Bear Hands
Bear Hands are a band who recently broke threw that huge wall that divides internet bands with real bands and then became an industry buzz band. What’s hard from the magazines point of view is to write about how amazing, mind blowing and ‘the next best thing’ etc etc or to simply say nothing at all, just let them speak – then when they bravely bleed into the background of general music, you were never actually right or wrong about them. Never the less, we like bear hands and thats enough for us.
How long have you been together?
It will be 2 years in August.
Names?
Val Loper, Dylan Rau, Ted Feldman, TJ Orscher
From?
Tj, Dylan and i are all originally from CT.
Ted grew up in NYC.
We formed the band and all live in Brooklyn now.
Combined Age?
97
First of all I have to say ten out ten for the name ‘bear hands’, how did you come to deciding on this name? Were you all in a bear related accident or does one of you secretly have hideously hairy Bear-like hands?
Thanks! Well, I can only speak for myself, but my hands are relatively hairless (thankfully).
We came up with the name out of necessity. We were actually meeting with a label before we had even played a show based on a demo we did about a week after we formed…and we were like shit…we gotta call ourselves something. I was planning on using “bear hands” as the name for my old band, but they didn’t like it so I kept it on the back-burner until a band name was needed. I brought it up and no one hated it, so here we are.
As well as being a band, is bear hands a tight group of friends who would probably be together even if the music wasn’t?
I think so. Tj, Dylan and I knew each other for years from punk rock shows so i would say yes, but I only met Ted the first day
we came together to practice (he and Dylan were friends from school). but i love the shit out of him. so yes. Id say we
would totally be friends and we totally are friends. Even though we fight like brothers. I think at this point we’ve shared so many experiences together we have a very special bond.
How does your writing process work, do you all work together?
Yes, we do. Dylan usually brings in a vocal melody with maybe a verse and chorus attached to it. Then TJ and I dissect it and come up with a groove or beat pattern we like. Ted will then usually come in with guitar leads and the more complex melodies to really bring the songs to life but we never finalize any parts until everyone is happy.
How do you cope with people comparing you to such sounds as modest mouse or ted leo?
Im fine with it. We respect both Ted Leo and modest mouse very much. I think its pretty flattering to be compared to bands you listen to anyway. Though we may not agree with some of the comparisons we get, they are usually good bands so it could be a lot worse.
Have you played the UK yet? if not any plans to?
Not yet! It is an immediate goal of ours to play the UK though. We have tentative plans of coming over in November, so hopefully that pans out.
How would you describe your music to date, and has it evolved a lot since you started?
Thats a tough one..the cop out answer is probably something like post-punk/indie rock with lots of percussion, or so we hear. People call us lo-fi a lot as well. I don’t know, I don’t really care for genres too much. We are constantly evolving so its hard to pin-point an exact description. Either way, I think we’ve evolved immensely since the inception of the band. the “Golden EP” was recorded only 3 months after we formed so we’ve had about a year and a half to grow. We have about 13 new songs that sound much different than that EP.
Some more aggressive, some much more ambient and groove oriented. We are extremely anxious and excited to record our full-length (which will hopefully be soon).
A little about school…
Were you all friends back in school?
I’ve been friends with TJ since middle school/early high School, so about 12 or 13 years at this point.
I met Dylan about 8 years ago because he went to high school with the drummer of my old band.
Dylan and Ted have been friends for a few years longer since they went to college together, but like I said,
Tj and I didnt know Ted before Bear Hands.
Any funny, embarrassing or slightly odd stories from your school days?
Yes! At our middle school talent show (my first show ever), my band covered a song by The Offspring. The next year, Tj’s band played the same talent show (he is a year younger than me) and played the same fucking song! I still make fun of him about it to this day.
We also played a local show together around that time and covered the same Rage Against the Machine song.
I guess we were destined to just play songs together.
Did you all like going to school?
Yes and no. I really liked the social aspect of school, but honestly in high school I just cared about going to shows and
fucking around with my friends. I didn’t do terrible in school or anything, but academics were definitely not my main priority.
I think if I was back in school now I’d be much more focused.