Las Vegas Weekly

[DJ Interview]

Confucius say …

An interview with Rabbit in the Moon’s David Christophere

David Christophere, left, during a Rabbit in the Moon show.

“A lot of people say you have to be there to feel it,” says David Christophere, aka T. Confucius of Rabbit in the Moon. “Sometimes things like that are hard to describe with words.” For the thousands who have experienced the electronic group’s live show since the early ’90s, RITM is something to see and not attempt to explain … but we’ll try.

Perfecto at Rain is already heavy on the performance aspect, already possessing elements that will complement a Rabbit in the Moon show. How do you plan on taking the night to an even higher level on July 25, and will you do the full live show or a DJ set?

Rabbit in the Moon live.

It’s a full live show. We were involved in the visual stuff for the Perfecto show, actually. [RITM frontman] Bunny was involved in hiring some of the girls for the video footage. There are a couple of video intros before Paul’s [Oakenfold] set when he spins … As far as our performance goes, it’s always different. It depends on the venue, what works and what we’ll be able to pull off visually. Bunny would always describe it as a play or an opera; there would be different scenes and there were different costumes and different moods, so that’s kind of how our show tells a story.

David Christophere

How did the technology in the live show evolve, such as the video suit, and who do you work with on all the costumes?

The video suit was an idea that came from Bunny, where he made a suit with all these Christmas lights attached to it. Everybody likes a Lite Brite, and everybody likes Christmas lights, so when you’re in a dark club and all of a sudden this guy walks out and lights up, you’re like, “Whoa. That’s cool!” The video suit was the idea of “Let’s take this technology somewhere it’s never been.” We got a hold of the company that makes video screens, and they sponsored us to make this suit. We’re able to run video, not only from what we’re playing on the screens, but also separately to the suit.

While the majority of the crowd is watching Bunny and the rest of the cast in the forefront, what are you up to?

I’m in control of the musical elements: I play drums live, I do vocal stuff, effects for Bunny and run Ableton and various samplers. When we perform, it’s never exactly the same way twice. We’re always kind of experimenting and jamming live a bit.

Even though RITM had been around for more than 10 years, it took a long time for your first artist album to be released. Will we have to wait another decade for the next album, and will there be a DVD again?

We’re already working on our second record. That’ll be out sometime next year. … The next record for us is going to be more about music, and it’s going to be a double record that’s just CDs, there won’t be a DVD. We’re going to focus on the next record on just being musically great. … As far as the next step for us right now, we are going to be releasing a few new singles as well as some back catalogue on Beatport … before the end of the summer.

Rabbit in the Moon

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What do you think creates such a strong connection and communal vibe between the audience and Rabbit in the Moon?

I think the great thing about dance music is—at least for us—we look at it as the universal language. It is the thing that binds everybody together. So beyond race and beyond language, everybody can feel a dance beat. I noticed seeing, say, a little kid that’s two years old that couldn’t talk, but if they hear music? They dance. Nobody’s telling them to dance. They just do. So you realize that your body reacts to rhythm and to things like that. … To us, it’s more of a spiritual thing. Everybody wants to feel something and they want to feel connected to something and what the show does—and having Bunny as a frontman—it connects the people to the music.