Ever wondered what it feels like to get smashed by a ten ton hammer? Or witness a burning plane crash into a building? Face
BEAR, an Antwerp-based 4 piece. Conspired in 2010 they set out to bring audible fury to the masses,” is how they describe themselves on their official website. However, these agents of djent, an off-shoot of progressive metal, seem like regular guys. “We all do day-jobs.
Dries (bass guitarist) is a teacher and father of two. Both
Maarten (vocalist) and
Serch (drummer) work in graphic design, photography and social media-oriented professions. I work for a skincare brand,” says the lead guitarist
James, adding, “We all live very normal lives outside of the band.” But when jamming together, they turn into a musical force — brutal and savage, much like the name of their band — Bear. Known for their angsty groves and mathcore songwriting, they have become a force to reckon with among metal heads around the world. “You could say this band keeps us sane in this insane world. Although Belgium is a pretty good place to live in, to be fair,” quips Dries. Ahead of their first gig in Hyderabad tomorrow, Hyderabad Times caught up with the Band to find out more about their Meshuggah-inspired sound, what they are looking forward to in their maiden India tour and their latest album, titled ///.
Excerpts...
Bear is a rather unusual a name for a metal band...
James: Looking for a band name is a real sh$%&y thing to do. Because a lot of (good) names are already taken. So, for a new band that’s always a difficult task. We were looking for a name that would represent our music, or at least, the music we were writing back then — fast, heavy and ferocious. We started toying with names of animals and bear seemed perfect, a short name for a big, wild and savage beast.
Dries: We started out as three guys wanting to play heavy music. I’ve known Serch (drummer) for more than 20 years now. We both said to each other ‘we should really start a band together’. It took us more than 10 years to get here, but now we’re approaching 10 years of playing music together.
Your sound is described as “uncompromising math-metal extremism”. Do you agree? Where do you draw inspiration for your sound and of course, lyrics?
James: Inspiration for our lyrics comes from everyday life and the struggles we come across. Anything that makes us feel bad or gives us a sad feeling inspires us. However, Maarten (vocals) doesn’t like to get into the specifics of what inspired a certain song. He’d rather have everyone relate to a song in their own way. If people can relate to our music and take some sort of meaning from songs we’ve written, that will be the biggest compliment.
Dries: We don’t really think too hard about what we’re supposed to sound like. We work hard on our songs and try to come up with things that everyone in the band can be happy with. We sometimes might say that it’s not “Bear-enough”, but we never made a pre-fixed plan of what our songs would actually be. For instance, the first single of our album, ///sounded really ‘non-Bear’ to us initially. But we all liked the vibe and it eventually became a single. As long as we all like it, it can be Bear.
James: Sound-wise I think we are a mixture of everyone’s preferences. The main influences when starting out were Meshuggah, Dillinger Escape Plan and Mastodon, but it doesn’t end there. Some of us also listen a lot to Hip Hop, groove to funk and pop, some like black metal while others can’t stand it. We just try to bring everything together and as long as we like it, we’ll use it.
So, is your latest album too based on personal experience?
Maarten: The album is just psychology! Everybody has fears. It’s about fears people deal with in general — fear of their god, dying, being mistreated or abused, to reveal the real person you are. The point is to not let these fears take over your life. That sums it up pretty well, I guess.
Dries: The lyrics are all Maarten’s.
This is your first India tour, how excited are you guys? Have you prepared a to-do list for Hyderabad?
James: Words won’t really do justice to what we feel about the tour! We come from a country that has a population of 11 million and Antwerp, the second largest city has only some 700,000 inhabitants. Whereas, 10 times as many people live in Hyderabad. Demographically speaking, your city is like London, Paris, Rome, Madrid. It hasn’t really quite sunk in yet, so we haven’t really thought about exactly what we want to do. We’re just trying to enjoy the moment.
Dries: One thing on Serch’s to-do list is to visit the Taj Mahal. In fact, none of us would mind visiting the monument.
James: We’re looking forward to performing with all the local bands who are joining us at our shows.We know very little about the metal music scene in India, so we’re all excited to check out new music, especially from different cultural background!
