is mirrored in the music as well, maybe without even thinking about it. 

"Like River said earlier: it’s for everyone who wants to enjoy it. Just come in. It felt like that from my point of view, and it worked perfectly. 

"Not necessarily just musically, because everyone is super talented and some of the best musicians ever, so that felt very easy, but it was also very welcoming, open and excited to do something different, something new and all together.

"It felt and feels super safe, and gives you the licence to do whatever you want, and you know that somehow, even if it doesn’t work, it does work in a way."

 

 

Back in those early days, you were called Rabbit Foot, whereas now you’re 1000 Rabbits. What prompted the name change, and what is it about the rabbit that feels like such a fitting symbol for the band?

 

River: "We gave ourselves the name Rabbit Foot before we had ever really written together properly or played any proper gigs. We were in the early stages, so it was a weird time to name the band, because we didn't really know what the band was.

"But we always found the rabbit an interesting character. It has an almost folky connotation, but it’s darker than that. They’re not just sweet forest animals. They’re incessantly sexual and often considered pests, but they’re also beautiful and magical and mysterious.

"The opportunity to rename ourselves was really useful because we were like, “We gave this band its name before we knew what we were, and now we do.”

"It was an opportunity to really think about what we wanted to say to the world. We realised that the rabbit was really ingrained in what we wanted to say. But then a thousand rabbits is terrifying.

 

Paolo: "It’s like the scary evolution."

 

River: "Haha, yeah!"

 

 

I’d love to move on to your debut EP, ‘Are We Friends Yet?’, which was released earlier this year. Did it feel like a culmination of those first few years as a band, and how did you go about capturing that on record?

 

Paolo: "After about a year and a half of playing together, it felt very ready to be heard.

"It’s something we always say, and it’s probably true for a few bands: the music evolves the more you play it. It’s not necessarily just playing it in a rehearsal room; it’s getting the interaction with the audience and understanding how it’s perceived.

"We felt like it was at a good point to say, “Okay, let’s get in the studio. Let’s do a very true recording of what it feels like to us.”

"Seth and Margo, the producers who were in the studio with us, did a great job of capturing our live essence.

"After hearing the recordings, even though there isn’t that much production to it, it kind of felt like the perfect first cover before opening the book. It was like, “Okay, this is what the band sounds like.”

"The feedback from friends and other people was, “It sounds very clean, but it’s kind of like a live show.” It captured that energy."

 

Luke: "I think that captures it very succinctly, but those compositions, the production and how we recorded it also demonstrate a lot of the learning that we did in the 18 months before we recorded, and also the development in our writing.

"We recorded “Virgin Soil” and “Bear Hunt” in the winter of 2024, and then recorded the rest of the songs almost a year later. We love “Virgin Soil” and “Bear Hunt”, but the rest of the songs felt like a further development in our writing.

"It was also really nice, with the order in which we released stuff, to have “Virgin Soil” first. I think we were trying to get people to almost feel that development in the order the songs came out.

"Then, when the full EP came out, it was like, “This is maybe slightly more varied than people expected based on just the singles.”

"With the production, as Paolo said, we wanted to keep it feeling really live. I think we found a nice balance with layered vocals, a little bit of piano, overdubbed strings, percussion and guitars.

"We got the balance we wanted of it still feeling like the live show, but also just a little bit elevated from that, and the songs have continued to develop as we play them live to this day. 

"It’s not like we record them and that’s it. The recording is almost like a snapshot, but the songs continue to live and grow."

 

The title, ‘Are We Friends Yet?’, feels playful and inviting, but there’s also something vulnerable and almost desperate about it. Why did that phrase feel right for your first proper body of work?

 

River: "'Are we friends yet?' is something I improvised during a live set at the end of 'Spring Cleaning'.

"It’s a question to the audience. The moment we integrated it into the live show, we knew it was important because it encapsulated something. It comes at the end of the set, and it comes at the end of the EP.

"There’s something kind of desperate about it. Obviously, it’s quite sweet. It’s like, “Are we friends yet?” But it’s also desperate. It’s embarrassing, humiliating and vulnerable to ask that question.

"I get a bit of a kick out of humiliating myself onstage. Not in a crazy way, but in a vulnerable, subtle kind of way. That feeling was something we were really interested in.

"On the other hand, it’s also just a lovely question and a very honest way of saying, “I want you to be part of this.” It’s an invitation.

"We took ages to work out the name of the EP. We take ages to make most decisions. Once it was suggested, I don’t remember by who, that was it. We knew."

 

Having seen you live recently at Get Together in Sheffield, I found that final “Are we friends yet?” moment really poignant. You followed it by handing out friendship forms, which felt like a physical extension of that invitation and immediately got people in the crowd talking. Where did the idea come from, and what do those forms add to the live show for you?

 

River: "The friendship forms were actually an idea born from a collaboration with a magazine called Far From. We’ve made a zine with them, and we’ve been good friends for a long time. We’ve played some gigs with them.

"It was kind of their idea for us. It’s developed since then, but the very basic idea is a physical piece of something you can write on, and we have a box you can put it in.

"I don’t know whether it’s a glorified mailing list, but it’s a way of interacting with people in a more honest, real way. It’s less one-sided because people have to be vulnerable themselves.

"We ask them to tell us a secret. Even telling us their age and their name means they have to be willing. They have to go further than just clicking a button, which means that we’re friends, and that’s so nice.

"It feels more two-sided, and it’s more of a commitment to fill out the form."

 

Paolo: "I only started thinking about this recently. Once we say, “Are we friends yet?” and you say yes, at that point, if you actually care, it is a commitment to say, “Okay, now I feel like we are, and I want to be part of this because you asked me the question directly.”

"River is really good at looking around and making people look her in the eyes. It’s like, “Oh my God, they’re looking at me. What’s going on? I am part of this.”

"Then you go there and fill it out. River is obviously really good, and there’s always a bit of chatting after the gigs. It’s always quite nice to hear where people came from and how they got there.

"It’s quite different. I haven’t seen anyone else doing it at other gigs I’ve been to."

 

 

Let’s start digging into a few of the tracks. “Virgin Soil” reaches right back into the early days of the band, yet it was also the first song you released. Did putting out something that old change how you understood it, especially once you saw how people responded to it?

 

Luke: "Despite being the first one we released, it wasn’t necessarily an obvious first choice because it’s an older song. As we were talking about, we were slightly worried that it wasn’t the more mature reflection of where we were when we started releasing.

"It’s been really interesting to see that people really like that song. It was a good lesson in how we view our music not necessarily being exactly the same as how the audience views it, in terms of what their favourite song is or even how they hear that song.

"To us, that song is slightly less mature. The structure is maybe not as sophisticated as some of the other stuff, but it also sounds kind of weird.

"I play the drums, so the difference between those rims in the first half and then the, explosive, jungle-inspired stuff in the second half are quite an aggressive pair of sounds. Then there’s what the guitar and the synth do to mirror that and pull it up.

"It’s been really interesting to see how people enjoy that. It has a lot of energy and it’s quite quick.

"The second half with the jungle grooves is a funny thing. Liv, Laura and I used to get together and play jungle. I’d play something, and Liv would put a big saw wave over it and Laura would do whatever. That’s where that last section kind of came from.

"It’s like an explosion of emotion that has slowly been building throughout the song. Then it suddenly reaches this boiling point.

"It’s one of the more intense moments on the EP and in our live set. It’s also a moment where we want people to dance and think, “This is cool,” but at the same time, we want people to think, “This is quite a lot.”

"It’s a funny moment in how we perceive it and how the listener might perceive it."

 

 

I’d like to move on to “Rubik’s Cube”. It feels a lot more tangled and tense. What side of 1000 Rabbits did that song unlock, and where did it come from?

 

Paolo: "A few months ago, when we were talking about the order of the singles and which way they would come out, we were saying that “Virgin Soil” and 'Rubik’s Cube' were quite similar.

"Then, by chatting to people, we realised they are very similar, but they’re also the opposite.

In 'Virgin Soil', there’s a very gentle verse with a nice melody, then it drops into this chaotic drum-and-bass explosion.

"Whereas, in 'Rubik’s Cube', it’s very tense during the verse. It’s very plinky-plonky and punchy, and then in the chorus it becomes this massive wall of sound that, at the same time, is very musical.

"I think it’s an evolution of what happened while we were writing. I remember we were writing at River’s house. We started from one place and ended up in a completely different place.

"Most of the time when we write stuff, someone starts from a melody or a riff, and then it develops naturally with everyone else putting in their input.

"We got to this chorus section, and I was playing this guitar part. River was like, “I can just hold a note here.” We said, “Let’s give it a go.” We tried it and were like, “Cool, this is amazing.”

"With the title, in my head, because of how intricate and blocky it is, it almost felt like moving something. I was like, “It’s almost like a Rubik’s Cube, this song.”

"Everyone was like, “Yeah, whatever,” but we happened to keep it because, at that point, it was known in our heads as that."

 

River: 'Give yourself more credit, Paolo. “Rubik’s Cube” was always a great name.

"It works. It definitely owned it. It sort of doesn’t make sense with us, but it’s cool. I think it’s fine."

 

Paolo: "The main thing about “Rubik’s Cube” is that, when you have a Rubik’s Cube in your head, it feels like moving something and never actually figuring it out unless you know how to do it.

"You always get the same movement over and over. The guitar part in the verse feels very repetitive and similar. That was the process in my head, at least."

 

 

We brought it up a little before when discussing the name, but “Spring Cleaning” is the closer to the EP. Closing an EP with something called “Spring Cleaning” feels like clearing space, letting go or making room for something new. Was that intentional, or did it come more from the song itself?

 

River: "I think they’re linked. The song is about that as well. It’s about the idea of something being cleared, whether for better or worse.

"I think the song is sad in a way, but cathartic.

"Again, 'Spring Cleaning' was one of the names we gave to the songs pretty much on the day we wrote them. It was always like, “We’ll change them when we release them.”

"We thought about it when we were recording and releasing them, but they just stuck. We couldn’t think of anything different.

"I feel that way with 'Spring Cleaning'. It’s taken on the meaning of the name, which was kind of an arbitrary phrase, but it’s adopted that feeling. It’s the same with 'Rubik’s Cube'. I think there’s value in prescribing something and then it becomes imbued with that meaning.

"It’s a sort of opposite-way-around process. It definitely feels like something is getting cleared. Cathartic.

 

Luke: "This wasn’t necessarily an intention, but thinking ahead a little bit, at the next opportunity for us to release more music, the songs will feel like a slightly fresher thing because of how our writing has developed.

"I think 'Spring Cleaning' will maybe take on a little bit of a passing-the-baton vibe to the next thing we put out into the world. Maybe I’m just manifesting that."

 

One of the most captivating parts of seeing you live is the physicality of your performance, particularly River, the way you move and seem to inhabit the songs. Does that feel instinctive to you, or is it something you’ve consciously developed?

 

River: "It’s interesting because the word “theatricality” gets used quite a lot. People will often ask if that’s an influence, or if I have acting training.

"What I’ve always felt is kind of the opposite. I love bands that do a theatrical thing, but it doesn’t feel like that to me or to us because it always just feels like I’m performing, and I’m being completely honest and completely true. I never feel like I’m putting it on or even exaggerating it.

"I’m someone who responds quite somatically to things. My body is the first responder to any experience I have in the world, and playing with the band is the most intense experience, so my body just responds.

"It feels very real and honest. I’m sure being onstage and being watched changes stuff and maybe exaggerates it, but we all really feel and believe what we’re doing to quite an extreme degree.

"When I sing the words or dance, it’s how I’m being moved. I’m very honestly being moved by the music. That’s why I love to do it, because it’s addictive."

 

Looking at the wider makeup of the band, you have violin, synth, guitar and drums all pulling in different directions without ever overcrowding one another. Does that balance come from your different musical backgrounds, or more from the chemistry between the five of you?

 

Paolo: "Everyone comes from such a different place musically. Luke and Liv studied jazz, Laura studied classical, River did composition, and I did pop. It’s a very good mix of everything.

"At the same time, if something is captivating and we find it good, it will most likely be part of that Venn diagram we have in common.

"When River sings a melody, we spend time saying, “Okay, this is what I think the song needs,” and it’s about serving that more than anything else, rather than putting yourself in a box and saying, “I want this to be this thing.” 

"If it does end up in that box, it’s because of the process of writing."

 

River: "The thing about making music is that the reason I make music, or that we write songs, is that I want to make the music that doesn’t exist yet, but that I’ve always wanted to exist.

"It’s like a culmination of influences. We’re all very influenced by Björk. Dance music. There’s some jazz in there. I love pop stuff. Paolo has Brazilian influence.

"So, there are definitely loads of influences, but we make the music because we want to hear the songs that we have in our heads that no one else has made yet.

"The other thing about the instrumentation is that, because we’re friends and grew up making music together, it was never like, “I want to start a band, and I want it to have synth, violin and drums.”

"It was like, “I want to be in a band with Laura and Luke.” It’s about the people, and the instrumentation was secondary.

"Which is nice because it takes weight away from the idea that “we’re a band with a violin, so therefore we’re influenced by BCNR.”

"No, we’re a band that has Laura in it, or Paolo and Luke in it. That’s what it feels like it is."

 

 

You’ve recently been touring, playing a few festivals and shows; I caught you at Get Together in Sheffield. How has that been going since the EP came out? What has it been like seeing the reaction to those songs live now that they’re out in the world?

 

Luke: "It’s kind of crazy. Especially with “Virgin Soil”, you can tell people get a bit excited once we start playing it. They’re like, “Oh, it’s this one.” That’s kind of weird.

"Going to different places is so fun. We’re so lucky in London. There are so many great venues and great audiences, but we’re quite spoiled, and I think audiences are a little bit spoiled.

"When you go to other places, like Sheffield, we had a great time. People really enjoyed it, and we made some friends.

"Whenever we get to come to Manchester, it’s refreshing to have people from different places, with different scenes around them, get to hear the stuff live.

"It’s surprising that they know it a bit because they’ve been able to listen to it.

"It feels like a culmination of all the work we’ve done to get the record out. The point of having the recordings out is to further connect with people and enhance their experience of seeing us live.

"It’s really a circular thing."

 

Paolo: "It’s pretty crazy to see people knowing the lyrics. It’s super exciting and a feeling that is almost incomparable with anything else.

It’s beautiful to see people there because they heard the music. For some people, it might be their first time seeing us, and they found us after the EP.

It’s really nice. We want to keep doing more and keep that feeling going.

 

You’ve introduced yourselves to your new friends and the spring cleaning is done. What’s next for A Thousand Rabbits? Are you touring, are there any big ideas, or are you taking it as it comes?

Luke: "We’ve got a lot of gigs over the summer, which we’re very lucky to have. We’re doing a little headline tour this week.

"Then we’re doing a few festivals in August in Europe. We’ve got a string of headline gigs and festivals in September in Europe, which will be really fun.

"We want to play for as many people as possible. Then, at some point, there might be some more consumable products."

 

River: "Noooo “content, content,” haha."

 

Luke: "We really just want to make more friends."

 

Paolo: "There are plans for the near future, and that includes more music. We’re excited for that, and more experimentation. A lot more experimenting.

"The EP was kind of like the business card with our names and emails, and that’s the music. Now let’s try to do something else."

 

Luke: "We want to keep expanding, growing and developing.

"I think so many artists, and bands especially, as soon as an artist releases something, or there’s something physical or recorded that people can access, people think, “Okay, that’s them. That’s what they do. That’s how it is.”

"We want to be able to keep switching things up. Not aggressively. It’s not like we’re going to add a flipping brass band or something.

"We want to keep growing and developing. That’s our aim: to widen our sphere of influence."

 

River: "Bear with us while we continue to learn about ourselves."

 

 

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