There’s a different kind of bunny coming to town just in time for Easter.
NOBUNNY, the rabbit-masked punk rock alter ego of Justin Champlin, will perform Wednesday at the Bishop.
The act began performing 15 years ago on Easter. However, Champlin said some audience members aren’t convinced he’s the real thing.
His mask has changed over the years, he said, and some people have even tried to rip it off while he’s performing to expose him as a fraud.
“There’s been a couple masks and perhaps even a couple NOBUNNYs,” he said. “Nobody knows.”
The moment Champlin disappears and NOBUNNY arrives is also shrouded in mystery, he said.
“It’s always really obvious when NOBUNNY’s around,” he said. “Justin, you might not notice.”
Oftentimes, he wears little more than the mask and a jacket when performing, and he said certain people don’t take too kindly to his wild live shows.
“We have had people throw their shit at us in New York,” he said. “Someone threw their feces at us.”
But most of the time, he said NOBUNNY is pretty good at entertaining any crowds as long as they have open minds.
“We can get people of all ages dancing, you know, who don’t necessarily like ‘punk rock,’” he said.
NOBUNNY is trying to create a positive environment for showgoers. He said he wants people to smile and feel good.
Instead of looking at music as a career, he said it’s all about art, entertainment and having fun.
“I’d like to think I’d be doing this even if no one cared,” he said.
Because of this mindset, he said he doesn’t feel pressure to crank out albums and tour all the time. NOBUNNY’s last album was released in 2013, and he’s been working on his next release for years.
“I want something that will drop people’s jaws, and I think I got it,” he said. “I’m getting there.”
Though many people classify his music as punk or garage-rock, he said it’s not that simple.
“Punk is like the word love,” he said. “It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.”
To NOBUNNY, punk is about energy and the freedom to do whatever you want, but he said he doesn’t see distinct lines between punk and other genres.
Rock music is rock music, he said, and all its flavors tend to blend and influence each other.
Still, he said NOBUNNY is unmistakably punk rock at heart.
“A tiger can’t change his stripes,” he said. “I think I just am punk, even if I was playing, you know, cocktail jazz.”
He said it’s easy for people to watch his performances and see a joke, but it’s something he takes very seriously.
He loves punk, he said, but he also knows how to laugh.
“It’s something that I love to make fun of, because I love it so much,” he said. “It’s family.”
