Perfectly attired for a muggy June evening in underpants and bunny ears, Nobunny and band brought some necessary frivolity to a city encumbered by summer sweat, earthquakes and a massive influx of riot-attired G20 cops. Playing their trademark frenzied bubble punk, Nobunny brought out a small but enthusiastic crowd craving some quality bunny rock like hormonal woodland creatures at a high school dance.
A vehicle for Oakland, CA's Justin Champlin, Nobunny are far from the one-trick bunny their getups would suggest. Champlin's been tooling around in spazzy garage bands such as the Okmoniks and the Sneaky Pinks for the better part of a decade, but he's clearly - and cleverly - saved all his catchiest songs for Nobunny. And while the sincerity of Champlin's heartfelt, sometimes sentimental tales of goofy puppy love might be a little hard to pull off convincingly wearing T-shirts and jeans, as a barefoot man-bunny it makes perfect sense.
Nobunny played most of the songs from his/their 2008 cult hit debut Love Visions, and had little trouble getting the crowd to sing and bop along, even when the band's gear crapped out on them. Fun is paramount at a Nobunny show, and Champlin played up the inherently goofy showbiz aspect, asking for requests after one song and then ribbing the crowd over their cacophony, claiming, "I don't speak Canadian." Despite the language barrier, Champlin and co. had the crowd in the palm of their paws.
A vehicle for Oakland, CA's Justin Champlin, Nobunny are far from the one-trick bunny their getups would suggest. Champlin's been tooling around in spazzy garage bands such as the Okmoniks and the Sneaky Pinks for the better part of a decade, but he's clearly - and cleverly - saved all his catchiest songs for Nobunny. And while the sincerity of Champlin's heartfelt, sometimes sentimental tales of goofy puppy love might be a little hard to pull off convincingly wearing T-shirts and jeans, as a barefoot man-bunny it makes perfect sense.
Nobunny played most of the songs from his/their 2008 cult hit debut Love Visions, and had little trouble getting the crowd to sing and bop along, even when the band's gear crapped out on them. Fun is paramount at a Nobunny show, and Champlin played up the inherently goofy showbiz aspect, asking for requests after one song and then ribbing the crowd over their cacophony, claiming, "I don't speak Canadian." Despite the language barrier, Champlin and co. had the crowd in the palm of their paws.
