Philadelphia’s Bleeding Rainbow has been a band in transition from the very start. Began as Reading Rainbow by Sarah Everton and Rob Garcia, the duo eyed the “twee” label they received warily, switched up their name and lineup, and have been releasing consistently evolving music ever since. Interrupt, their latest album may sound like the perfect soundtrack for thrashing about and releasing some tension. But, Bleeding Rainbow wants you to know they’re not shoegaze and they’re not angry. More below.
Sarah, you recently wrote an article for Impose on how to respond to being called a pet name by a stranger. What’s the most interesting reaction you’ve gotten to giving someone the “little dude”?
I mean, like I wrote in the piece, nobody ever really reacts. I can see it on the guy’s face some times, like a weird subconscious recognition of what just happened but they are always too stunned or in denial to react.
Rob and Sarah, you guys are married which is interesting to me in that it sort of makes you outliers in the youth culture, singles club that is a lot of the music scene/industry. What are the pros of being married and in a band together?
It’s convenient to be in a band with your partner because you don’t have to miss them when you’re on tour.
It sounds like you’re not very pleased with some of the reception to ‘Interrupt.’ What do you think was missed?
That’s true of reviews for everything we’ve ever put out. It goes for good reviews as well as bad ones too. Any time amateurs or lazy assholes with little or no knowledge of music history write a review or an article about a band it’s going to be full of baseless assumptions and shitty, totally inaccurate comparisons. Essentially it boils down to that it sucks to be labeled, it sucks to have false things said about you based on what you look like (and what gender you are). It also sucks to not be allowed to respond without people flipping out about it. (I get that though because on the internet especially you come off super whiny.) But unfortunately this goes with the territory!
When Interrupt was streaming via Pitchfork Advance, you shared the link on your Tumblr using the hashtags “internet culture is weird” and “music industry am i rite.” I’ll admit it’s a little weird to be asking a question based on hashtags but I found it interesting and kind of refreshing for a band to not blindly buy into the music industry. Care to expand?
Oh I just did that because it felt weird to be streaming our album on Pitchfork a year after they reviewed our last album the same day it went up for ADVANCED streaming. They didn’t really allow for an unbiased chance for people to listen to it. It just felt dumb and uncomfortable to me to be promoting this huge website after what happened last time, haha.
What do you hope people take away from Interrupt?
That we are not a shoegaze band, and the songs aren’t angry! The vibe and the themes of Interrupt are all about feeling frantic, suffocated, and confused but dealing with it and turning it into positive productivity. Basically the message of it is “Fuck what anybody says, and fuck being broke and having no future security – do what feels right and trust your instincts. Shit’s cool. Love is important.”
Bleeding Rainbow is currently on tour. Visit their website (link below) for all dates.
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Interview by Alex Martinez
Photo courtesy of the artist