Music

Go Ask Alice

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Still, whatever the combination of old and new styles the band employs, it seems to be catching on. Later this month White Rabbits will open for the Kaiser Chiefs, the British quintet that mines a similar strip of classic pop with big hooks and unstoppable choruses. Then there was the little matter of the band's first national television appearance, which took place earlier this summer on Late Night with David Letterman. For a new band with a just-released album on a tiny indie label (Say Hey Records), the appearance was nothing short of a coup. A month after the taping, Roberts still sounds like he doesn't fully believe that it happened.

"We were told a couple months before we were on it — of course we called our families and friends and let them know," he says. "And then we didn't hear anything for a few weeks, so it was a little nerve-wracking." Sure enough, the band performed in late July, playing the lead single "The Plot" while bedecked in khaki and tweed.

The band's show at Off Broadway will be one of its first in St. Louis, and while it would be a stretch to call the show a homecoming, Roberts looks forward to the show as a brief respite from a series of tours, both at home and abroad. "We're looking forward to coming back through. Hopefully the families and high school friends will drop in and say hey."

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