Northampton rock trio Bunny's A Swine has some valuable advice for other local groups: "Having a song named after a movie star is great for Google hits," says guitarist and singer Candace Clement. "That's a freebie from us to other up-and-coming bands. Having a pandemic associated with your name also helps."

According to Clement, fellow guitarist/singer Emerson Stevens wrote the band's tune "Linda Blair" while watching television. "Emerson often does a lot of songwriting while watching old movies," she says. "Roller Boogie was real boring, so he managed to write a whole song during it. It's about being a child star. And it has a made-up word: memorabillionaire."

Clement details the band's origins: "Dustin [Cote, drums] and Emerson started playing because they were at equal levels of incompetence with their instruments. Then they pitched the idea to me, and I couldn't resist the offer to be in a band of people who weren't really good."

Bunny's A Swine plays high-energy, melodic punk-pop, highlighted by enthusiastic and complementary boy-girl shouts, yelps and sing-alongs. Clement calls their music "awk-pop": "like awkward pop music that's catchy and generally accessible but is sometimes uncomfortable and confusing with awkward transitions."

The band also features Stevens' unique three-string guitar. "I've never been interested in being a great guitar player. I wanted to write songs," he explains. "I had a crappy acoustic guitar with only three strings on it, fiddled with the tuning until it sounded right, and got it to work. By the time I got a tuner, I had already written a bunch of songs so I figured I'd stick with it."

Bunny's A Swine appears June 13 at The Brass Cat in Easthampton. For more information, visit: myspace.com/bunnysaswine."photo courtesy of bunny's a swine