by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
Minus the Bear is a Seattle rock band. In the late 90s, when Minus the Bear was starting out, being a rock band from Seattle meant garage-style recordings, torn jeans, long ratty hair and a “corporate rock sucks” sort of mythos. But while everyone was worrying about Y2K, another drastic change was afoot in the Pacific Northwest. Bands that had nothing to do with the grunge mold were emerging from Seattle’s scene.
Minus the Bear is certainly fresh, new rock. This fact has been evident since their first EP This Is What I Know about Being Gigantic was released in 2001. With track titles such as ‘Hey, Wanna Throw Up? Get Me Naked,’ ‘Lemurs, Man. Lemurs,’ and ‘Pantsuit...Uggghhh,’ it was apparent from the start that Minus the Bear was bringing a new personality to rock music. That first album introduced us to the sort of math-rock orientation that was in its infancy at the time. Most closely associated with Don Caballeros, math rock had not achieved wide enough of an audience to get the attention of most rock enthusiasts, and so Minus the Bear became the sort of band that only the super-hip, in-the-know musicians were aware of. By the time their first full length, Highly Refined Pirates came out on Suicide Squeeze Records in 2002, they were something of an understated buzz band on the edge of hip.
According to Wikipedia, many of the titles of the songs on Pirates were quotes from the movie Starship Troopers. This move appears tragically un-hip. That is one of the hippest things about Minus the Bear, they are perfectly content with the tragically un-hip. So much so, they just might reverse the polarity of hip and make the tragically un-hip, super-hip.
For instance, ever since Seattle’s own Nirvana (along with Mudhoney, Screaming Trees and a number of the late 90s grunge bands) said so, a very produced album with compositions that relied heavily on electronics has been tragically uncool. Minus the Bear simply doesn’t care about that.
“We wanted to put together a record that is polished. I don’t know if it’s more polished [than past releases] or not. The keyboards are louder and there is a lot more vocal shit going on, so in that respect it comes off that way. We always want to make a well-produced record. Hopefully the next one will be even more produced. Super hyper-produced,” said guitarist and vocalist Jake Snider when EU spoke to him from his home in Seattle.
Minus the Bear’s music, especially on their latest release, Planet of Ice, is still math rock, in that it utilizes complex time-signatures, but it is less like Don Caballero or any of the math rock contemporaries than any of their prior albums. It has electronic features that make the songs transcend the standard rock band modalities. They incorporate the sound of a CD skip into the rhythmic texture of the song ‘Knights’.
“On this record, it was much more of us being in a room jamming parts out and all putting our heads together to arrange it. Us all having different opinions might make it seem more thought out.”
They are incorporating electronic and new pedal technologies into the compositions of their songs to keep that on-the-edge-of-something new vibe to their music, but the overwhelmingly digital production of the new album makes their music almost reminiscent of Thievery Corporation. I’m interested to see how the two compare at the upcoming Langerado Music Festival in the Everglades where both bands will be appearing live.
EU: What the hell makes you so special?
Jake Snider: I think that’s its just the synergy of these 5 yung men getting into a room together and expressing themselves. We get in a room and go ahead and get at it.
EU: Is Minus the Bear better on stage or in studio?
JS: The two beasts are totally different. In the studio we have all these toys, resources and time. Maybe having all that gets in the way of the expression, maybe live is a better conduit.
EU: Planet of Ice is the first album with new band member Alex Rose – any similarities between Alex and Axl Rose?
JS: He’s a redhead. Axl has kind of red hair, doesn’t he? That’s about it. Alex is a musician and Axl is kind of like a musician. They aren’t from the same town or actually related or anything weird like that.
EU: How much has changed with the addition of Alex?
JS: It’s been an overall vibe change. He has the opposite personality of Matt [Bales – former keyboardist and producer for Minus the Bear] so it’s a different overall vibe when we all get together. He’s also more a singer and songwriter, keyboard isn’t his first act, so he’s getting into that. He’s more of a songwriter, whereas matt was more production, so it helps having someone else in the game writing more purposefully.
EU: Who are peers that you feel are along a similar musical journey?
JS: I just bought the whole Led Zep catalogue on my iTunes. The current batch of artists haven’t really been doing it for me. I’ve been listening to the new Grand Archives and Helio Sequence is always good. My Morning Jacket is pretty good, I guess. Most of my favorites are from the 70s.
EU: I notice that you have a number of festivals on your upcoming tour dates, Coachella, Bonoroo, Langerado, has the festival circuit helped spread the word?
JS: Festivals are a great way to get in front of an audience that isn’t actively seeking your band.
EU: How has the Seattle scene changed over the last fifteen years?
JS: We have tight knit crew, guys in my band and in These Arms Are Snakes, we’ve been friends for well over a decade. So there’s this tight group and we all seem to know each other. I just sit around the house with my wife, I don’t go out and scene it up much, but it does seem to produce musicians that are prolific and puts out some great music.
EU: Is this album more difficult to translate to the live stage than the rockier albums past?
JS: Some of the songs are difficult to translate, but that just means they take a little extra prep time. For the most part it has been pretty easy, they translate well.
EU: How does the white tiger help Erin's drum tone? Is that a studio-only trick.
JS: We actually got it on the road and it went for a while. It’s retired now. I don’t remember what it had to do with the tones, but I remember it having many notes that reminded Erin of things in the studio.
EU: Are your lyrics more meaning or sound focused?
JS: Both. There are a couple songs where I hum a melody and then I just spit words that work with the phonetics of the song, and those work better than coming to a song with finished lyrics, even if that means the lyrics feel vague and have less content to them. But that doesn’t bother me.
EU: Are you a big Nelly fan?
JS: Yes, more the original OG, Saint Lunatics stuff, pre-City Records.
EU: Who listens to the worst music in the band?
JS: Cory [Murchy – bass player], He listens to reggae. Some of it is really great, he also listens to super crusty punk rock that I’m not into. We all listen to our own batch of bad music.
EU: What’s yours?
JS: Except me, I listen only to good music… Kenny Rogers.
EU: Why should people make the effort to check out Minus the Bear when there are so many bands to choose from at Langerado?
JS: Because the show is gonna’ be fucking awesome. Who else is playing? Maybe there are better options. There will be a lot of choices, people should see us because we are going to be one of the more energetic shows on the bill. We bring some funk and I’ll swear indiscriminately between songs.
Catch Minus the Bear at 5:30 on Sunday March 9th on the Chickee Hut stage of the Langerado Music Festival. They will be playing just before Of Montreal and Ani DiFranco on the final day of the festival. Go to langerado.com for more details.
Article Published in the 03-08 Issue of EU Jacksonville
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