Climbing Trails and Dodging Dogs with Grizzly Bearās @edroste
To see more of Edās photos, follow @edroste on Instagram. For more stories from around the music community, follow @music on Instagram.
We are crawling on our hands and knees through the dusty landscape of Los Angelesā Griffith Park, which was not the plan. Ed Droste (@edroste), the singer for the beloved chorale-meets-indie rock act Grizzly Bear, may have one of the most mellifluous voices of the last decade, but his internal GPS needs a little fine-tuning. In the middle of our two-hour hike through the sprawling city park, home to the Hollywood sign, Ed lost the way, leading his friend Ryan and me to scramble up behind him on one of the parkās many fake out trails that only bobcats and CrossFit obsessives attempt. Itās practically vertical. Ryan and I are panting, our faces inches from the ground, but Ed, whoās been on a bit of a fitness kick lately, bounds quickly to the top.
He calls out: āAre you cursing me now?ā
Need breath. Canāt answer.
āYouāll look back on this and say that you got a really good cardio workout.ā
Credit where credit is due: Ten minutes later, endorphins rush in but fear rapidly supplants. Now on the trail proper, we run into a striking silver-and-black dog that looks straight out of Game of Thrones. One eye is ice blue, the other black. I ask if heās one of those wolf-dog hybrids. Before the owner can answer, the reincarnation of Ned Stark emits a growl. We dart away from him and giggle from a safe distance about how we nearly got our throats ripped out.
Ed moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn, New York, more than two years ago, and itās exactly these kinds of wilderness adventures that have turned him on to the city, though he prefers them with less peril. āI love that thereās green space everywhere,ā he says. āThe fact that this park is 10 minutes from my place, itās amazing. My quality of life has improved so much. In New York, I stayed out too late and slept during the day āā it just wasnāt that healthy.ā
Though the Cape Cod-native is happy to call California home, travel is one of his true callings. There he is throwing up mock-gang signs in coastal Massachusetts. In another pic, heās playing cricket in Jodhpur, India, then exploring a beautiful cave in Myanmar and a mist-shrouded bridge in Lucerne, Switzerland, which is where Edās boyfriend lives.
āItās my favorite thing to do other than music. Iām always hyper-stimulated when I go to another country,ā says Ed. āI post a lot of latergrams from my trips, if I didnāt capture something exciting around the house. Sometimes it looks like Iām on one long vacation and I have to clarify that it isnāt true.ā
How does he afford this voracious wanderlust? By touring with Grizzly Bear and racking up miles. The four-pieceās most recent global jaunt in support of their fourth album, Shields, lasted a year and a half and ended last January at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Ed also documents his travels for Vogue; his latest column tracks his trip to India with a group of friends.
His taste in photography mostly veers toward elegant landscapes and architecture. āIf I see another pic of latte art, Iām going to die.ā As we stop for Ryan to take a picture of Ed posed in front of the cityscape, we talk about selfies. āIāve been known to do a selfie or two,ā he admits, ābut I donāt like following people who only do selfies. After a while itās like, āI know what you look like.āā
In addition to his travel pictures, Ed also likes to capture his life as a working musician. When the members of Grizzly Bear sequestered themselves at Edās motherās house in Cape Cod for almost two months to record Shields in 2012, Ed regularly posted from their studio sessions and his daily hikes.
āItās inspiring to have another outlet when youāre creating something,ā he says. āIt takes your mind out of one space and puts it somewhere else. When I look back, it looks like a snapshot of a certain time, with the colors I was using then.ā
Ed may get the chance soon to document the band at work once again. Bassist/producer Chris Taylor, who just released a cookbook, 20 Dinners, moved to Los Angeles two months ago and promptly set up a garage studio. āThatās been a huge motivation for us all to get started again,ā says Ed. The two have been working on ideas and sending them back to drummer Chris Bear and guitarist-singer Daniel Rossen, who live in Long Islandās North Fork and upstate New York, respectively.
So far, Ed says their fledgling sound isnāt a reinvention, but a slow progression toward something different. āWeāve always changed with each album,ā he says about the next record, which doesnāt have a set release date, though Ed mentions early next year as a possibility. āIām gravitating towards fun. I just went through a divorce. Itās been a tumultuous year but I donāt really want to write [about] that ā¦ Chris and I are like, āLetās just have fun with this. Letās not make it sad.āā Eventually, theyāll all have to meet somewhere to record. āI have a feeling theyād be down to come out here,ā he says.
With any luck, Grizzly Bear will be blazing trails in the studio and the wilds of Los Angeles very soon.
āāMargaret Wappler for Instagram @music
stormborns
snowghoul
discoholicmusic
gummygunk
romaincrisis
amandla
areudirty
