Trap Rabbit, the eclectic alt-jazz duo comprised of keyboardist Logan Roth and drummer Arjun Dube, sat down with us in a crowded Starbucks on Spruce Street following a gig at the Kimmel Center on New Year’s Day. Half of us were hungover. Half of us were not. After meeting in college at Princeton in 2011, Logan and Arjun have played in various bands together for nearly a decade. Their most recent release, August’s Songs About Worms, is an explorative electro-pop project infused with elements of heavy jazz and layered with off-kilter time signatures. If you think you can keep up with these songs, you’re wrong. You won’t find a more talented pair than these two, and you can catch them live at Boot & Saddle on January 17th with Son Step and Grace Vonderkuhn.

Thank you (again) to Logan and Arjun for agreeing to sit down with strangers who wanted to know your most personal secrets. It was worth it.

We eased into the questions with a relatively easy one to gauge where they stand on a Very Important Issue…

Do you believe birds are real?

Logan: “Birds are sometimes real. They’re not real when they’re the government.” [insert a brief interjection asking for proof of which birds are actually trustworthy, followed by a very emphatic answer] “Again. Not. All. Birds. They’re not all real. Let me be very clear. You can’t tell. You can trust very few. What do you think, Arjun, are birds real?”

Arjun: [even more emphatically than Logan] “Oh yeah, birds are real.”

Emily: “How do you two stand each other then? Like what do you do when you meet a bird?”

Logan: “I know, I know. It’s really hard. But - I hit the bird and then Arjun deals with it. He covers it up. Let’s be real, I don’t have the hand-eye coordination to actually be able to do that. “ [I was ready to mark that as a red flag, and he could definitely tell]

Arjun: “The government used to experiment with bats. That’s a real thing.”

Logan: “That’s a real thing!”

Arjun: “They used to strap bombs to them and that’s how they tried to light up Japan during World War II. It didn’t work.”

Emily: “I’ve never met someone who knows that. Ever.”

Bre: “‘Bomb Bats, band name. Noted.” [I’m considering sharing the running list of incredible band names we’ve come up with, but that’s for sure on it]

Since this is a date, we had to ask a specific question so they could try to impress us. It’s pretty apparent that their music taste is quite eclectic, so you can decide whether or not they passed…

Which album do you say is your favorite when you want to sound cool? Which is your actual favorite?

Logan: “I don’t know, my cool album would be - well I don’t know much about the person that’s asking, like is this someone random on the street?”

Emily: “No, you’re on a date.” [noted that he forgot he was on a date]

Arjun: “No I got this. Depending on who I’m talking to - “

Bre: “You are on a DATE.”

Logan: “Come on.” [like he also didn’t forget the framing of the entire interview]

Arjun: “So since you’re interviewing bands, I’ can assume you like music. So now you’re going deeper than the surface. You’re exploring things. So I’m gonna say… you know those “S” artists - like Sylvan Esso and Sia and other artists that sound like that? I think just saying Sylvan Esso always means you’re cool, but you’re also not too weird. Like, if you like Sylvan Esso you’re probably normal, but you’re also cool. And I think Sylvan Esso is kind of boring, but I would say I like it to be impressive.”

Bre: “What if I said I don’t know who that is?” [she does]

Arjun: “Well then that failed. Should I just say ‘Juice Wrld’? Is that a better one? Or ‘Earth Gang’? Or - this is the real one I like. ‘College Dropout’ by Kanye West.”

Emily: “Really? Not ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’? Do you even know how many people submitted that for my Decade Series?” [plug to see if they keep up with Philly Live]

Arjun: “That’s the one I’d say if you wanted me to be cool. But I don’t love that one. ‘College Dropout’ is better.”

Logan: “Okay. The cool one would be ‘Donuts’ by J Dilla, and then the not-cool one would be ‘Talk Tomahawk’ by Hiatus Kaiyote.”

Arjun: “That’s a good one. Okay, don’t use the Sylvan Esso thing. I’ve never tried to impress someone by lying.”

Logan: “Yeah, that’s not really my thing.”

Emily: “Honesty. Green flag.” [I think Bre and I exchanged a super pointed look here. We’re diligent about the Red Flag count]

Logan: “Okay then what counts as like… a yellow flag.”

Bre: “The bird thing. You said you wouldn’t kill it. So we can look past that.”

Arjun: “I’m changing my answer to Bjork.” [completely unprompted, is indecisiveness a yellow flag?]

Emily: “I’d think you were insane if you said that.” [next!]

We threw this heavily debated question at them next to really push at Arjun’s inability to make up his mind. Did you know he’s a sandwich aficionado? We didn’t, and ten minutes of the interview were dedicated to discussing the best and worst sandwiches he’s ever had. Note the use of the word “tubular” later. We certainly did.

Do you believe every food can be classified as either a soup, salad, sandwich, or singular ingredient?

Arjun: “Oh I love this question!” [he really did]

Logan: “Ummmm…” [he really didn’t]

Arjun: “So what’s a Chipotle burrito bowl? Like with rice and meat and beans.”

Bre: “A salad. Easily.”

Arjun: “Even if there’s barely any lettuce?”

Bre: “Lettuce doesn’t equate to salad. Is a hot dog a sandwich?”

Arjun: “Yes. It’s a tubular sandwich. What about like… lobster. Like if I just said had a lobster. Or… or Lobster Thermidor.”

[everyone went incredibly - like awkwardly - silent when he said this]

Logan: “What is that?”

Emily: “Oh my god. That’s - I can’t believe you know this. That’s Snoop Dogg’s favorite food. I only know this because I wrote about this at work.” [if you know what my other job is, then you’ll understand]

Arjun: “See? These girls can watch all the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen videos with me. I’ve seen all of them. I know all of the chefs. But - for the most part I think you’re right. I think most things can be classified as a soup, salad, sandwich, or ingredient.”

Emily: “Logan, do you have any thoughts?”

Arjun: “No, on this? I got this.”

Logan: “He’s got this.” [I couldn’t tell if he seemed a little defeated or not]

Arjun: “I think a ‘chowder’ is defined by the ingredients used. You can’t have a beef chowder, you have a beef stew. It’s just nomenclature. Clam chowder is fine. But you can’t have a clam stew.” [he really did have this one]

For this question, we were really just hoping they also didn’t think most first dates are “borderline robbery,” because it seemed to be going very well. One of them was too eager to answer…

If we robbed you right now, would it be worth it?

Emily: “Would it be worth it?”

Arjun: “I think we carry a lot of cash.”

Logan: “Wait - worth it for them or for us?”

Emily: “Us.” [obviously']

Logan: “Well I’m not going to tell you that, I just met you.”

Emily: “Okay, but we’re on a date right now. We’re building trust.”

Logan: “I should ask you the same question. Would it be worth it for us if we robbed you?”

Bre: “I have a chapstick and a parking pass.”

Arjun: “You have a camera. Your boots are nice but I couldn’t fit in to them.”

Logan: “I can’t answer this question.” [he was laughing, I promise]

Arjun: “The yes still stands. Like I said, we carry a lot of cash.”

Bre: “Could we buy everyone in this Starbucks a drink right now?’

Logan: “That’s like twenty people. Let’s not rob each other, it’s not worth it. You don’t think it would, but robbing us would weigh on your conscience for a long time.”

This question was taken like… half seriously. I swear.

What do you think your own red flags are?

Logan: “I play music for a living.” [the instant response could only be taken with sarcasm]

Arjun: “Me too. I’m a drummer, also. That’s a bigger flag than the keyboard.”

Logan: “Yeah, that’s a bigger one. They hit things.” [RED FLAG!]

Arjun: “Ha. Ha ha. Ha. No. Say more about why keyboardists are better to settle down with. You don’t settle down with the drummer.”

Logan: “They’re… they’re on time more. They’re…” [groans, but also laughs]

Arjun: “I guess career-wise, I don’t like commitment. I had a full-time job, but I had to get rid of it.” [Logan actually pointed out the red flag in that statement] “I worked at a tech startup that made software for school districts, and then I just left them high and dry. Then I went on tour with Logan to Alaska and after that I just didn’t want to come back to my job here. I wasn’t committing. I committed to being a drummer, though.”

Logan: “Clearly.”

Arjun: “But when I meet people - if I like you, I’ll stick by you. You and I met in Spanish class freshman year of college in like, 2011. You even came to my dorm and we worked on a project together, and then I saw you again like a year later in a practice room or something. We had more classes the next semester and we then we formed bands together. 2011! And now we’re here.”

Logan: “That’s a red flag.” [it’s definitely not]

To preface: the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel is allegedly real and not worth checking out.

Tell us about a bad date that you’ve been on?

Arjun: “I went on a date with this girl from Coffee Meets Bagel, and we met at this West Philly Ethiopian Spot. I lived in Manayunk at the time. So I think, ‘I’ll go.’ And I looked out the window and it snowing, like, really hard. And I was like, ‘Well, I’m lonely.’” [everyone laughed, it was fine]

Emily: “I just still can’t get over the name of this app. It’s like certified not a thing anymore. It has to not be.”

Arjun: “So I drove. I got up and I drove all the way there. But my brakes gave out and I accidentally backed into some dude’s car and I crashed - no it wasn’t a big deal. But I got there, and she felt bad about the car and I was like, ‘Yeah, don’t worry about.’ And she said ‘No, I shouldn’t have been here in the first place, I probably should have cancelled with the weather.’ Okay??! Ugh so that just came out all wrong and then there was no chemistry and it just was like, totally not worth it. It was killing me. But I went, for the story.” [did she offer to help him out with his insurance though??]

Logan: “I think all my dates are pretty normal, or there’s just no chemistry. I think I’m a nice person, so if I don’t feel like I like someone, I won’t go out of my way to like, stand up and leave. I think ghosting is a terrible thing. I’ve never done it, but it’s happened to me once. But it’s really, really easy to do because you have the Internet and you can just leave people alone and not talk to them, but I think doing it out of disinterest is just laziness.” [this was a Green Flag answer, for reference]

Arjun: “I can chime in. I ghost. Not intentionally - like if I forget passwords or something and just never answer, that’s not really ghosting. I don’t ghost people in real life. I once got a DM from someone that I wasn’t sure about, but I opened them, and they just wanted to jam. So I said okay, but I almost ghosted because I thought it was going to be something for money…” [take that how you will. i.e., pay your local musicians!]

So.

Does Trap Rabbit believe in birds? Circumstantially. Are they loyal to people they care about? Definitely. Are we impressed by bands that start with the letter ‘S' and is this why their band name has absolutely 0 S’s in it? You can be the judge of that. Would we date them again? Absolutely. 10/10. We can’t wait to binge all of the BA Test Kitchen videos.

Trap Rabbit plays Boot & Saddle Friday, January 17th with Son Step and Grace Vonderkuhn.

The Date Where Trap Rabbit Won't Admit What's In Their Pockets