Before the rain came down on the last night of Rifflandia, eclectic four-piece Bosnian Rainbows performed what had to be the oddest, most exciting set of the festival. The El Paso band, featuring former the Mars Volta and At the Drive-In guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, played the overcast main stage in what amounted to 45 minutes of weirdo interpretive dance and strange behaviour from lead vocalist Teri Gender Bender (Le Butcherettes). But the highlight came near the end of the band's proggy rock set, when Teri jumped down off the stage, speed-crawled through the festival grounds on all fours, stopped to dance like a maniac with a very excited crowd member, then made her way back to the stage in a serious of bizarre and questionable moves (including leaping onto an unfortunate security guard).
Driven by the same sort of ferocious inner demons and angels that affect the likes of Iggy Pop, Karen O. and PJ Harvey when they perform live, Teri ran through the full gamut of emotions in a creepy, The Ring-like way, grabbing at her stomach as if she was experiencing stabbing pains. The rest of the band, although overshadowed by Teri, were like a singular unit up there, Rodriquez-Lopez, drummer/keyboardist Deantoni Parks (also ex-the Mars Volta) and keyboardist Nicci Kasper were literally connected together in a semi-circle of keyboards and drums, which made their performance even more interesting. The goal of most bands is to be in sync with each other and, granted, being in sync with Teri and her oddball take on performance art tied to melody and chaos is a difficult task. They rose to the challenge and delivered one Rifflandia's premier sets.
Driven by the same sort of ferocious inner demons and angels that affect the likes of Iggy Pop, Karen O. and PJ Harvey when they perform live, Teri ran through the full gamut of emotions in a creepy, The Ring-like way, grabbing at her stomach as if she was experiencing stabbing pains. The rest of the band, although overshadowed by Teri, were like a singular unit up there, Rodriquez-Lopez, drummer/keyboardist Deantoni Parks (also ex-the Mars Volta) and keyboardist Nicci Kasper were literally connected together in a semi-circle of keyboards and drums, which made their performance even more interesting. The goal of most bands is to be in sync with each other and, granted, being in sync with Teri and her oddball take on performance art tied to melody and chaos is a difficult task. They rose to the challenge and delivered one Rifflandia's premier sets.
