black-rainbow

Black Rainbow releasing an LP on Shellshag's label, touring, playing two NYC shows (dates & stream)

by Andrew Sacher

Black Rainbow

The members of Black Rainbow have been bringing DIY punk to basements, clubs, and even city streets across the USA for two decades in bands like Chickenhead, Los Canadians, The Dark Rides, Shotwell, Sharp Knife, Onion Flavored Rings, and many more. Black Rainbow was formed in 2007 when longtime singer and guitar duo (and lifelong partners in crime), Ivy Jeanne and Erick Lyle, persuaded Tulsa’s guitarist, songwriter, and frontman, Morgan Stickrod, to take up the drums for a new band. Readers of Lyle’s long-running magazine, SCAM, will be familiar with the exploits of Ivy and Erick’s previous bands, MIAMI, a band formed with the late Matty Luv and Aesop of Hickey to play only illegal generator shows in the streets of San Francisco, and ALLERGIC TO BULLSHIT, a band known for, among other things, playing live on a flatbed truck in an anti-war parade and for handing out free stolen cans of spray paint to audiences. Picking up where these collaborations left off, BLACK RAINBOW quickly recorded a handful of 7″‘s and toured the country several times.

San Francisco DIY punks Black Rainbow (not to be confused with the Dio tribute band, the band featuring Maya of the Donnas, or any other band with that name) got their start in the same early ’90s San Francisco scene that the members of Shellshag were part of before moving to NYC. Having been in this band for seven years, the band are now set to release their first-ever full length album (self-titled), which comes out on July 21 via Starcleaner, the label Shellshag’s been running since 1992. That album’s first single is “Airless Spaces II,” a punk ripper that’s in attack mode for its full minute and a half, but it’s a catchy one thanks to highly melodic vocalist Ivy Jeanne. You can stream that below.

We already mentioned that Black Rainbow would be in NYC for a Death by Audio show on July 26 with Swearin’ and Shellshag (it also now features CCTV), and it turns out that show is part of a massive tour for Black Rainbow. The tour also includes another NYC show happening a day earlier at Shea Stadium (7/26) with Vulture Shit, Hard Nips, Cousin Brian and Slow Animals. All dates, including other shows with Shellshag, are listed below.

Shellshag also play DbA sooner this Friday (7/11) with Friend (mem of Woods), Street Eaters and Lilith Velkor. That show initially included Bleeding Rainbow but they unfortunately dropped off.

All Black Rainbow dates are listed, with the song stream, below…

Black Rainbow – “Airless Spaces II”

Black Rainbow — 2014 Tour Dates
07/12 – Chattanooga, TN @ Sluggo’s North w/ Future Virgins, Sandal Stomp, Jpegasus
07/13 – Greenville, SC @ Casa de Santangelo w/ Rubrics, Postmodern Penguins
07/19 – Asheville, NC @ Harum Scarum Warehouse w/ Street Eaters, Impossible Vacation, Bad Fog, Blood Summer
07/20 – Durham, NC @ Fellowship Hall
07/21 – Washington D.C. @ The Rocketship w/ Shellshag, Citadel
07/22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Golden Tea House w/ Shellshag
07/23 – New Brunswick, NJ @ Cooler Ranch w/ Shellshag, Lilith Velkor, Sea Creature
07/24 – Live on WNYU’s “Crucial Chaos” 9-10:30 p.m.
07/25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Shea Stadium w/ Vulture Shit, Hard Nips, Cousin Brian, Slow Animals
07/26 – Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio w/ Shellshag, Swearin’, CCTV (BLACK RAINBOW LP release show!)
07/27 – Providence, RI @ Spark City w/ Funeral Cone, Whore Paint, Ancient Filth
07/28 – Portland, ME @ St. John st. w/ Gout, Sweet Teeth
07/29 – Boston, MA @ house show w/ Peeple Watchin, Fleabite
07/30 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada @ The Squalor
07/31 – Toronto, Ontario, Canada @ TBA
08/01 – Detroit, MI @ Trumbullplex w/ TYVEK, Constant Insult
08/02 – Pittsburgh, PA @ punk show on the boat! w/ Napalm Donut, Constant Insult
08/03 – Columbus, OH @ house show w/ Nervosas, Katheryn, Forced Into Femininity, more
08/04 – Columbus, OH – Girls Rock Camp benefit (noon)
08/04 – Cincinnati, OH – The Comet w/ Pretty Pretty, Pere De Vere, Forced Into Femininity
08/05 – Bloomington, IN – more info TBA!
08/06 – Chicago, IL @ Babylawn w/ Gula-Gila, Daymaker
08/07 – Milwaukee, WI @ TBA w/ Uh Oh, Period Thong
08/08 – Minnapolis, MN @ The Seward w/ Frozen Teens
08/09 – Winona, MN – punk show on the boat! w/ Hard Feelings
08/10 – Kansas City, MO @ TBA w/ Nature Boys, Hard Feelings
08/11 – Oklahoma City, OK @ TBA
08/13 – Austin, TX @ TBA
08/15 – New Orleans, LA @ The Mudlark w/ Mea Culpa, We Need To Talk, Everything Rulz