Amiri and Rahiem Taylor, the twin brothers behind psychedelic rock band Blac Rabbit, joined host Kenneth Womack to talk about going from busking Beatles songs in the subways to backing Lenny Kravitz and much more on the seventh season premiere of “Everything Fab Four,” a podcast co-produced by me and Womack (a music scholar who also writes about pop music for Salon) and distributed by Salon.
“Seize the Day” by Blac Rabbit has served as our podcast’s theme song since its debut episode back in 2020, and the band will be performing at the opening night reception of our inaugural “Everything Fab Four” Fest this November in Asbury Park. The event will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the “Rubber Soul” album, which the brothers called “the moment that [the Beatles] grew up.”
As for literally growing up themselves, Amiri and Rahiem explained to Womack that “music does run in our family quite a bit,” with a professional jazz musician for an uncle and a touring saxophonist for a grandfather. It was their grandmother, though, who was the gateway to The Beatles for them, having bought them “The Beatles: Rock Band” game for their 15th birthday and then an acoustic guitar and bass when they turned 16. The brothers were familiar with the “Beatles 1” album and “Yellow Submarine” animated film as children, when they used to “play” the songs on plastic toy guitars before deciding to do the real thing. The first song they learned together was “And Your Bird Can Sing,” and soon, they could play every single tune in their Beatles chord book.
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The Taylors began performing impromptu shows in New York City subways and became international sensations in 2018 when a video of them playing “Eight Days a Week” went viral. As Rahiem said, “Amiri and I were just projecting our voices over the loud subways coming in and out of the stations,” not knowing at first that they’d become famous. Soon, they were playing shows at the Bowery Ballroom and then overseas in such places as Berlin and Guatemala. They were even tapped to cover The Beatles’ “Michelle” (from “Rubber Soul”) for a Gucci ad featuring Harry Styles.
What really resonates with the music for the two brothers, though, is the “nice balance between [The Beatles] being these crazy wild producers, and then writing these songs with so much heart and humanity. They’re complex but simple at the same time. There’s something pure and childlike about them, too. It just brings you back.”
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“Everything Fab Four” host Kenneth Womack is the author of a two-volume biography on Beatles producer George Martin and the bestselling books “Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles” and “John Lennon, 1980: The Last Days in the Life.” His latest book is the authorized biography of Beatles road manager Mal Evans, “Living the Beatles Legend,” out now.
Tickets for Everything Fab Four Fest are now available to purchase on Eventbrite. For more information, please visit the festival’s website.
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