by Zebuel Early

Warning: Three transcendentalists armed with wooden instruments, Afro-sheen songs, and an affinity for Gypsy jazz have hopped into town. They are a force to be reckoned with and they are known as a.k.a. laser bunny. Check them out this Thursday evening, June 9, at The Princess Wine Bar where they will play throughout the summer on different days. Show time is 8:30 p.m.

a.k.a. laser bunny is a progressive acoustic Crested Butte-based trio. They play modern songs with old-time instruments, following in the footsteps of artists like Phillips Grier and Flinner, or David Grisman with a bit of a twist.

The band is made up of Alex “Milk Bone” Johnstone on mandolin and violin, Aaron “Ernie” McCloskey on guitar, and Peter “Señor Coffee” Vanags on bass. Alex plays with The Spring Creek Bluegrass Band and Aaron is the guitarist for the group Seventh Street. In this ensemble, their sound is somewhere between Ricky Skaggs and Rick James, only they follow a traditional jazz format—kind of.

“Like in jazz, we start out and end with a head that’s recognizable and everything in the middle is improvised,” says Peter Vanags. “We do play some old-time bluegrass and Irish music, but it starts out not so traditional and gets more untraditional as we go.”

a.k.a laser bunny prides themselves in venturing into unfound territory. They attempt to channel that seventies, groovy laser beam vibe on acoustic instruments. They even have a song called Soul Glow, based on a funk-era hair product. Plus, their music is 95 percent improvised and that’s the way bunny likes it—because it’s always fresh.

“We constantly surprise our audiences—and each other—with the ‘voodoo moments’ that happen in our music,” says Vanags. We never play anything the same way twice.”

And they’ve never been known as the same band twice, either—hence the a.k.a. in their name. They met in the fall of 2004 and immediately hit it off. The chemistry was there from the start, but a band name remained elusive. So at their weekly Princess gig the guys always called themselves something different. The names ranged from “Alex’s Fruity Cocktail” to “Señor Coffee and the Percolators”, but it was laser bunny that stuck. Now they tag a.k.a. laser bunny onto their weekly creations and it fits.

Like a rascally rabbit they are high energy and hop around everywhere at their shows. They can switch from funk to folk to Latin to a slow swing piece quicker than a cat on coffee. And they will be disbanding just as fast.

Two thirds of the band is leaving this September for a couple of years of advanced musical study in the dusty flatlands of West Texas. That will mean the end of the bunny for the time being, so enjoy them all you can this summer before Alex and Aaron hit the highway and head to Lubbock.

Don’t miss your chance to see a.k.a. laser bunny tonight at The Princess Wine Bar. You will find them there throughout the summer. For more information or to listen to some free mp3’s, go to laserbunnymusic.com.

Crested Butte News