The best part isn’t that the band’s name is “Bleeding Rainbow” — it’s that they were originally Reading Rainbow and had to change it. So it’s not even one of those Hank Venture “Shallow Gravy” ideas, it’s a macabre pun by legal order. That’s amazing.
I used the Philadelphia-based band as a chaser for my night at Central Presbyterian Church. I’d spent a few hours listening to singer/songwriters play acoustic guitar to a silent, darkened church audience and needed someone in a place called THE IRON BEAR~ to rip it up and get me back into mental shape, so I could spend a few more hours hopped up and wandering Austin.
The interesting thing is that for a band with “Bleeding” in their name, they don’t necessarily do what you’d expect. Their SXSW bio says they’ve found “a balance between the extremes of thrashy punk and psychedelic drone to create a new and inspiring sound.” I’m not sure if I agree with that, but “they sound like your friend’s band might” doesn’t look good on an info blurb.
Other moments of interest at this show:
1. Friday night at The Iron Bear wins the award for showcase with the best band names. In addition to Bleeding Rainbow, the line-up featured Austin trio “Ringo Deathstarr” (“screaming quietly out of Austin Texas”) and Brooklyn’s “Moonmen On The Moon, Man”.
2. It’s probably obvious to everyone, but I had a total Homer Simpson “Dad, why did you bring me to a gay steel mill” moment when I turned a corner looking for the bathrooms and got stared down by a hallway lined with shirtless fat guys. My brain just sorta went, “oh, the Iron BEAR.” I considered taking a picture of them and trying to pass it off as Zangief cosplay.
