Dead River

There are at least two artists with the name Dead River. 1. An Australian psychedelic rock band (active from 2011 to present) 2. An American hardcore band (active from 1999 to 2010) 1. Shaunagh Furlong, bartender and drummer, had only seen Bindi Masterson play with her old band, Killerbirds a couple of times when she was asked to start a new band with Bonnie on guitar. Shaunagh and Bindi had "some weird-ass kinda country & western" as their aim then, which wasn't exactly what Bonnie Mercer had been playing in her previous bands (like Grey Daturas & Breathing Shrine)...

1. An Australian psychedelic rock band (active from 2011 to present)
2. An American hardcore band (active from 1999 to 2010)

1. Shaunagh Furlong, bartender and drummer, had only seen Bindi Masterson play with her old band, Killerbirds a couple of times when she was asked to start a new band with Bonnie on guitar. Shaunagh and Bindi had "some weird-ass kinda country & western" as their aim then, which wasn't exactly what Bonnie Mercer had been playing in her previous bands (like Grey Daturas & Breathing Shrine), so things didn't really work out. It was only some time later when Shaunagh and Bindi said "O.K., we're gonna do rock'n'roll, Bonnie - what do you say?", then things really started rocking...

After the first rehearsal with just rock'n'roll in mind, Bindi, Shaunagh and Bonnie thought "fuck, yeah, let's do this!" The name Red River was picked after seeing a huge red moon over Port Phillip Bay, but 'Red River' became 'Dead River' since a band name with Double R's made no sense to Bindi, who says:

"Sometime band names, like men, jump up and say 'hello'. They introduce themselves, these band names, with words. Are they words? These band names speak so strangely. Some band names are destructive, some are constructive. Some band names can arrive in the form of a dream. I can say it again: some band names arrive in the form of a dream.".

The first gig was on April 25, 2011; the band played "south of the river after a couple of stand up comedians - we put up our equipment and everybody split, so we played for three people" (Bindi) "...and the bartender!" (Shaunagh), "but at least they danced" (Bonnie).