(Interview was originally published in the now defunct magazine Full Effect in 2007.)

Russell Brooks’ has been around music for many years before he created 00 the Rabbit (pronounced double zero,) Brooks’ personal project and musical nom de plume.  “Everybody in my family either sings gospel, or [plays bluegrass] except my dad.  My grandma can even play guitar.  She’ll play the s–t out of the guitar, it’s awesome.”

Yet he’s been on a unique musical path, rather different from his early days of guitar.  “When I [started playing music] I’d been like 10, 11, or 12 [years old].  [My family] taught me how to play bluegrass music, like country-type stuff, not the picking.  Very first song I ever learned was ‘Country Roads’ by Bob Denver.”

Far from his family’s bluegrass and gospel roots, Brooks lists 00 the Rabbit as Alternative/Experimental/Other on his MySpace page.  “When you say alternative, I think 90’s music, like Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, that’s what I call alternative.   But if you mean like an alternative to what’s on the radio, then I’m definitely alternative. I’m not f–king making the Backstreet Boys, but I’m not making Fall Out Boy either.”

Having played since his youth, Brooks’ been through several bands.  “I had a band in high school; we were Mariah’s Injection.  Hardcore, but not really.  We sucked.  And then we had another band, it was called Ritalin. We sucked too. We played Tool covers and I did my best to sound like the guy from Creed.  As horrible as it is, I’ll be honest that was exactly what I was doing.”

Brooks is critical of his past endeavors, but he views much of modern music with a similar eye.  “There’s certain stuff that I absolutely hate.  It’s not even bands.  [For instance] I hate new country music.  So stupid.   I hated the Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, I’m sure you’ve heard that.” he says.  “The thing is me or you could’ve wrote Honky-tonk Badonkadonk high and laughed about it all day because that’s the dumbest f–king thing I’ve ever heard, but you put something catchy that ain’t too hard to listen to, [and] you don’t gotta put any thought into it, [and you get] a million dollars.  It’s crazy.”

Of course, Brooks has some music he likes as well.  “I like music like Motown music, not like cheesy [Motown] but Curtis Mayfield when he was on drugs Motown.” Brooks says.  “I like Tom Waits. The man’s a f–king genius,” Brooks says emphatically.  “I [also] like Radiohead until I get tired of listening to it, then I completely f–king hate them and then I really really like them again.  Right now I hate them, but they’ve got a new cd coming out so I’ll like them again.”

The Flaming Lips seem to lean particularly close to his style, as well as tastes.  “I really like the Flaming Lips.  They kind of do [songs that are] catchy, but it’s crazy sounding too.  Something everybody can listen to, but you definitely know it’s the Flaming Lips.” 

In terms of a goal for his song process, Brooks had this to say.  “My goal would be to make [a song so] you could play it on the radio, but it’s the most f–ked-up thing you ever heard.  [If] that should’ve been a guitar, then I want it to be a f–king violin, and if that should’ve been somebody singing I want some guitar, because anybody can write f–king s–tty pop songs, and anybody can make something catchy.”

Recently, 00 the Rabbit produced a new song titled Get Together/Be Afraid, a fun yet political sounding song, that evolved out of a particularly unique recording session for Brooks.  “[I] went to the Bowling Green Chop House, here in Bowling Green to make a CD, and I didn’t write any songs [before hand]”, Brooks says laughing.  “It was really f–king cheap like 20 bucks a song.  I was like we could take all day with 20 bucks a song, so why the f–k not?  [So] I just called everybody I knew.” Brooks says  “It was fun, but Get Together/Be Afraid [was] the only song that actually came out of it that I actually enjoy somewhat.”

This is not altogether unusual, as Brooks is particularly hard on himself and the songs he makes.  “I have 800 songs, literally finished on a CD, and that’s not an exaggeration.   It’s not that some of them are a minute long; I have 800 f–king songs that I made.  I didn’t make them last week or nothing.  I’ve had them since I’ve started making music using my computer but it’s just the fact that I don’t like them.”

What made Brooks’ critical thoughts about himself more apparent, were not just his comments on the songs, but even his thoughts on the interview itself, and additionally the reasons why his prefers to record under 00 the Rabbit instead of his own name.  “That’s the thing, like stuff like this [interview], it almost to me seems bad.  And I really like it.  I like being interviewed. I like being in a magazine, or online reviews, on the internet, and on tv and stuff, but I’ve got 16$ in my wallet now?  That’s the same thing…” Brooks pauses. “Like, I wouldn’t want to call it Russell Brooks because to me it’s almost like…” Being presumptuous, I offer? “I hate to be that way,” Brooks immediately replies.  

While Brooks may see himself as small-time, he’s certainly begun to grow, as he’s working on not just 00 the Rabbit, but even a couple of other projects as well.  Specifically, he is also a part of the Sad Bastard Brothers, a rock group based out of Louisville, and now he is currently running his own home studio, under the name Black Rider Studio.  “When I think produce I think Dr. Dre making rap music, and rap people don’t really have musicians; they’ve got to mix a beat.  I thought that’s all it was.” But, as Brooks discovered, he just has to “come in and tell them what to do.  [I’ll say to artists] ‘if you want it to be on the radio, or get people to like it you better just leave [your song] alone.’ They’re like ‘awww… it just sounds too normal.’  So it’s the greatest f–king thing.  People will come in with a perfectly fine song and basically just pay me to f–k it up.”

Brooks may be talented on his own, but 00 the Rabbit, and most of Brooks’ projects, rely on collaboration as much as Brooks own ingenuity.  “I’m very, very, very lucky that I have people that will come and help me whenever I ask them to.  I think I have the best musicians out of anybody period, like around [Bowling Green] especially.  They’re just really nice about coming to help.  If you can play music at all, you don’t have to like my music, but you can at least realize that the people who do help me really know their s–t.  I’m not even talking about me, I’m just talking about the people who help me do stuff, and that’s what’s great about it.  They’re really good at what they do.”