“What sound does a rainbow make?”
This rather unconventional question is one Aaron Stinson said his band, the Michigan-based Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers, grapple with every day.
“A rainbow makes imagination sound,” Stinson said. “Sound that is bursting with color but slathered with stank; sound that lets the mind wander and sets the body free. Our genre is somewhere out there, drifting among the flotsam. If you can find it, please let us know.”
At 9 p.m. Saturday, the indie-pop band Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers will play at the Mill, 120 E. Burlington St.
The group will promote its upcoming album, Terra Incognita, which will be released on Feb. 17 through Bad Mascot Records. Drummer Rick Hale said the record has been his favorite project thus far.
“We learned a lot about ourselves and each other in writing that music, and I think it will remain a formative experience for all of us for the rest of our lives,” he said.
Many of the Rainbow Seekers have side projects as well, including frontman, Amish excommunicate, and Iowa City local Joe Hertler.
“I’m always tinkering with other creative projects, just as the rest of the band does,” he said. “It serves as a nice break from songwriting. I spend a good bit of time producing weird dance music, but mainly, I just love collecting and organizing techno, house, and drum ’n’ bass.
“I dabble a bit in writing, too — [I] made a kids’ book to release with our record, and I’m currently working on some horror stories to be presented as children’s books. Being creative is all about fostering those connective synapses, and it seems that even totally polarized media will feed into each other … It’s pretty cool how it works. Brains are weird.”
The band has fed its love of meeting new people and experiencing new places on its present tour, which includes stops in the Midwest, Northwest, and Southwest.
“I honestly just hope that [audiences] walk away feeling a bit more connected to something than before the show,” Hertler said. “Music is about connecting, both through the sounds and emotion, but even more so with other people. … We’ve been doing this for four years or so and every now and then, someone comes up and says to me, ‘We met at your show X years back, and our wedding is in two months.’
“Music brings people together. Seriously, that is its ancient role in society. Those are the moments where you go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s why I do this …’ ”
MUSIC