Spot on: Bear Hands

Connecticut’s arts college Wesleyan University is one of those places that has a shining career in store for many of its alumni. MGMT, SANTIGOLD and AMANDA PALMER are just a few of them. An encounter at Wesleyan also was the start of the band BEAR HANDS. Founding members Dylan Rau and Ted Feldman met there as film students but chose the musical path after deciding to start a band in 2006. With drummer TJ Orscher and bass player Val Loper they recorded an EP in 2007 and released their debut Burning Bush Supper Club in 2010.

The band admits that they had a complicated time after that, including problems with money, their label and their relationships and distractions like internet, drinking and reality TV. Fortunately they’ve overcome their apathy and took the production of the new record in their hands. Now Distraction is available in America and Canada and on August 8 it will be released in Germany and on the 11th the UK.

NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION sat down with Ted Feldman and Val Loper to talk about the new longplayer, good books and second honeymoons.

I’ve read the title of the album is inspired by the novel ‘Chronic City’ by Jonathan Lethem.
Ted: Kind of. I love this book. It’s about a guy from New York, who is a former child actor. He doesn’t have to do anything. His girlfriend is stuck in a space station, he hangs out with some bizarre characters and there are second universes. I think there were parallels with what was going on with us. In our time, the internet age, people are distracted and willing to be lead around by the government or the vices or whatever.

Are there other books that have impressed you?
T: I’ve just read A Confederacy of Dunces. It’s about some awful people in New Orleans.
Val: I’m reading it right now. John Kennedy Toole wrote it in the sixties. He committed suicide because he couldn’t get it published. After his dead, his mother sent the book to a bunch of publishers. One fell in love with it and it became a cult classic.

Is one of you a reptile lover? Because there is this iguana in the video for Agora.
T: I put the reptile in the video as a tribute to the remake of the film Bad Lieutenant. It takes place in New Orleans and Nicolas Cage plays a horrible cop. He is smoking crack and there are these weird shoots of an iguana, that he only sees.

Many songs, like ‘Agora’ and ‘Vile Iowa‘, are pretty personal. Can you tell me more about that?
T: The lyrics of Vile Iowa are about Dylan’s ex girlfriend who was from Iowa. He had a bad experience meeting her parents. They didn’t like him.
V: Parents don’t like Dylan.

Why?
T: Have you met him? (laughs) We love him but parents get a little nervous. He is fidgety. Agora is about not leaving the house. Dylan doesn’t really have agoraphobia but he spent a lot of time in his apartment.

Are you guys afraid of something?
V: I am afraid of flying. I hate flying. Every time a plane takes off, I almost have a panic attack. My biggest fear is a plane crash into the ocean at night in shark infested waters.
T: Failure probably.
V: Oh shut the fuck up! (laughs)

Well, as a musician the chance to fail is very high. What did your parents say when you decided to work as musicians?
V: Good luck.
T: My parents are very supportive but it was not their ambition for me.

What was their ambition?
V: Male stripper.
T: Basketball star. (both laugh)

You once said that the start of the band was like honeymoon. After honeymoon often comes routine…
T: … and then divorce! (laughs)

Hopefully not. In which phase are you right now?
T: Second honeymoon.
V: Yeah, second honeymoon. We are starting a new chapter. We signed a more long term record deal and we have a new focus.

What are you doing if you are not on tour or producing new songs?
V: I like to ride my bike.
T: I do some post-production work. And we hang out with friends or cook.

And what kind of food do you cook?
V: I’m not the best cook in the world, my girlfriend does a lot of it. I like making elaborate salads with fruits and nuts and home made dressings and I really like roasting vegetables.
T: I just put cheese on things.
V: He makes shredded chicken, he is a good chicken cook.

What do the words hope and passion mean to you?
T: That sounds paradisiacal. I’m imagining a verdant garden and sunshine.
V: Sounds like a relationship to me.
T: Yeah, a healthy, romantic relationship.
V: Young love.
T: Right. Wild sex.
V and T: Just a lot of sex.

Intense relationships (that didn’t work out so well) also were an inspiration for new songs like the honest Thought Wrong or Vile Iowa, which proves that BEAR HANDS have mastered thoughtful ballads as well as powerful hooks like in the self-ironic Agora: ‘You like to hang out but I don’t / I don’t leave the house ’cause I can’t / I’ve been taking these pills but still / Got a couple of trails that I couldn’t shake’. Despite all those failing romances, effusive feelings have not gone sour on BEAR HANDS. I know you love me, I am loving you more repeats Dylan Rau in Giants and it is impossible to escape the bass-line and the drum that make the single one of the best songs of the album. Creative changes in tempo in genre – ranging from punk rock to pop – are the trademark of Distraction and the tracks will come along nicely at the live shows BEAR HANDS will play this summer.

There are uptempo numbers like Peacekeeper as well as songs in which bass and drums are more restrained like the catchy Bone Digger with its cheerful melody. The wonderful Moment of Silence starts quiet and spiritual with Rau singing lyrics like ‘Oh holy man, feed the Volcano. / So, I abandon my call for reign. / No, this is not what the God’s made us for… little sacrificial animals’ almost like a mantra. Synths expand the musical spectrum and while Rau’s voice hugs the bass, the drums start out of nowhere and the song ends in a thrilling final.

BEAR HANDS‘ music is a perfect mix of irony and seriousness – it is light but edgy and should not be missing at your summer road trip or the garden party with old friends.

NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION presents the upcoming three German shows of the band. And we’re giving away 2×2 tickets for these gigs. Just write us a mail to win@nbhap.com with the subject ‘Bear Hands’ and the city of your choice. Good Luck!

19.08.2014 – Berlin, Privatclub
20.08.2014 – Hamburg, Prinzenbar
21.08.2014 – Cologne, Blue Shell

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BEAR HANDS