Rainbows Are Free

Last updated
Rainbows Are Free
Also known asRAF, Rainbows
Origin Norman, Oklahoma, Southern United States
Genres Heavy metal
Stoner metal
Doom metal
MembersBrandon Kistler
Richie Tarver
Joey Powell
Bobby Onspaugh
Jason Smith
Past membersJustin Gallas
Lucas Watson
Chad Hogue
Website http://www.rainbowsarefree.com

Rainbows Are Free is an American five-piece doom metal band from Norman, Oklahoma. [1] They won the 2011 "Woody Award" for "Best Metal Artist" in Oklahoma and again in 2012. [2] and their music has been heard on KSPI 105.3 "The Spy" and Rock 100.5 the KATT. Stonerrock.com had described their music as "slamming waves of molten guitar magma." [3] [4] In an interview in the Tulsa World, guitarist Richie describes their sound as "heavy classic rock/proto-metal with moments of droney psychedelia and groove riffage." RAF, have opened for Black Mountain, Black Angels, Dead Meadow and High on Fire. [5] [6]

Contents

Biography

RAF formed in late 2007 as the conglomerate of several long-time heavy rock bands from Norman, OK. In February 2008, RAF self-released an eponymous demo EP. A year later they began work on an album, Believers In Medicine, which was released in April 2010 on Guestroom Records Records (GRR). They followed up with their second album on GRR in 2014 with the release of Waves Ahead of the Ocean, which saw international distribution by Cargo Records UK. All three releases were recorded at the Bell Labs recording studio (engineered and mixed by Trent Bell of Chainsaw Kittens fame) in Norman, Oklahoma.

The release of the band's third album, Head Pains, on Italian label Argonauta Records (Arenzano, GE) with vinyl support from Horton Records (Tulsa, OK, US), has firmly established the band as a mainstay of underground heaviness, while further exhibiting the band's unique voice—setting them apart from contemporaries of heavy psychedelic, doom, and stoner rock, with whom they have shared the stage (High on Fire, Dead Meadow, St. Vitus, The Sword, Big Business, Pallbearer, and Kylesac).

Often appearing in costumed stage dress, the band, fronted by the soaring and snarling nigh seven-foot cyclone of weirdness that is Brandon Kistler, continues to shock and amaze fans by introducing an element of good- humored theatrics to accompany their live sonic assault. This is achieved in no small part due to the guitar prowess and songwriting of Richie Tarver, joined by the ambient soundscapes of Joey Powell on rhythm guitar, and the thunderous low end of Jason Smith on bass, and Bobby Onspaugh on drums.

Rainbows Are Free continue to bring their unique brand of psychedelic heaviness on tour as they support the release of Head Pains released in late 2019. [7]

Discography

Related Research Articles

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a thick, monumental sound characterized by distorted guitars, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats and loudness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychedelic rock</span> Genre of rock music

Psychedelic rock is a rock music genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound effects and recording techniques, extended instrumental solos, and improvisation. Many psychedelic groups differ in style, and the label is often applied spuriously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scorpions (band)</span> German rock band

Scorpions are a German hard rock band formed in Hanover in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker. The lineup from 1978 to 1992 was the most successful incarnation of the group, and included Klaus Meine (vocals), Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs, Francis Buchholz (bass), and Herman Rarebell (drums). The band's only continuous member has been Schenker, although Meine has appeared on all of Scorpions' studio albums, while Jabs has been a consistent member since 1978, and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda and drummer Mikkey Dee have been in the band since 2003 and 2016 respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanson (band)</span> American pop-rock band

Hanson is an American pop rock band from Tulsa, Oklahoma, formed by brothers Isaac Hanson, Taylor Hanson, and Zac Hanson. Supporting members include Dimitrius Collins (guitar) and Andrew Perusi (bass), who have toured and performed live with the band since 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern rock</span> Subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana

Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar speculates the term "Southern rock" may have been coined in 1972 by Mo Slotin, writing for Atlanta's underground paper, The Great Speckled Bird, in a review of an Allman Brothers Band concert.

Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics are intended to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, who formed a prototype for doom metal. During the first half of the 1980s, a number of bands such as Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar from England, American bands Pentagram, Saint Vitus, the Obsessed, Trouble, and Cirith Ungol, and Swedish band Candlemass defined doom metal as a distinct genre. Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble and Candlemass have been referred to as "the Big Four of Doom Metal".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Shadows of Knight</span> American rock band

The Shadows of Knight were an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, that played a version of British blues influenced by their native city. When they began recording in 1965, the band's self-description was "the Stones, Animals and the Yardbirds took the Chicago blues and gave it an English interpretation. We've taken the English version of the Blues and re-added a Chicago touch," to which rock critic Richie Unterberger commented: "The Shadows of Knight's self-description was fairly accurate."

Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelic subculture. While the term has sometimes been used interchangeably with "psychedelic rock", acid rock also specifically refers to a more musically intense, rawer, or heavier subgenre or sibling of psychedelic rock. Named after lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the style is generally defined by heavy, distorted guitars and often contains lyrics with drug references and long improvised jams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British rock music</span> Rock music from the United Kingdom

British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by the Beatles, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the development of American music and rock music across the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Airey</span> English keyboardist

Donald Smith Airey is an English musician who has been the keyboardist in the rock band Deep Purple since 2002, after the retirement of Jon Lord. He has had a long and productive career, playing with such acts as Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Whitesnake, Saxon, Wishbone Ash, Colosseum II, Ten, Sinner, Michael Schenker, Rainbow, Empire, Brian May, Divlje jagode and Living Loud. He has also worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Natas</span> Argentinian stoner rock band

Los Natas or Natas were an Argentinian stoner rock band formed in 1993 in Martínez, Greater Buenos Aires. In their later releases, they had been leaning towards a more experimental sound described by them as free rock.

Post-metal is a music genre rooted in heavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such as Neurosis and Godflesh, who transformed metal texture through experimental composition. In a way similar to the predecessor genres post-rock and post-hardcore, post-metal offsets the darkness and intensity of extreme metal with an emphasis on atmosphere, emotion, and even "revelation", developing an expansive but introspective sound variously imbued with elements of ambient, noise, psychedelic, progressive, and classical music, and often shoegaze and art rock. Songs are typically long, with loose and layered structures that discard the verse–chorus form in favor of crescendos and repeating themes. The sound centres on guitars and drums, while any vocals are usually screamed or growled and resemble an additional instrument.

Psychedelic music is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as 5-MeO-DMT, DMT, LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin mushrooms, to experience synesthesia and altered states of consciousness. Psychedelic music may also aim to enhance the experience of using these drugs and has been found to have a significant influence on psychedelic therapy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randy Holden</span> American musician

Randy Holden is an American guitarist best known for his membership of the West Coast acid rock group Blue Cheer and performance on their third album, New! Improved! (1969). His solo album Population II (1970) is considered to be one of the earliest examples of doom metal. Holden is also a painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Oldaker</span> American drummer (1951–2020)

James Oldaker was an American rock music, blues rock and country music drummer and percussionist.

Motive for Movement was a Tulsa, Oklahoma indie rock band that formed in 2005. The band consisted of the 4 members now known as Foreign Home. The band has gone through many style shifts since 2005 but consistently combines angular guitar and syncopated drums for a style often described as ambient shoegazing indie rock with Britpop melodic sensibilities.

Bangladeshi rock music, or Bangla rock music, is a style of music in Bangladesh that is derived from British and American rock music, mixed with the Bengali classical and Adhunik musical styles from the 1960s. The genre was introduced in the 1960s by a few bands who began developing a distinctive rock sound. Bangladeshi rock is commonly divided into two categories: East Pakistan rock, and Bangladesh rock. From the 1970s to the 2000s, it was one of the nation's most popular musical genres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OJM (band)</span> Musical artist

OJM is an Italian music band based out of Treviso and formed in 1997. The band is a pioneer of the Italian stoner rock, garage rock and psychedelic rock music scenes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie Romero</span> Chilean singer (born 1981)

Ronald Romero is a Chilean singer and lyricist best known as the vocalist of the bands Elegant Weapons, Lords of Black, Rainbow, the Ferrymen, Michael Schenker Group, and Sunstorm. He represented Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 as the lead singer of Intelligent Music Project.

References

  1. "Rainbows Are Free - discography, line-up, biography, interviews, photos". Spirit-of-metal.com. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  2. "Oklahoma Gazette". Okgazette.com. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  3. "Stonerock.com". stonerrock.com. Retrieved 7 June 2023.[ dead link ]
  4. "Tulsaworld". Tulsaworld.com.
  5. "RAF Facebook". Facebook .
  6. 1 2 "Guest Room Records Label store". Guestroom-reocrds.com. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  7. "Rainbows Are Free". Rainbowsarefree.com. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  8. "Aquarius Records". Aquariusrecords.org. Retrieved 7 June 2023.