Funny story, they got their name back in college before an open-mic gig. Well, we have some family up in Minnesota but obviously that is nowhere close to where we were moving to North Carolina. Live from Athens Georgia. Click for more. So once I was a teenager, everything else was a faint glimmer, I didn't really understand The States, so coming back was a rough transition for sure. Rainbow Kitten Surprise is an alternative rock indie band, featuring lead vocalist Ela Melo, Darrick "Bozzy" Keller (guitar, backup vocals), Ethan Goodpaster (electric guitar), Jess Haney (drums), and Charlie Holt (bass). Life is a grind. In their video for Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Thrash shows a drag queen coming out to her parents. He also states that his faith has been an important influence on the music he makes. 4:00AM. No pets (excluding service animals). i saw their instagram post and freaked out bc i thought sam left. 264k Followers, 70 Following, 116 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Rainbow Kitten Surprise (@rksbandofficial) rksbandofficial. Straight from the bluegrass hotbed of Boone, North Carolina . on It was incredible, but it was a lot to take on at the time. I was thinking about this performance today when I saw the bands post on Insta, that was an unforgettable show and it makes me so happy ela feels comfortable being her true self . You never think that when you put words on to a paper that anybody else is going to pick it up and say word for word, that's me, and identify with it. We did that on a studio-run label thing, and all of that was cool. Their music has a calmer demeanor. The album is built around this narrative about how hard it is to pay bills as a musician, it started out as a different idea and you've mentioned this pressure that comes with being a band, basically gone from becoming locally famous after Bozz asked you to play the Galileo show and now you have PR, festival dates, this following, how are you coping this last year, after writing this album, releasing it and going on this tour? It feels like this big, intricate record that was always kind of hiding in the band's music even when it was a two acoustic guitar band. Popular Sam Melo songs. "Yeah, it was zero to 100 for us, really," Haney said. Each of the queens conceals their identities for a variety of reasons, citing fear of bodily harm or damaging familial relationships. ", RKS' performance of "Hide" at the Troubadour felt particularly profound. (Robbinsville, North Carolina is the hometown of Jess Haney and Ethan Goodpaster.) Rainbow Kitten Surprise hails from the mountains of Boone, North Carolina. I'm grateful to be able to express who I truly am and share in this moment with you. Hi everyone! In this album, Rainbow Kitten Surprise continues to evolve and change their music style while maintaining the core elements of what always makes their music great. [3] They later added three new members, Ethan Goodpaster, Jess Haney, and Charlie Holt. I'm sorry if I'm gonna sound dumb, but we're talking about Sam Melo, that came out right now as trans, right? No own drinks allowed. music festival marks formal launch of San Antonio venue The Espee, Live Music in San Antonio This Week: Silversun Pickups, Epik High, Marisela and more, Comedian George Lopez is returning to San Antonio's Majestic Theatre this summer, San Antonio punk band Fea composed original music for new play debuting at Public Theater, Live Music in San Antonio This Week: August Burns Red, Inner Wave, Thy Art Is Murder and more, Celebrate Bowie tour with Peter Murphy and Adrian Belew coming to San Antonio's Tobin Center. It was just kind of a thing I did in high school with my friends. So once I was a teenager, everything else was a faint glimmer, I didn't really understand The States, so coming back was a rough transition for sure. It makes me so happy to see fellow trans people living as themselves authentically, and you will always have my support., Ive never met kinder or more welcoming people, another commenter said. SDGLN provides in-depth coverage on issues of importance to the LGBT community and our allies. The band had arrived in Nashville with only a couple of songs partially written and all two and a half weeks to write and record the rest of the songs for what became the 2018 album How to: Friend, Love, Freefall. In between those two locales were several stops, including one week-long stay in Tampa Bay, and if you believe the lyrics to Goodnight Chicago from RKS 2015 self-titled LP, then our hometown is where Melo metaphorically killed a man out of spite (When he died, I took his place, is how the lyric goes). I'm extremely confused as I almost never get any closer to learn more about the band and just now I've learned how she was named and that now her name is Ela. Hailing from the Blue Ridge Mountain college town of Boone, North Carolina, Rainbow Kitten Surprise play a fervent mix of bright indie pop and earnest, harmony-driven folk-rock. Once in a lifetime. Rainbow Kitten Surprise on Audiotree . These North Carolina-based festival favorites mix exuberant indie pop and earnest folk-rock. Since the 2013 release of their first album, Seven + Mary , the vibrancy and courageousness and uniqueness of RKS' music has brought in nearly 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify . Facebook screengrab Now two NC men face prison. You just played a show or you're just traveling or bullshitting, or whatever and it always comes up and somebody reads it and it's like holy shit guys look at this message that somebody just sent us. The crooning voice we all love so much (: Ansley Elizabeth Photography) 288. Rainbow Kitten Surprise Sticker. 8. I was so shocked! Happy birthday to Sam Melo! Live from Athens Georgia. pic.twitter.com/kejuO2yLIn. . Three years ago, when Rainbow Kitten Surprise sold out Visulite Theatre, . "I think the (time) restraint was probably good for us," Haney said. Although the bands members identities have not been publicly discussed, their music has often been interpreted as being LGBT-friendly. They later added three new members, Ethan Goodpaster . Are you still going into these "rabbit hole states are you able to work when you are in them? Rainbow Kitten Surprise lead singer Ela Melo revealed in an interview that she had found her true self as a transgender woman. Like if somebody loses a friend and somehow our music is cathartic to them, go for it, man. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging schools to incorporate transgenderism and LGBT education into their curricula. It's always a new set of gains. Address: Orange Road, Emmarentia, Johannesburg 2195. But before long, Melo who recently announced on Twitter that she is trans, her pronouns are she/her and that she wants to be referred to as Ela Melo and Keller decided they wanted to have a full band, and that's when fellow students Haney, Goodpaster and bassist Charlie Holt joined up. Once you get over that search and you get heartbroken by it, you realize all of the tools that are now at your disposal. Steven Loftin finds out how they went from obscurity to their first sell-out London show. My pronouns are she/her. Rainbow Kitten Surprise. In 2013, Melo and Keller had self-released a three-song EP, Mary, and the band followed that with a self-released full-length, Seven. As if channeling another dimension where genres simply don't exist, Rainbow Kitten Surprise finds harmony in unpredictability - weaving together lyrical poetry, hummable melodies, and a rush of instrumental eccentricities. The group held its earlier rehearsals in Boone, North Carolina . Were you sad to leave? Rainbow Kitten Surprise is a colorful, eye-catching name. Rainbow Kitten Surprise in Concert. RKS are the indie rock heroes we deserve. thanks in part to Melo's intense vocal style, but also because only two of the 13 tracks cross the four-minute . Live from Athens Georgia. People who are b. Line-up: Rainbow Kitten Surprise (USA) + Spoegwolf, Shortstraw & Mann Friday (Zimbabwe). And Ethan ended up getting into the band and he was like, 'Well, my roommate used to play drums and he might be able to help us out with a few shows. Rainbow Kitten Surprise, also known as RKS (Return to Rainbow Kitten), is a musical phenomenon that many people consider to be a musical phenomenon. A New Dallas Doc Fills in the Blanks on the Spectacular Story of Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Hoosier States Patron Saint, John Mellencamp, Blessed Grand Prairie on Wednesday Night, 10 Best Concerts of the Week: Muse, Carrie Underwood, Buddy Guy and More. . And then find our home, which usually was North Carolina. Musician/band "Work Out" video out now . Appalachian State University offers up and coming student musicians the opportunity to record, publicize and more for free with the school's own record label, Split Rail Records. Rainbow Kitten Surprise, the best name ever we know, sat down with us at Outside Lands to talk about their new record and their song Hide. In addition to championing equality via their music, the band has frequently partnered with Equality NC, the oldest statewide organization in the country dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights, donating portions of ticket and merch sales to the nonprofit. While Holt has been openly trans for some time now, Melo only came out as gay alongside the release of Rainbow Kitten Surprise's 2018 album, How to: Friend, Love, Freefall. But if you have two weeks, you'll make it in two weeks. Documentarian Kyle Thrash was enlisted by the band to create the video for Hide, which depicts sexuality in a subtle way. Where we would go and huddle up and maybe my dad and one of my brothers, and myself would go get a U-Haul and get our stuff from the airport, or however it was shipped. The building shook as the crowded room stomped along to Holt's pulsing bass, sending their love through every floorboard of the venue. Formed in 2013 by college students Sam Melo and Darrick Keller, Rainbow Kitten Surprise developed a sound that was every bit as colorful as the group's name, eventually becoming one of America's m.. . Check out Rainbow Kitten Surprise at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas in Las Vegas on May 26, 2022 and get detailed info for the event - tickets, photos, video and reviews. In May 2019, RKS released Mary (B-Sides), consisting of a studio recording of "Heart" (a song originally released via YouTube and SoundCloud in 2014) and the track "No Vacancy". I don't know if that's the way this next record is going to come together but given our history, I feel like maybe that right now it's still that gestation period I'm curious to know what's going to come out on the other side of the rabbit hole. Subscribe now to get the latest news delivered right to your inbox. Or these are 2 different people? While their music does not necessarily have overtly Christian themes, many of the band members have been vocal about their Christian faith. "Seven + Mary" was their first and most folky album, which combined haunting melodies with the unique and striking voice of lead vocalist Sam Melo. Rainbow Kitten Surprise. They dont see themselves as their spokesmen for the song. "Work Out" arrived alongside a lyric video, handwritten by RKS frontperson Ela Melo. Rainbow Kitten Surprise has booked two nights at Colorado's iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in 2022.