Won’t Say Rabbit: The band that came into my life at the perfect moment

The first time I met with my therapist, I quoted lyrics from Earthgang’s “Strong Friends”, one of my favorite songs from 2022, and what I was considering my therapy song at the time. My father, the first music-obsessed person I knew, had recently passed away, and I was overwhelmed from the self-imposed stress of having to be the strong son, strong husband, strong father, strong brother, the strong manager at work, the strong friend to my inner circle of loved ones. You get the picture. That particular song was a type of therapy to me, I explained to my therapist. (Shout out Earthgang!) They’re a musician on the side when not seeing clients, so they understood where I was coming from.

When I was laid off from my job in the tech industry a few months ago, I naturally started spending more time on social media, and eventually reached out to my friend, DJ Al Pal, and asked if he would be down to start the Promo Use Only account with me. We agreed we were both ready to document our music discovery journey together since we were already in the habit of texting each other music recommendations. After setting up our Instagram and TikTok accounts, we noticed something amazing happening on Threads. Independent artists of all genres were participating in a viral trend asking the “Algorithm” to connect them with other people who were singers, rappers, drummers, producers, etc. I tried my shot at a similar post, and got no interactions. Crickets. A day or two later, I tried it again, which would eventually lead me down the path where Beth from the New Jersey garage pop-punk band, Won’t Say Rabbit, would kindly become a part of the Promo Use Only music discovery journey.

The second time I tried the post, I ended up engaging with several indie artists who graciously shared their music with me and DJ Al Pal. We started building a Spotify playlist, “Algo”, happily adding anything and everything we heard. And then I heard a catchy little number that immediately implanted itself in my brain: “Getcha” by Won’t Say Rabbit. This song was so good and fun and exciting, I immediately thought it was the type of hit that should be all over pop radio stations. Then I heard the second song on Won’t Say Rabbit’s most popular songs list on Spotify, “Let’s Do Beers”, a song about, well, doing beers, and I knew this band was my vibe. But it was the fifth song I heard, “Thirty Years”, inspired by the true life layoffs the dad’s of each member of the band had experienced, that was my new therapy song.

“Thirty years don’t mean a thing to me

I’ll find a younger man to work for cheap

What happens to you now, I won’t see

You’re a mere calculation in my profit strategy”

That’s a helluva of thing to hear after you’ve just been laid off. Damn. Seriously, damn!

Introduce yourself, please:

Hi, I’m Beth, the singer from Won’t Say Rabbit. Thank you, Teenage Sound Machine from Promo Use Only for interviewing me!

What’s your favorite beer to do when you and the band do beers?

The Holy Trinity of N.J. dive bar beer: Heineken, Miller, Bud

How would you describe your music to somebody who has never listened to you before? How did you come up with your band name?

We call our music style Garage Pop-punk. Other people have called our music, “Loud” and “Apocalyptic surf punk” The band name was inspired by our guitarist, Brian. He drew a rabbit head logo for us and named the rabbit, “W.S.” What do the initials W.S. stand for? We won’t say…

I’m in my 40’s and got laid off from my tech job four months ago. It’s been a real struggle to find a new job because my field is extremely competitive. Your song “Thirty Years” resonated with me more than anything I’ve heard in a long time. What inspired those lyrics?

I am so sorry to hear about your recent layoff. I hope that you find a great job very very soon! Our song “Thirty Years” seems to connect with many people who are going through your same situation. The lyrics were inspired by the Dad’s of everyone in the band who lost their job in each recession. Those times are very difficult indeed. All our fathers navigated the challenges of getting older and looking for work in competitive fields.

In “Getcha”, you say:

“I’m gonna find you wherever you hide

You can’t get away from me

I’m gonna getcha wherever you run”

What movie or book villain would you be willing to let use your song as a theme song?

Let me answer you this way, one of the first people who complimented our music after we put it online was a British mystery author named S.J. Talbot. He wrote this really cool noir-ish novel called “Last Verse” that takes place in the gritty world of rock and roll. If anyone makes a movie or T.V. series from his work, we want to be the soundtrack!

What’s the coolest song you’ve “discovered” on Threads or any other social media lately? Share their social handles if you know them, and we’ll promote them.

I absolutely love “Stage of Graves” by the man of many names, Quizboy (Never Say Never) / Audio Mirage Studios. Not only is he a talented musician, songwriter and singer, he runs AMSradio.com which is all about promoting indie music. Threads handles: @audiomiragestudios and @never_say_never_quizboy

What are some of your favorite albums that came out in 2023?

“Fiddling in the Undertow” by Unlucky Mammals, “The Stars That Shine” by The Star Crumbles, “0! Fantastik Melancholy” by Bottlecap Mountain, “Short Music For Even Shorter Attention Spans” by Various Artists, which is a compilation of 30 second songs put together by a Philadelphia band, BEES! Halloween With Scoopski, by Scoopski and lastly, Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Love Songs by Stonedog.

I’m guessing you’re a big fan of the book “1984” because of your song “George Orwell”. What other books do you absolutely love?

Books I love: “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, “The Demon-Haunted World” by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis, “On Tyranny” by Timothy D. Snyder and “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank