A few words and a few pretty pictures with the awesome Bear Cavalry

Bear Cavalry. Firstly, I love the name. They are a massively talented band from the South Coast of England that I blogged back in December and slightly fell in love with their energetic sound. Secondly, their stand-out song ‘Roman Summer’ is a blinding tune reminiscent of quirky math rock evoking both Vampire Weekend and Foals and I am still playing it on my iPod since receiving it to my inbox in December. I can see this as a big festival tune in the sweaty months of May-September (see below in the post to listen). All I can say is, listen to the first 20 seconds of that song and try not to want to jump around and party. So, I got to know the boys responsible for me shouting on the tube; ‘I AM SELFISH BECAUSE I HAD A DREAM THAT I WAS WANDERING A HOTEL, WITHOUT A SOUL…’ on a regular basis. Let’s see what they have to say and the boys even provided some visual stimulation for the post, nice.

Hi Bear Cavalry – where are you from?
Gosport, Hampshire.

Where does the name come from?
There’s a picture entitled Bear Cavalry floating about the internet and we thought it fitted well when we saw it. And it’s cool to have an animal in the band name these days, right..?

Who’s in the band & what do you all play?
Louis – Guitar, Synth and Vocals
Owen – Bass
Matthew – Drums
Dan – Guitar, Synth and Trumpet.

How long have you been together in your current form?
2 Years, since the second year of college.

When is your next gig and where?
Road To Blissfields Festival at Envy in Portsmouth – 1st April.

What is your favourite food?
The rolls Matthew’s father bakes. They’re lighter than air.

If you could be the love-child of two musicians who would it be?
John Lennon and Jonsi.

What’s the one song that you’d wish you’d written?
Festival by Sigur Ros again.

And what’s the most embarrassing piece of music you own?
Dan bought Madonna’s James Bond theme when that came out as a single. It has two remixes on it. Owen has the Legend of Zelda soundtrack which is pretty shameful.

Finish the sentence:

If we could support one other musician or band on tour it would be…
We’d like to play with Foals because they’re one of the few bands we all listen to collectively and they were a big influence when we first started out as a band.

If we could have written one song it would be…
Festival by Sigur Ros would be nice.

If we could play one venue in the UK what would it be…
Cambridge Junction, we went to a show there and the sound and atmosphere was really nice. Like a bigger Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms.

Bear Cavalry – Roman Summer by the ruckus

If we could play one dreamworld venue it would be…
Atop the Tower of Orthanc playing to the newly spawned Uruk-Hai legions of Saruman.

Our best ever gig was…
We played a show in aid of Christmas at Cellars in Southsea. The lineup was good and we played in fancy dress. Matthew wore a slutty Santa’s wife costume but you’ll have to take our word for it. [Lizzie note: I would like evidence]

David Attenborough’s Voice by Bear Cavalry

What’s next for you musically?
Putting out our EP that we recorded last year with Tom Woodhead. It’s going to be four tracks and it’s called Maple Trails. We’re looking forward to it, we’ve always done home demos before and this will be the first time we’ve put anything out that’s been professionally recorded. Watch our spaces.

Bear Cav’s music is cleverly jumpy, the synth and trumpet lacing their tunes with a certain unstable chaos that is so easy to swoon over. ‘Roman Summer’ is my favourite, forever and always. Bandcamp here where you can get a bunch of their music for FREE.