Interview: Bearcubbin'!
If you’re a regular reader of Melodic Post, you've probably noticed a math-leaning bias. Brilliant bands like Bearcubbin’! would be the ones responsible for said bias.
Truth be told, Bearcubbin’! is making some of the most interesting music I've heard in a very long time. Their music is a brand that I like to call “intelli-rock” (a term I just created), for the fact that it takes intelligent and skilled musicians to pull it off without a hitch. And sure, they certainly fall into the category of being “experimental,” but they’re experimental in a way that doesn't leave you scratching your head (an unfortunate theme within many experimental acts).
Recently, the guys from Bearcubbin'! were kind enough to share insights into the band's inception, their latest record and their music-making process. Enjoy.
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MELODIC POST: First of all, thanks for taking time out for this interview. I know you guys are busy, having just released a new record. But before we dive into things, would you mind giving everyone a quick introduction to yourselves and the band?
Chris: My name is Chris Scott and I play guitar & keyboards in Bearcubbin’! Bearcubbin’! is an instrumental, sometimes mathy and mostly dancey rock band from Portland, OR.
Mike: My name is Mike Byrne, I play drums for the band.
Patrick: My name is Patrick and I play bass for the band.
MP: I like to ask this next set of questions, because I find that you really get to know people well with them: who were some of your favorite bands growing up? And whom are you listening to currently?
Chris: I grew up listening to not very “cool” music. The only music my family passed down to me was my Genesis and Phil Collins (which I still love), but I liked Weird Al, Green Day, STP, the Offspring, and Nirvana growing up and when I really got into my own music, not pilfered from my brother and his friends, I was a total nu metal guy. I loved Taproot, Incubus, and all those bands. College really changed my tastes and hearing Deloused for the first time and Second Stage Turbine Blade definitely broadened my horizons, along with a close friend who got me into Tortoise, Faraquet, Pinback, and Battles. From there I haven’t stopped consuming new music and finding more things I like that challenge me as a listener. Right now I am most definitely listening to the new Wild Throne EP, Blood Maker. Those dudes are incredible talents and amazing musicians that make some of the most crushing and rifftastic complex music. I’d recommend picking that album up immediately. Also, I’ve been listening to “Natures” & “Breeder” by Boyfrndz, an amazing Austin, TX band we had the pleasure of playing 3 dates with on our last tour. They recently experienced a real gear tragedy and these dudes definitely deserve support and help from all music lovers.
Mike: First records I ever owned were “Reveal” by R.E.M., “Mad Season” by Matchbox 20 and “Maroon” by Barenaked Ladies. Thankfully I didn’t stay 10 for my whole life, I got into The Cure and a bunch of odds and ends, around high school I really started connecting with Tera Melos and that kind of thing, of late I find myself listening to a lot of Pyschic TV, Violens, Weed and Wild Beasts.
Patrick: The first cd I can remember buying with my own money was “Americana” by the Offspring. I liked a lot of that Alt rock punk stuff. I played in a band that did a bunch of System of a Down, Blink-182 and other just… I dunno, “high school rock” type stuff. Once high school was almost over I started getting into more musicians’ music I guess. Mathy, sometimes even borderline mastabatory bands with lots of tapping and “oh no you didn’t!” times changes. My long term bass teacher turned me on to hip hop, rap and R and B. I listen to a mix of the two now with some of my favorite bands being the roots, and This Town Needs Guns.
MP: Can you give us some insight into the band's inception and evolution?
Chris: Pat and I were in a band called The Jezebel Spirit and Mike was in a band called Moses, Smell the Roses a while ago. When Moses kind of broke up, they had a show they had to play and so their bass player, James, and Mike invited me to write a set with them to fill the slot. That music became the basis for the first Bearcubbin’! album, Live from the Beartrap. That album is really mellow and experimental in the sense that we were trying to figure out what we wanted to sound like and how to accomplish that with the tools we had at hand. The split and EP were extensions of that experimentation in that we were trying to extend our range into more angular, heavy, and complex compositions. The new record (Girls With Fun Haircuts) is a demonstration of a sound that is the most cohesive and consistent to date, I feel like we found our sound for now and have a real jumping off point to push that sound further.
MP: Outside of Bearcubbin'!, what are some of your hobbies and interests? I know Mike splits a lot of time with The Smashing Pumpkins, but what else are you guys up to in your spare time?
Chris: I am finishing up a degree in Electrical Engineering and have a job waiting for me in the industry. Other than that, I really love projects like fixing pedals or cabs -- I just like knowing how everything works.
Mike: Between that and Teaching I’m drumming pretty much all day every day.
Patrick: Spare time? I’m a sous chef and trying to take over the world with a math rock band… both are full time jobs.
MP: I'm always impressed by the level of musicianship within the band. Looping within live music may sound easy to some (it may even sound like cheating), but there can be quite a few obstacles to conquer when writing new material around loops: timing challenges, hardware limitations, etc. With that being the case, what’s the creative process like for you guys?
Chris: Live looping to me is always a tool rather than a crutch or gimmick. If I could find or stand being in a band with 19 other guitar and keyboard players I would do it, but the sounds I hear in my head are the dense compositions I try to bring to life through building live loops. The creative process, as I see it, is much a process of generation and refinement and reaction to that refinement to a final product. So I generate the riffs and movements alone and then I bring them to Mike, Pat, or both and they help refine the riffs into cohesive song structure and make each addition make sense in the context of the song. Often in the refining stage, the rhythmic choices of Mike and the chordal movements of Pat help create cool parts that I react to and create new parts accordingly. This finally becomes the final product.
MP: Your latest effort, Girls With Fun Haircuts, is superb. It's creative, dynamic and catchy as hell. Can you tell us how you all came up with the title?
Chris: Like most of our song titles, it’s an inside joke. I don’t know if I would do it justice or allow it to be as funny to everyone else as it is to me by explaining it.
MP: What were some hurdles that you guys faced in making the record? Was there a particular song or take that drove anyone crazy in the studio?
Chris: The main hurdle for me was time. We had the material done back in September and we decided to try and do a Spring tour to SXSW and back, but I said I wouldn't do a tour unless we had the new record done that we were going to be playing material from on tour. We worked hard with our Producer/Engineer, Stephan Hawkes, to get the pre-production and drum tracks done in October and then I got to work on the guitar and key tracks on my own. Then bass and auxiliary stuff. All and all we were done tracking by early January, but the killer part was mixing and mastering the record. With compositions really dense the hard part is making sure everything has its own space and can be heard well while serving the dynamics and main points of the songs. Mixing was by far the hardest part of the record. Let’s just say, the record came down to the wire of making it to the pressing plant on time and coming out at our CD release party. I definitely got a lot more grey hairs over that process. No song in particular was super difficult, but I would say that “Kevin” was the one I was most worried about sounding correct.
MP: Given that you guys utilize looping a lot, can you tell us how the recording process compares to performing in a live setting?
Chris: Definitely, it’s about ten times as hard. Live, I just have to play the part once or twice and then the song carries on based on these initial parts, but recording I have to play each part individually a bunch of times and try to pick the best sounding ones. My perfectionist attitude is my own worst enemy in the studio. Counting pre-production, scratch tracking for drum takes, and recording the actual record, I recorded the record 3 or maybe 4 times. Needless to say, the recording process for this record was really tough. To be honest, I am the last person you wanna ask about the recording process.
MP: Girls With Fun Haircuts is currently the most popular math-rock album on Bandcamp. Is there a sense of pride in knowing that it has already become a favorite among fans of the genre?
Chris: It’s crazy I noticed it’s still up at number 1. It’s a real honor to be amongst bands that we not only played with, like Boyfrndz, and bands we really idealized, like Tera Melos. It’s a real honor, but I’m also really honored to be up high in Rock, Post-Rock, and Instrumental Rock so people beyond the math rock audience. To me it’s a testament to people enjoying the complexity and musicianship, but also just enjoying the music and liking the groove.
Mike: It’s great to see something you have a hand in creating connect to people in a way that goes beyond just the people you see every day. It’s a humbling experience to hear from people in places like Russia and Japan and think how your music brought you to a shared experience.
Patrick: It definitely makes it easier to put all your time and money into what is essentially a hobby. It pushes you and motivates you to keep getting better and fills you with a warm gooey feeling.
MP: As it relates, the internet allows for bands to reach a global audience. Combine that with the fact that instrumental music doesn't have language barriers, I'm curious to know how Bearcubbin'! has been received outside of the United States. Do you guys seen much support from countries abroad?
Chris: Definitely. It doesn't really break the language barrier, but one of our biggest champions was a blog in the UK called Circuit Sweet. Naomi over there has been really sweet to us. Beyond that, I imagine the other guys have other stories about love from other countries.
Mike: We had a show in Los Angeles where someone came up to me and told me her friend in China recommended the show. That’s fairly crazy to us. There’s a beauty to the fact that instrumental music really allows us to bypass things like language and connect to people from all over the place.
Patrick: Ha, one of the very few perks of being in an instrumental band. The internet has made the world a very small place, which is great as far as receiving exposure. However we are broke and therefore cannot do anything about it.
MP: As a musician, I'm always interested in the gear that bands are using to obtain their sound. Can you give us a bit of insight into some of the equipment you're using?
Chris: Secrets of the trade man. Well I use a late 60s/early 70s Marshall Superbass 100 Watt head with a Mesa Boogie 4x12 loaded with Vintage 30s. Then I use an American Fender Strat with Seymour Duncan Cool Rails and a Nord Electro 3 HP keyboard. All those are run into a Gibson Echoplex, which handles most all the looping. Beyond that, I also use a JC 120 to give Mike a monitor for the loops and then a crap ton of pedals. So I run a Boss Tuner, Molten Voltage Whammy MIDI controller, Whammy IV, Electro Harmonix Micro POG, Buffer Pedal, Boss DD-20, Boss Harmonist 2, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Boss Equalizer, Boss Line Selector, Strymon El Capistan, Electro Harmonix Cathedral, Line 6 DL4, and an EP booster. This pedal collection is ever expanding as well. I would say the amp, guitar and whammy are definitely the sound.
Mike: I’m using a Gretsch New Classic (12x9, 16x16, 24x20) with a Steve Ferrone signature snare, Zildjian Cymbals (20’ K crash ride, 24’ K Light Ride, 14’ K Mastersound Hats), Gibraltar hardware and pedals and Vater 5A drumsticks
Patrick: Nothing too crazy to start with. I have an Ampeg 8x10, I play an Ampeg 3-Pro live, but used an SVT Classic for the record. I started using a lot more pedals than I was initially comfortable with when I first joined the band. The ones that you hear most are a Pro Co Rat with the old LM308 chip, as well as a micro synth and Digitech whammy that Mike gave me.
MP: You guys were in Austin to perform at SXSW recently and I read on your Facebook page that it was “the weirdest six days” of your lives. That seems to fit the Austin motto ("Keep Austin Weird"). What can you tell us about your experience in Texas?
Chris: Well, you gotta “keep Portland weird” as well. I would say that it was weird, because of how well we were received there and how much fun we had. Usually tour is a fight with flashes of cool stuff, but Austin was just 6 straight days of feeling comfortable and playing great shows.
Mike: I think it was strange because it really made us acknowledge that the tour was going much better than we’d even hoped. The shows were packed and the people were incredible.
Patrick: My answer is coming to you from Austin, Texas where I have now made my new home.
MP: Does the band have any big plans for Spring and Summer?
Chris: No idea honestly. Probably just playing shows in Portland and writing new stuff.
Patrick: We have been back for two weeks since tour and we are already writing new songs to follow up our record that came out two months ago. It’s like we hate ourselves.
MP: Again, thanks so much for your time. Is there anything or anyone you guys would like to plug?
Mike: We definitely want to give a shout to Stephen Hawkes at Interlace Studios, in Portland. He breathed life into our record and if you’re making a record, he’s your man. Also, go get a Wild Throne and/or Boyfrndz record, because just do it.
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Be sure to check out Bearcubbin'!:
Bearcubbin'! on Bandcamp
Bearcubbin'! on Facebook
Bearcubbin'! on Twitter
Mask Photo Credit: Simon Boas & Julianne Rose Tunnelle
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