Rainbow Kitten Surprise Artistfacts

2012-
Ela MeloLead vocals, guitar
Darrick "Bozzy" KellerGuitar
Ethan GoodpasterGuitar
Jess HaneyDrums
Charlie HoltBass2013-2024
Rainbow Kitten Surprise started as the duo of Ela Melo and Darrick "Bozzy" Keller, who met as freshmen at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina in the fall of 2012. They expanded the group to a five-piece their sophomore year (fall 2013) with the addition of three more students. That year they joined a student-run label called Split Rail Records and released their debut album, Seven.
About the band name: In October 2012, when they were still a duo, they had a gig at the Appalachian State University student union. A week earlier, their friend got meningitis, and when Ela Melo and Bozzy Keller visited him in the hospital, he was heavily medicated. To lighten the mood, Melo told him about their upcoming gig and ask him what their name should be. Through his medicated haze, their friend replied from the hospital bed, "Rainbow Kitten Surprise," apparently inspired by an animated cat he found on the internet called Nyan Cat.
When they were still a duo, Melo and Keller made a 3-song EP called Mary in their dorm room, which they put on Bandcamp on May 5, 2013. To their surprise, it got 1,000 streams the first night. That was their first sign they were on to something.
Ela Melo was known as Sam Melo when the band started. In a 2022 social media post, Melo came out as trans and announced the name change to Ela with pronouns going from he/him to she/her. "I'm grateful to be able to express who I truly am and share in this moment," Melo wrote.
The band got some early exposure in 2014 when they appeared on VH1's "Make A Band Famous" competition, a 24-hour livestream event where 24 artists showcased their talents. Rainbow Kitten Surprise got chosen when they submitted their song "Devil Like Me." They were eliminated in the first round but were able to build some momentum from the appearance. They got invited to various festivals, and in 2018 signed with Elektra Records.

Oh, the winner of that competition was a band called Fancy Reagan, who were given a contact with Republic Records. Last we checked, they had a few thousand listens on streaming services; Rainbow Kitten Surprise are well over 500 million.
The band name belies their songs, which are often rather dark. Ela Melo explained to Iowa State Daily: "Much of the inspiration of our music stems from sad s--t. I regurgitate life experiences."
Melo spent her formative years in the Dominican Republic. Her parents were missionaries and were in that country from 1999-2006, engraining themselves into the culture. It was a tough place for Melo to grow up, with regressive attitudes about LGBTQ rights, but it gave her a worldview that led to very unusual RKS songs like "It's Called: Freefall," which takes the form of a conversation with the Devil. In the Dominican there was lots of talk of the Devil and a warning that if you called for him, he would come.

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