“Go Back to L.A.” started out as a joke. Jesika Von Rabbit and a friend were noodling around in her Joshua Tree home studio when she came up with the tune and the catchy, garage rock song stuck. Now, it’s the latest single from the singer’s recently released album, Bunnywood Babylon. “Hopefully, I don’t get too many people upset with me,” Von Rabbit says on a video call.
The song’s title stems from bumper stickers that have been popping up in the Joshua Tree area following an influx of new residents and tourists from Los Angeles. “Some of the people who grew up out here maybe don’t want some of the more of the hip, fancy stuff that’s coming to town,” Von Rabbit says. “Sometimes that’s out of fear too. People are afraid of what they don’t understand.”
Von Rabbit has been based in the desert for more than 20 years now, but she also headed to Joshua Tree from Los Angeles. Her stint in L.A. was brief, though. “I was struggling,” she says of her time in the city. “I had some friends rent a house out in Joshua Tree and they invited me out and I ended up staying. I’ve been here ever since.”
When she first moved to Joshua Tree, it wasn’t quite the destination that it has become in recent years, certainly not for a musician. “All there was was Pappy and Harriets,” says Von Rabbit. “It was still more of a cowboy bar. There was Crossroads Cafe where you could do open mic night. There wasn’t a lot going on, but I still loved it out here.”
Out in the desert, she found her footing and formed the band for which she would initially gain acclaim, Gram Rabbit. “All of a sudden we were the cool band from the desert. It kind of gave us a mystique,” Von Rabbit says. Plus, living a a couple hours away from the city worked to her benefit. “It was far enough out of L.A. where I could concentrate more on myself and my music, but close enough where we could drive in and play shows all the time,” she says. “It still is.”
So, when Von Rabbit sings, “Go Back to L.A.” it’s a bit tongue in cheek, although she does concede that there have been problems for locals. “I guess a lot of people are finding it hard to buy, afford, a home because everything is turning into Air B&Bs or the housing market has shot up because of that,” she says. “People have suffered.”
Working primarily in her home studio, Von Rabbit spent a few years fleshing out Bunnywood Babylon. “I really have to clear everything else out and be going into that world,” she says of making music.
She handles much of the production herself as well. “I get things produced as good as I can get them,” she says. “In the past, I’ve hired a producer, in this case it’s Ethan Allan, who can do it better than me to help me hone things in if there are certain things that I need help with, but there are also songs that I just produce myself and released.”
For Bunnywood Babylon, Von Rabbit brought together various styles of music from the new wave-tinged “Gotta Keep My Buzz Going” and “Wacko” to the psychedelic “I Can’t Find Myself” and “Desert Rain.”
One of the most poignant moments on Bunnywood Babylon is “Aberdeen Martin,” a call for unity amongst people. “It’s a hard time to be alive,” says Von Rabbit. “It was lyrically about coming together and trying to get through the hard times that we’re in.”
She adds that the song was a collaborative effort with bassist Lee Joseph. “He had such a cool bassline and he played bass and acoustic on that song,” she says. “I really like that song. It’s pretty.”
Honesty is a key ingredient to the songs on Bunnywood Babylon. “I was going to spell it like babble, like here’s more of my babble,” says Von Rabbit of the title. “I said, maybe that’s doing a disservice.” She played around with titles, finally settling on Bunnywood Babylon, because she appreciates the wordplay and the reference to Kenneth Anger’s book Hollywood Babylon.
On the album’s opening track, though, Von Rabbit does sing, “blah blah, baby, I’ll babble on.” The song, “Pretty Dum,” was a late edition to the Bunnywood Babylon collection and one of the strongest on the album. “The lyrics are pretty self-deprecating, but fun too, a little honest. I’m getting older. What’s my problem? Am I misunderstood? Things that we all probably feel,” she says.
But, Von Rabbit had reservations about including the song on the album. “I was a little worried because it starts off putting myself down and saying I’m dumb and I’m misunderstood and I’m older,” she says. “That’s always a little vulnerable, to say that to the world, but I’m like screw it. This is the truth and I want to be truthful. And I like the song.”
Catch Jesika Von Rabbit live at The Redwood (316 W. 2nd St., DTLA 90012) on Friday, June 20, 2025. Get Bunnywood Babylon, out now on Dionysus Records.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs or listen to the latest Beatique Mix. Follow on Instagram or Bluesky for more updates. Subscribe to the weekly Beatique newsletter.
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