- erik southey (i think?)
- blurry dreams
The Awesome Grown-Up Rainbow Party occupy an odd place in the Halifax music scene, if you ask drummer Michel Ungurain. "We're not quite straight-up punk and not quite rock n' roll," he says. "It can be the trickiest thing." Also, their name, while hilarious, often leads to confusion. "People think we're a dance party band, and we're actually a drinking band," he says.After five years of existence, the band will debut their new name—The Grown-Ups—-at their first-ever headlining show at Gus' Pub this Friday. Ungurain, guitarist Johnny Flinn and original bassist Erik Southey first met while jamming at Area 52. Ungurain says the band's name, songs and spirit were Flinn's brainchild. "I was playing in Gunt and it was just angry angry angry, all the time," he says. "Then Johnny wrote these funny songs about giving geeks a hard time and now we act like turkeys at every practice." The current line-up consists of Ungurain, Flinn, bassist Jesse Lavers and singer Hayden Mariner. Ungurain says if past antics are any indication, Mariner will embrace their headlining status this Friday. "He's a wild man," he says. "The last show we played, Hayden was running around all over the place. Afterwards he came up and told us, 'I just fake-jacked-off in this old guy's face! He's sitting over there!' "Then Jesse was like, "Yeah. That's my dad.'"