incoming: THE BEAR!
Tomorrow night sees London favourites Los return to The Tudor and no band could be a more suitable support for getting the crowd in the mood than Wigan’s The Bear. They play hard energetic rock in the vain of bands like Queens of The Stone Age and And You Will Know Us By The Trial Of The Dead and have a sound that’s more in your face than, well, a bear.. The band came together from the remnants of classic Wigan bands - think Hector! and Ideal Crash - and are infamous for their random stage shows and onstage antics. Martin Battle (vocals/guitar) took time out from his hobbie of bear wrestling to have chat about the bands new tracks, crap stuffed animals and Noel Edmonds lookalikes..
WMC: Hello Martin, we like your band name, how are you?
Martin: Sexy thanks.
WMC: First things first, ever seen a live bear?
Martin: Seen one at the zoo once and have plenty of friends who look and smell pretty similar.
WMC: Ever wrestled one?
Martin: Yes at the zoo. Luckily I was wearing my wrestling trunks that day and hurled myself at it. I pinned it 1-2-3. Then got banned from every zoo in Europe, hence only seeing one once at the zoo. I did him.
WMC: We believe you’ve have just written some new material?
Martin: We have indeed a lovely 7 track mini album entitled ‘The Big Tasty E.P’, which will be available as of Friday. We’ve been incorporating the majority of the new stuff into our last few live shows and it’s had a pretty positive reaction so it’s good to get the recording finally finished.
WMC: How would you describe your sound to someone who has yet to hear you?
Martin: Energetic, danceable, at times poppy, at times shouty. An energetic Queens of The Stone Age maybe?? I don’t know. Our new E.P maybe isn’t as tongue in cheek as our first album, it’s certainly bigger and better though.
WMC: You’re all from relatively popular - and now deceased – Wigan bands, how did you come together?
Martin: It was weird. We all woke up in a steam room together wearing just our underpants. We’d all known each other from school, the local music scene, the local drinking scene. We had pretty similar music tastes so it made sense. It started with myself and Sigguz (guitar). We then recruited likeminded impressionable skilled musician friends; the band was actually merely a drinking club for a good three months before we got things started.
WMC: What would you says the secret to forming a good band these days?
Martin: For me, being mate’s helps, you can be as good a musician as you like but if you clash or don’t get on with your band mates it ain’t happening!!! Enjoying yourself helps!
WMC: Funniest gig you’ve played to date?
Martin: I don’t think we’ve done one that isn’t funny yet. Crap raffles, large stuffed animals thrown at the audience, a Phil Neville lookalike being dragged onstage then collapsing. Bullying an audience member to date our drummer!! Too many to mention.
WMC: Go on, who’s the worse Wigan band around at the minute?
Martin: Certainly not the worst musically but the worst hygienically and folically is a new band called John Doe. they happen to be very good friends of ours but that fact is the singer smells of vinegar and one of the guitarists looks like Noel Edmonds. Both said band members are going bald. Richard Ashcroft’s shite too, and any swoop hairdo wielding skinny emo whoppers can do one too. Utter muck. They seem to all be dying now though, we don’t seem to have seen much of that tripe for a while.
WMC: Who are your biggest influences?
Martin: Ooooooof - At The Drive In, Black Lace, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead, Queens of The Stone Age, Mogwai, Everytime I Die and Devo to mention 7 out of about 106.
WMC: What are the songs about?
Martin: Friends, ridiculous incidents or situations. A lot on this E.P has been about how much has changed in my life in the past year. I think I’ve managed to poke fun about it and be hopeful rather than mope like some soft melt. There’s also one about a tasty fat girl.
WMC: You usually put on an interesting show to say the least, anything up your sleeves for Friday?
Martin: VERY VERY VERY VERY MUSCULAR SEXY ARMS. Gazza might show up with some butties too. Our giant polar mascot Colin will be there so anything could happen, it’s all generally off the cuff and pretty unpredictable so it’s hard to say.
WMC: Finally, what does the rest of 2010 hold for The Bear?
Martin: Hopefully lots more gigs and just getting more people to listen to us and have fun at our shows!!
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The Bear play The Tudor - with Los and Moneytree - this Friday (15th of October)
www.myspace.com/thebeartheband
Download ‘Lights Out’ HERE
