Oklahoma-based heavy psych and prog purveyors RAINBOWS ARE FREE unleash a fire-driven new track off their upcoming fourth album “Silver and Gold”, to be released on March 7th via Ripple Music.
About the song, lead guitarist Richie Tarver says: “Solar Flare was a song that really spearheaded the overall vibe and musical direction of the album in terms of the arrangements and riffs. This was the first skeleton demo I wrote ahead of the other tracks on the album during the height of the pandemic. And as far as songwriting goes, this was a great time. With the external world on pause, I could focus on the internal, and this craft, and the riffs just started to pour out. And they were all generally born from this dark, but devil-may-care place that just lent some added confidence to the attack.”
Vocalist Brandon Kistler adds: “As several other songs on our album, this one came out of the pandemic. We all had to come to terms with a lot of things during that time, and in some ways we still are. The beginning intro and wail are representative of that coming out period. The lyrics are pretty straightforward: “wake up and face the day…” We can’t hide from who we are and should confront it and deal with it because ‘you can’t run away’.”
Rainbows Are Free‘s sonic pedigree appears on the rock n’ roll family tree at the point where proto-metal and heavy psychedelia shared a common apocryphal ancestor before branching off into their own distinct lineages. Their fourth studio record “Silver and Gold” is a dark-tinged, heavy offering that immediately conjures a sense of foreboding right out of the gates – a comforting dreariness that the band embraces to channel their sonic attack. They are at peace here, if not at home.
The sonic assault continues as the band pummels the listener with crunchy guitars erupting into explosive leads that ride upon a driving rhythm section, held together by a lattice of spacey synth and guitar atmospherics. Rainbows Are Free’s soundscape is further cemented by lead singer Brandon Kistler’s soaring, crooning, and at times snarling, vocal fury. In all, the heavy psych alchemy at work on the album is apparent in their multi-faceted sound that spins proggy riffs, sexy groove magick, garage surf-rock, and even a death metal inspired ripper into “Silver and Gold” as a varied, but cohesive listening experience. Don’t miss Rainbows Are Free’s latest videos for Sleep and The Gift!
Rainbows Are Free formed in late 2007 as the conglomerate of several long-time heavy rock bands from Norman, OK. In February 2008, they self-released an eponymous demo EP featuring the track “Are You Dead”, which catapulted the band into the burgeoning heavy psych scene of the era. A year later they began work on a full- length 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. In 2019 Rainbows saw an international release with their fourth studio offering, Head Pains, on Italian doom/stoner/sludge label Argonauta Records (Arenzano, GE), followed by a live retrospective album in 2023 with the release of Heavy Petal Music on California-based heavy psych/stoner/doom juggernauts, Ripple Music.
Often appearing in costumed stage dress, the band, fronted by the soaring and snarling nigh 7-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 Josh Elam on spacey synth, and rounded out by 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 their upcoming studio album, Silver and Gold, due out Spring of 2025 on Ripple Music.
RAINBOWS ARE FREE is
Brandon Kistler – Vocals
Richie Tarver – Lead Guitar
Jason Smith – Bass
Joey Powell – Rhythm Guitar
Bobby Onspaugh – Drums
Josh Elam – Synths
RAINBOWS ARE FREE links
Website⎪Facebook⎪Bandcamp⎪Instagram⎪Spotify
RIPPLE MUSIC links
Website⎪Facebook⎪Bandcamp⎪Instagram
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