Interview: Bear's Den (Eurosonic Festival 2014)

As a big fan of the band I was quite nervous to have one of my first face-to-face interviews with Bear's Den, but they were lovely. The Ripe once described them as "beautiful, potty-mouthed, bearded angels" and I can confirm every single word.

Even though it has been a while since I interviewed them (the festival took place in the end of January), it is finally here. Read why Bear's Den have called themselves like this, the reason behind their beards and their plans for 2014.

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Anna: Thank you, guys, for joining me!

Bear's Den: No problem, thanks for having us!

A: How would you describe Bear's Den's sound to those unfamiliar with your music?

Long pause...

A: Tough one?

Davie: (Laughing) How does Ross Geller describe his music in Friends? Wordless sound poems, but, no, there are words, so it doesn't really work haha!

Kev: Wordless sound poems with words?

Davie: Yeah, that’s how I would describe it! Errrm, I don't really know...

Joey: grief and glory?

Davie: the grief and the glory... I think that's the way to describe it. That's really good actually!

A: Who would you consider to be most influential to you musically?

Davie: Oh gosh...

Joey: I would say me, maybe?

Davie: I think Joey is incredibly influential, emm, I think we have loads of different people that we were influenced by, but then there is some bands like Sufjan Stevens, his songs have always been a big inspiration. We always bring different things to the table, Joey is really interested in Steven Stills and stuff like that, and Kev has got his finger on the pulse a bit more than the rest of us. And that Bahamas song that we keep listening to, Bahamas is really great and yeah, there is loads of different stuff, really.

A: What is the attraction for indie bands to name themselves after animals? And obviously I have to follow up by asking the generic question of where did the name Bear's Den come from?

Davie: Well, I don't know why bands do it, but I know why we did it! Kind of. Because we were trying to go for some "Where The Wild Things Are"-esque sort of hideaway place called Bear's Den.

A: Did you come up with it together or was it one person's idea?

Davie: We were flowing ideas around and then...

Kev: Lots of chats, lots of cups of tea... trying to come up with one idea.

A: So the beards, is that a collective thing or do you all just happen to be pro facial hair?

Davie: We meet 3 times a week and compare our beards!

Joey: I think it's like when girls live together and their periods synchronize. This is the equivalent for the guys.

At this moment I've been laughing too hard and this is the only thing I can hear on the recording. Too damn funny.

Davie: I don't really know why we have beards (laughs).

Joey: We can't afford razors!

Davie: Yeah, that's it.

A: You've supported other acts such as Daughter and Matt Corby. What has been the best part of touring with some well established bands?

Kev: They are just all such lovely people I think. We were so lucky to tour with so many musically amazing people who are also just lovely people, so that sense of comradery on tour just makes it so much fun.

A: Has there been one location you've performed that really stood out among the others?

Davie: That's really tough...

Joey: Let's just do one each.

Davie: You go first!

Joey: Alright, I'm gonna go with New York then, just because I have a massive crush on the whole city.

Kev: San Francisco, just because I have a massive crush on that city.

Davie: I will go for nostalgic option of Paris where we supported Ben Howard. It was quite an early show for us and it was fun.

A: What's the craziest or strangest thing that's happened to you at a live gig?

Joey: Well, I wanted to say the thing about the lady who drove after us in America for like half an hour, but that was just a car chase! Has nothing to do with a gig.

Davie:  We had some audience members on stage in Brighton, that was quite crazy. They just got on stage and stayed for pretty much the entire show. Just watching us on the stage, they were singing really loudly as well, so you could hear them, they were just there. It was really funny.

A: If you had to save the world from a zombie apocalypse by singing one of your songs, which would it be and why?

Long discussion how the song is going to affect the zombies

Kev: I think it would be "Bad Blood". Both because of the title and also because of the lyrics.

Bear's Den: That's deep! He is the deep one.

A: What's one thing fans might not already know about Bear's Den?

Davie: Kev used to make shoes for a living. Joey is Norwegian, Joey plays a lot of FIFA. I used to work on a building site.

A: What’s coming up for you guys in 2014?

Kev: Well we just about to start making our first album, hopefully we will achieve that and that will be really exciting for us.

Davie: Also touring. We are hoping to announce soon, just excited to get on the road and play more shows with an album rather than EP's, which will be really lovely.