SOUTHAMPTON is fast becoming a conveyor belt producing exciting, talented bands – and five-piece Dead Rabbits are no exception.

The fuzz-fuelled act, who take their name from a New York City street gang in the 1850s, have two albums and major European tours under their belts already and are fast becoming one of the city’s standout bands.

Saturday sees the rabbits take to the Joiners stage once again for a headline show along with local support from Maths & The Moon, SwordZZZ and Manchester’s Purple Heart Parade.

Vocalist and guitarist Tom Hayes and fellow guitarist Neil Atkinson Jr formed Dead Rabbits in 2010, and were followed by bassist Colin Fox, Suzanne Sims on drums, and Paul Seymour on the keys.

They are now signed to London-via-Norway-based independent label Fuzz Club Records and have their sights set on recording more demos and music in the future. Tom explains: “Essent-ially we are a guitar-based band. We aren’t trying to recreate anything, we just get together and play.

“It’s hard to pinpoint any one or two influences – there’s much more to music than just one or two records.”

Suzanne added: “We get compared to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Spiritualized, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Spacemen 3, etc. We’re invited to play various psychedelic/alternative rock events so I suppose we could be described as that. It’s hard to pigeonhole our sound though.”

Dead Rabbits have performed in places such as Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Zaragoza, and Zurich, and played major UK cities like London, Bristol and Manchester.

Tom added: “Our last tour was insane. Making it through that has to be one of our greatest achievements.

“Through the use of duct tape, zip ties and a puncture repair kit we managed to just about hold our sorry little van together all the way around Europe. Until eventually after a 20-hour drive from Vienna to Paris, we abandoned ship which left us stuck in Paris for three days. If it wasn’t so many great gigs on that tour I think I would’ve been completely broken.

“We broke down in the picturesque Pyrenees (between France and Spain) and then finally stranded in Paris. Bittersweet moments!” said Paul.

So what do Dead Rabbits think of the Southampton music scene?

Paul added: “The ‘scene’ in Southampton is pretty diverse. There isn’t a certain genre that is big but that’ll be down to the size of the city more than anything. We like Maths & The Moon and SwordZZZ. Apart from those guys, we’re fans of Melt Dunes, Fever, Burning House, Spectral Park, Sleeping Tigers, Is Bliss (from Southsea).

“You can hear a lot of cool stuff by dropping in to Joiners or Lennon’s for Psychedelia. Southampton has always produced decent bands in my experience.”

And with a slot at the Common People festival in May, what can we expect from Dead Rabbits in the future? “We hope people can come and keep supporting the local scene,” said Paul.

“The Joiners is an amazing local venue and people need to keep going in support of them or we’ll lose it.

“Many venues around the country are closing their doors for good, and I think I speak for a lot of people in saying that we’d miss The Joiners.

“We just want to carry on releasing music and playing to as many different people as possible.”