Chase that bunny

“This has been in the making since last August, but we couldn’t say anything until all of the higher-ups approved,” says singer/bassist Danny Tatulli of Danny & the Tramp, whose song “Chase That Bunny” was heard on the March 26 episode of MTV’s Real World: Ex-Plosion. “They bring all of the cast members’ exes and put them into a house to see if any drama will ensue...one of the girls tries out to be a go-go dancer, and that’s when they want to hit our music.”

Tatulli describes the tune as “a very in-your-face, high-energy song, with a little dirty blues thrown into it,” and says he thinks the lyrics helped effect the sale. “I know the MTV producer mentioned the specific line of ‘make that money’ in the chorus. This relates a whole lot to the scene of the cast member going out and getting a job.”

Groundwork for the placement began eight months ago. “We don’t have an agent or a record label representing us...a friend of a friend mentioned that her friend works for the production company of MTV, and she’d be willing to drop off the album to her. She doesn’t work in the music production portion of the company but might be able to pass it along to the decision-makers.” She did, and the deal was sealed in January.

“As for the money, we didn’t really expect too much going into it because of experiences other musicians have had with licensing... I just watched a musician on the Tonight Show, and he mentioned his song was featured on the Emmys and he received $23.”

Based in P.B., the four-year-old band was cofounded by Tatulli and guitarist John Langan at Penn State University, before the duo moved to San Diego and added Branden Josefosky (drums) and Ezekiel Parnow (piano, guitar) to the mix.

A promo clip for “Chase That Bunny” is in production, unrelated to the reality show...or to reality. “The video tells a story of the protagonist driving his car through the desert. He passes by some pretty weird sights and visions and stumbles upon this underground party filled with people who may or may not be on some type of hallucinogenic substances.”

Footage was filmed at a recent Aero Club gig. “We asked [attendees] to just gather some of their most random clothes and get weird with us. I’d say it was a success!”