spot on: bear driver
Bear Driver was already featured on the Guardian’s new band of the day in 2010 and since then the line up changed, nevertheless ’Never Never’ is the first release from Bear Driver’s forthcoming as-yet-untitled debut album. Taking influence from bands such as Sparklehorse, The Flaming Lips and Yo La Tengo, Bear Driver write loved-up, fuzzed-up pop that demands your attention. It’s the sound of long-lost summers and hazy morning dreams, melodies that embed themselves deep in your subconscious and haunt you for days. To put it in the band’s words, Bear Driver make ‘sunny-slacker-pop’
What’s the story behind the name of the band?
We booked a gig but we didn’t have the name for the band yet. So we were just walking around the kitchen naming everything we saw, ‘kettle,’ ‘window,’ etc. Then we came to a poster with all the constellations on it. One of them was Bootes, also known as The Bear Driver, we then dropped the ‘The’ and became Bear Driver.
The best records of all times in the whole wide world?
My best records of all time vary day to day. Right this moment they are, Joanna Newsom – Ys, The Beatles – Revolver, Neil Young – Live At Massey Hall, The Incredible String Band – The 5000 Spirits or Layers of Onions and Sparklehorse – It’s A Wonderful Life.
As a child who did you want to be like?
Bruce Grobbelaar the old Liverpool Goalkeeper. He had the worlds greatest moustache, oh and Superman. It turns out I can’t grow a moustache or fly. Oh well!
What’s the most embarrassing record in your collection?
I have a lot of Dire Straits vinyls, most people find them embarrasing but I love them. I dream of one day being able to play guitar just like Mark Knopfler.
A book/song that changed us
Gertrude by Herman Hesse is a very influential book for me. The story follows a young composer who falls in love with a girl but she falls in love with a destructive opera singer. The young composer then goes on to write an opera about the relationship between the girl he loves and the opera singer. I have never read anyone write about music and the creative process the way that Herman Hesse does, it’s very inspiring. He’s a truly excellent writer, you should also check out his book ‘Siddartha’ if you get a chance, oh, and Steppenwolf too.
Our favourite place?
Our favourite place to play a gig would be The Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. Great venue, amazing sound and lovely people too.
What influences would you say was present in your music?
Yo La Tengo have been a massive influence on our sound, as well as bands like Sonic Youth and Sparklehorse. The main influence is the way those bands approach songs and song writing, they have such a great sense of melody but then they take these quite fragile songs and fuzz them up, and do quite odd things too them. You always get the sense with those bands that you could play the songs on just an acoustic guitar and they would still sound great.
What process do you go through when you write your music?
The song writing process varies from track to track.Generally the music comes first, but it may be that we have lyrical ideas floating around that we use when coming up with the music. Other times both the lyrics and the music come at the same time, and, I find those are the easiest songs to write. I’m not too good about agonising over lyrics, I like to just get them done as quickly as possible.
Are you seeking fame or fortune, birds or something altogether different?
We are seeking musical enlightenmnet, trying to find that one note that saves mankind, but in the mean time it would be nice to put out records, go on tour and not have to pull pints and make coffees to pay the rent. Although pulling pints and making coffees isn’t too bad..
How would you describe your sound in one sentence?
Colourful fuzzy-pop on the brink of destruction.
