Cool Rainbows was a

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band based in

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. According to a review, "Cool Rainbows make psychedelic indie pop music that is backed by swirling orchestration and layered dreamscapes of sound." They released their debut album, ''Whale Rocket,'' in 2012 on

Lil' Chief Records Lil' Chief Records is a New Zealand–based indie pop record label formed in 2002. Operating from the Auckland suburb of Mt. Eden, it was founded on releases by The Tokey Tones and The Brunettes. The label's roster now includes a collective of ...

History

Founding

Cool Rainbows was founded as a musical collective and solo project of Djeisan (pronounced "Jason") Suskov, a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

musician. Other members of the collective include Paul Roper, Alex Freer, Cass Mitchell, Jonathan Pearce and Suskov's wife Emily Suskov. Before founding the band, Suskov had been involved in music from a young age; his father founded Revolver Studios when Suskov was nine, and by the age of thirteen he was helping around the studio. Djeisan later maintained close ties with various studios as a producer,. Suskov went on to serve as frontman for the 2000

post punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band Nova Echo, which later evolved into Cut Off Your Hands. He also played with the

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

band Robot Tigers and the

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band Trees Climbing Trees. Since 2015, Suskov has been a member of

Leisure Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Leisure ...

2012 debut album

Around 2009 Suskov began writing the songs for the band's 2012 debut album. As influences for the album, he quoted the

Chills Chills is a feeling of coldness occurring during a high fever, but sometimes is also a common symptom which occurs alone in specific people. It occurs during fever due to the release of cytokines and prostaglandins as part of the inflammatory r ...

the Clean The Clean was a New Zealand indie rock band that formed in Dunedin in 1978. They have been described as the most influential band to come from the Flying Nun label, which recorded many artists associated with the "Dunedin sound".Schmidt, Andr ...

and

David Kilgour David William Kilgour (February 18, 1941 – April 5, 2022) was a Canadian human rights activist, author, lawyer, and politician. He was also a Senior Fellow to the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. Kilgour graduated from the Universi ...

's solo material, The Bats, Tall Dwarves and

Chris Knox Chris Knox (born 2 September 1952) is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist and movie reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the g ...

. He also referenced "a lot of 60s 70s

rock 'n roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

stuff like

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styl ...

Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining th ...

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

...stuff that sounds real or honest to me and I can hear the heart of it." He used both production gear at Revolver Studios and his own laptop for initial recordings, and the album was then produced by

Jonathan Bree Jonathan Owen Bree is a singer-songwriter and producer from New Zealand, best known for his work as a solo artist, as well as co-founding the indie pop group The Brunettes, in 1998 and Lil' Chief Records, in 2002. He frequently collaborates with ...

in Auckland. Suskov included a large number of friends in the process, with Alex Freer, Cass Mitchell, Paul Roper, Jonathan Pearce and his wife Emily Suskov as core performers. Other musicians on the album include Hayden East, Rikki Sutton, Micheal Ramirez, and

Paul McIver Paul McIver (born 26 March 1986) is a New Zealand actor and musician. His first film appearance was in the television series ''The Ray Bradbury Theater''. He has appeared in the ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' films and the television show ...

. The album ''Whale Rocket'' was released on Lil' Chief Records in 2012, with a video for the track "Reality and a Clue" released that July. In June 2012, the band featured seven live musicians at a time on stage.

Members

;Permanent *Djeisan Suskov – singer-songwriter, vocals *Emily Suskov ;Rotating * arious

Discography

Albums

*2012: ''Whale Rocket'' (

)

Singles

*2012: "Southern Summer Fun" (Lil' Chief Records) *2012: "Lights" (Lil' Chief Records)

References

External links

*
Cool Rainbows
on MySpace
Cool Rainbows
on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Djeisan Suskov Interview
(March 2012) {{Authority control New Zealand indie pop groups Lil' Chief Records artists Musical groups established in 2009 Musical groups from Auckland