Bad Rabbits is an American band from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, founded in September 2007. The band consists of Fredua Boakye (vocals), Sheel Davé (drums), Salim Akram (guitar), Graham Masser (bass), and Santiago Araujo (guitar). All five members of the band originally played in the Boston-based band

The Eclectic Collective The Eclectic Collective was a crossover band from Boston, Massachusetts. Members include Dua Boayke (vocals), Salim Akram (guitar), Sheel Dave (drums), RP Thompson (keyboards), Graham Masser (bass), Special Blend (turntables), Santi Araujo (guitar) ...

, which in 2007 they reworked and renamed Bad Rabbits. The band released a demo in 2008 entitled ''The Bad EP'' which was followed up by their debut EP, ''Stick Up Kids'', in December 2009. Their first album ''American Love'' was released on May 14, 2013, and on July 19, 2014, Bad Rabbits released ''Dusted'' – an acoustic EP. They have won four

Boston Music Awards Founded in 1987, the Boston Music Awards are a set of music awards given annually that showcase talent in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. Past shows have featured such notable talent as Aerosmith, Paula Cole, Esperanza Spalding, Boston, Rubyhor ...

, including Pop/ R&B Live Artist of the Year in 2014. Bad Rabbits also won the 2010 Phoenix Music Poll Award for Most Downloaded Band. From 2007 to 2010, they performed as the backing band for rapper

Slick Rick Richard Martin Lloyd Walters (born January 14, 1965), better known as Slick Rick, is an English-American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence with Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s. Their songs " The Show" and " ...

. They have been a part of five national tours, including the 2011 and 2014

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...

, the 2013

Don Broco Don Broco are a British rock band formed in Bedford, England, in 2008. The band consists of Rob Damiani (lead vocals), Simon Delaney (guitar), Tom Doyle (bass and programming) and Matt Donnelly (drums, lead and backing vocals). The band have rel ...

Priorities UK tour, the 2014 Allen Stone US Tour and their own UK tour in 2014.

Early history

The five members of Bad Rabbits first came together in 2002 while attending

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

and Audio Institute in Boston, MA. Boakye and Akram were performing as a duo and their childhood friend, Davé was a member of experimental metal band Irepress. Masser & Araujo were playing in a jam band, covering Phish & the Grateful Dead songs. At the time Davé, Akram & Boakye started writing music for a new band. In need of more musicians to complete their band, a friend introduced Masser and Araujo to Davé at the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

dormitory on Northeastern's campus. The group performed their first show as

on January 16, 2003, a
All Asia
in Cambridge. There were various lineup changes which primarily included Akram, Boakye, Davé, Araujo, Masser, RP Thompson (keys), Geoff “DJ Special Blend” Ford, as well as singer Noni Kai on vocals, trumpet player and rapper Peter “Afrodzak” Shungu, and saxophonist Robert Oswald. After two independent album releases and a tour in the Fall of 2007 with artist

Gavin Castleton Gavin Castleton is a musician/songwriter/producer from Providence, Rhode Island. Originally known for his work with Gruvis Malt as keyboardist and singer, Castleton has released nine full-length albums and seven EPs as a solo artist. He has als ...

, the group decided to call it quits. Not happy with the direction

had taken, founder & drummer, Sheel Davé led the change of its name and overall direction. Davé took the name, Bad Rabbits from one of

’s songs, which the group performed while on tour with him.

Career

In the fall of 2008, the band self-released a four-song demo titled ''The Bad EP''. The EP contains the song “The Bad”, which became the song now known as “She’s Bad”. In spring 2009, the band entered the studio with producer Jayson Michael Dezuzio to record their debut EP, ''Stick Up Kids''. The album was completed in fall 2009 and released independently that December. The band also entered into a relationship with Boston-based online retaile
Karmaloop.com
who distributed and promoted the album through their website. A remix compilation of the ''Stick Up Kids'' EP was released in the fall; it included remixes from

Clinton Sparks Clinton Charls Sparks (born September 18, 1975) is an American Disc jockey, DJ, record producer, songwriter and singer from Boston, Massachusetts. He initially started his career as a rapper, dancer, producer, and DJ who gained notoriety by maki ...

Crookers Crookers is the musical project of Italian DJ and producer Francesco "Phra" Barbaglia. Crookers was originally a duo consisting of Phra and fellow producer Bot, who worked together from 2003 to 2012. When the two artists met, both were trying to ...

, Roxy Cottontail, Hot Pink Delorean, and Alex Suarez. Tracks on this release include "Booties", "Neverland", "Stick Up Kids", "Girl I'm Like Damn!" (featuring

Travie McCoy Travis Lazarus "Travie" McCoy (born August 5, 1981) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is the co-founder and former lead vocalist of the rap rock band Gym Class Heroes, in addition to having a solo career. McCoy became involved w ...

Gym Class Heroes Gym Class Heroes was an American rap rock band from Geneva, New York. The group formed in 1997 when Travie McCoy met drummer Matt McGinley during their high school gym class. The band's music displays a wide variety of influences, including hip h ...

), "She's Bad", "Advantage Me" and "Can't Back Down". On May 14, 2013, the album ''American Love'' was released. It reached #1 on the iTunes R&B album chart and #35 iTunes album chart. The album also reached #10 on the ''Billboard'' Heatseeker Chart, #12 ''Billboard'' R&B Albums and #29 on the ''Billboard'' Hip-Hop/R&B Album Chart. The first single from ''American Love'', "We Can Roll", is a one-sided 7" vinyl single, with the iconic "BR" logo hand-printed onto the blank B-side. Each copy came housed in a jacket that was hand screen printed with a 3D spot glitter and each record was individually numbered. The band released three more albums; an acoustic album titled ''Dusted'' (July 9, 2014) and the albums ''American Nightmare'' (November 21, 2016) and ''Mimi'' (August 9, 2018). In 2017 & 2018 the band parted ways with Araujo & Masser In 2020, the band celebrated the 10 year anniversary of ''Stick Up Kids'' with sold out shows in Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In 2020, the founding and remaining members, Boakye, Akram & Davé formed their new record label, Coco Bvtter records and plan to release the next Bad Rabbits record in 2023.

Members

* Fredua Boakye –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Sheel Davé –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Salim Akram –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Discography

Albums

*''American Love'' (2013, Bad Records) *''Dusted'' (2014) *''American Nightmare'' (2016, self-released) *''Mimi'' (2018)

Remix albums

*''Stick Up Kids Remix'' (2011, self-released)

EPs

*''The Bad'' (2008, self-released) *''Stick Up Kids'' (2009, self-released) *''Cover Sessions'' (2011, self-released) *''Dusted'' (2014)

Singles

*"Can't Fool Me" from ''American Love'' (2013) *"We Can Roll" from ''American Love'' (2013) *"Fall in Love" from ''American Love'' (2013) *"Doin' It" from ''American Love'' (2013) *"Dance with You" (ft.

Teddy Riley Edward Theodore Riley (born October 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer credited with the creation of the New Jack Swing genre. Riley credits Barry Michael Cooper with giving the genre its name.Hogan, Paul. " Tedd ...

) (2013) (an extended version of the song is used in the music video) *"Better Days" (2014) *"Feels Good" (2018)

Other songs

*"Stick Up Kids" (demo) (2008) *"Advantage Me" (ft. Brandon Wronski) from ''PacSun Summer Music Mix 2010'' (2010) *"Kassius Ohno Theme" (ft.

Florida Championship Wrestling Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling promotion based on the former National Wrestling Alliance member promotion, Championship Wrestling from Florida, which operated from 1961 until 1987. From October 2007 to August ...

Audio Team & Jim Johnston) (2010, unreleased) *"Booties" (Big Chocolate Remix) (2011) *"Can't Back Down" (Blunt Sinatras Remix) from ''Turnt, Volume 1'' (2011) *"Way with Words" from Bad Rabbits

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

(2015) *"How High" from Bad Rabbits SoundCloud (2015) *"Mysterious" from Bad Rabbits SoundCloud (2017)

Collaborations

*"Gangsta Party" (ft.

Ninjasonik Ninjasonik are a Brooklyn-based rap duo composed of frontman Telli and DJ-turned-vocalist Jah-Jah. Biography Ninjasonik started in late 2006-early 2007 when fellow DJ's Jah Jah Brown and Kevin Ross began writing and recording songs in Bush ...

) from Cody B. Ware's ''Welcome Home'' (2011) *"Sailboats" from

Chuck Inglish Evan Ingersoll (born October 7, 1984), better known by his stage name Chuck Inglish, is an American rapper, producer and songwriter most known for being part of the hip hop duo The Cool Kids with Sir Michael Rocks. His debut album ''Convertibles ...

's ''WRKOUT'' (2011) *"Made", as Bad Rabbits x

Vince Staples Vincent Jamal Staples (born July 2, 1993) is an American rapper and singer. Staples was once a close associate of Odd Future, Mike G and Earl Sweatshirt in particular. He is currently signed to Motown and Blacksmith Records. Staples rose to pr ...

, from

Converse Converse may refer to: Mathematics and logic * Converse (logic), the result of reversing the two parts of a definite or implicational statement ** Converse implication, the converse of a material implication ** Converse nonimplication, a logical c ...

's ''Cons, Vol. 2 - EP'' (2011)

Awards

;Boston Music Awards *2010 - R&B/Pop Artist of the Year - WON *2013 - R&B/Pop Artist of the Year - WON *2013 - Artist of the Year - WON *2014 - R&B/Pop Artist of the Year - WON *2014 - Live Artist of the Year - WON ;Phoenix Music Poll Awards *2010 - Most Downloaded Band - WON

TV appearances

*''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

'' **Performed “Can’t Fool Me”, “Fall in Love” and “We Can Roll” on May 18, 2013. *''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, ...

'' **Performed “Can’t Fool Me” on May 31, 2013. *''

The Arsenio Hall Show ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall. There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989, ...

'' **Performed “Dance with You” and “We Can Roll” on Sept 24, 2013. * Polartec Big Air at Fenway **Performed on February 11, 2016.

Tours

;2010 *Support for Foxy Shazam and Young Veins *Support for Mike Posner and Far East Movement ;2011 *Vans Warped Tour *Support for Taking Back Sunday and The Maine ;2013 *Karmaloop Verge Campus Tour supporting Kendrick Lamar and Steve Aoki *American Love Headline Tour *UK Tour supporting Don Broco ;2014 *Vans Warped Tour *UK Headline Tour *Support for Allen Stone

References

External links

Official websiteFacebookTwitterYouTube
{{Authority control American pop music groups Musical groups established in 2007 Musical groups from Boston