Rabbitt Reloaded holds its fire

The excitement was mounting for the planned reunion tour of Rabbitt – South Africa’s equivalent of The Beatles in the 1970s – 45 years after they disbanded. The band was ready, the dates and venues finalised, tickets were flying out the door, all they had to do was don their outfits and perform. Then, on Monday, 29 May, they had to postpone the tour indefinitely because a key band member couldn’t perform.

Ronnie Friedman (who is best known as Ronnie Robot in Rabbitt) developed carpal tunnel syndrome and needed to take time to heal before he could play his bass guitar again.

The band members – and fans alike – are deeply disappointed because the tour was going to reignite so many wonderful memories and create new ones.

The members of Rabbitt were four young, good-looking, partly Jewish, and extremely talented musicians. They inspired in teenage girls and young women adulation that was characterised by hysteria and screaming during their concerts, and they were mobbed wherever they went in South Africa. Young girls used to sit outside the band members’ homes and their studio, waiting for a glimpse of their heroes.

This had never been experienced in South Africa before or since.

After almost six intense and phenomenal years of fame and adulation from 1972 to 1978, the band members went their own way, mostly continuing to pursue musical careers. Trevor Rabin joined Yes, an international rock band, and went on to compose the music for more than 40 films and to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Neil Cloud went on to play for Peter Frampton before becoming a businessman, and Duncan Faure joined the Bay City Rollers and stayed in the international music industry. Ronnie Friedman became a music producer, creating Majors for Minors (classical music CDs for babies and children).

Now, 45 years later, these not-so-young men – or three of them at least – were convinced to regroup to tour South Africa this month as Rabbitt Reloaded.

Friedman, who lives on the Isle of Wight, got a call from a Cliff Marais, who runs an events management company in London, asking if he would be interested in the reunion of Rabbitt.

“My response to him was, I don’t want to be disrespectful, but I get these kinds of calls every year, so the answer is ‘No!’. Marais insisted that there would be demand, and presented me with facts and stats to prove it, then gave me a few days to think about it, and managed to persuade me. Unbeknown to me, he was already talking to Duncan in the United States,” said Friedman.

Then they got hold of Cloud in Johannesburg, whose initial response was, “Are you mad?”

But Marais got them enthusiastic about the idea at the beginning of 2022, and the next thing, they were making plans to make it happen.

In September 2022, Friedman (who plays bass guitar) flew to South Africa and convinced Cloud to begin rehearsing with him twice a week at a music studio in Fourways. “We got quite proficient, and it really got me – and us – back into the swing of things,” said Cloud, who was Rabbitt’s drummer. Faure had gigs in the US, so only joined them in April this year.

Rabin was unable to be part of the tour because his workload was way too heavy, but has given the tour his full support. “He speaks to me regularly, and helped us find the right people to stand in for him on guitar,” Cloud said.

With his help, they brought in Marius Marais, a keyboard player who had played for Mean Mr Mustard, and Mauritz Lotz on rhythm guitar.

On Friday, when the SA Jewish Report met the Rabbitt trio, Cloud said, “We are now so excited about doing this, and we gel together in our music just like we used to – it’s incredible!”

They were scheduled to play their first concert at the Voortrekker Monument on 17 June, at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens on 24 June, and one show in Cape Town and another in Durban. “We were ready to go, and were so looking forward to it,” said Cloud.

They had already done some pre-publicity, with radio interviews on Cape Talk, Bok Radio, LM Radio, Mix 93.8, and others. “It was awesome. We experienced that old energy and magic again, and fans interacting. It’s truly invigorating!” said Cloud.

As the concerts drew nearer, the trio were getting more and more excited. “We would go to sleep exhausted and excited, and wake up invigorated and terrified at what we had committed to,” said Friedman.

They all had a laugh in retelling an experience they had recently as they were getting into their muso vibe and someone came up to the group, who were all wearing peak caps, and asked, “Where are you playing?” Cloud, thinking they were asking about the concerts, told him. The guy was confused as he was referring to where they were going to play golf.

Faure joked about a similar experience in the US, when he went to a show with The Jacksons and saw a group of teenyboppers heading in their direction as they used to in South Africa, only they went right past him to his famous buddies.

But they had got used to that 1970s fame.

“It was surreal,” said Friedman. “We were four young guys who broke through into this literal stardom, creating something that had never happened before in South Africa.”

Said Cloud, “At first, it was bizarre that we couldn’t walk anywhere without being noticed and surrounded. It then started feeling like our lives. We had this chemistry that just worked, and we created something unique.”

But then Rabin left to join Yes, and the other three stayed together temporarily. “We were at a point of exhaustion after years of going non-stop,” said Friedman. “When we broke up, to be honest, I was quite relieved. I needed a break before we got back together again. I was so sure we would, but it just didn’t happen.”

They got on with their lives, careers, and families. Today, both Cloud and Friedman are now adoring grandparents, but those days of Rabbitt were some of the best in their lives.

Friedman was responsible for gathering the members to launch Rabbitt back in 1972.

He, Cloud, and Rabin had played together as teens in a band called Conglomeration. “I was 18 and playing with bands in restaurants,” said Friedman. “I went to the orchestra pits at His Majesty’s [a theatre in the Johannesburg city centre] and took Trevor out of there. I collected Neil from the Coimbra, where he was playing, and I took them to a dive called the Take It Easy, and said we were going to play there together. Patric van Blerk [who became their producer] told me about the right guy for our fourth member, who lived in Pretoria. That was how Rabbitt was formed.”

Said Cloud this week, “This isn’t over, it’s a temporary postponement. Rabbitt Reloaded just needs a little more time to reload. We’ll be back!”