Bearsuit

The most lovable band in the world hails from Norwich, and we already told you everything about it. And in fact we would like to hear more albums like "Cat Spectacular", at least a couple per month. Problem is, nobody can tell why Bearsuit's music is so fine: you just cannot rationalize it, you just have to go with the flow and move your feet to their impossible beats. After a long chase we finally caught the attention of guitarist and vocalist Iain Ross for a brief interview.

Can you give us a brief history of the band: personnel, how did you start playing and why. And of course: what about the bearsuits?

Me and Lisa and matthew met at school and started the band when we were at university, where we met jan. jan and iain work in the same bookshop, where we met cerian, whose boyfriend was matt the drummer. then richard joined a few months ago to replace matthew on bass- he is also a friend from university. so all friends who happen to play some instruments! Why we play? disgust at music that so many people like- we HAD to change it somehow!
Bearsuits? everybody wants a bearsuit don't they?

It seems impossible to come up with a satisfying description for your music. Can you do that for me? How would you describe Bearsuit?

Someone said recently- "the sound of broken glass mixed with glitter"

Being comparable to no one must sound funny. Although I must say I found something of early Pooh Sticks in your sound. Where do the Bearsuit sound come from? Is there any music/bands you think you may have assimilated more than another?

It must be listening to UK radio in the 70s and 80s when we were little. glam rock and easy listening and oompah marching bands. for me also kids films.

There's a nice sense of anarchy and joyfulness in Cat Spectacular. Like a band having fun while recording. How do you work in the studio and how much improvisation is there in Bearsuit music?

We do have fun when recording (apart from when matt plays his drum solos for hours at a time- he's such a show off), but we do work out what we're going to do very carefully before we record. and then we forget the good ideas and just add stuff on if we hear a good noise or a weird instrument to use...

The music you make is instantly lovable and higly regarded by die-hard indie fans. Does this make any sense to you? Why do you think people tend to love Bearsuit so much?

We were always going to be a love/hate band. we don't care if certain people think we suck, it just makes us more determined. they take life too seriously. and the people that love us encourage us to go on and try and be more stupid each time! bearsuit fans are the swetest people.

What are the lyrics of this album about?

Desperation and love in space at the end of the world

You've insisted quite a lot on the 7" format prior to this album. Was that a stilistic decision?

iain: we love vinyl, and it's cheap to release records in relatively small numbers. i think we like them best because the artwork is bigger than on a cd!

What label was the "Itsuko got married" 7" on? Did you self release that?

yes that was the first release on our own record label- bearslut. we're hoping to release more in the future, just little vinyl releases of our stuff and maybe some other bands as well. but for eps and cds we will hopefully still be working with fortuna POP!

Since we're an 80s oriented magazine, Let's close on this one: your favourite pop band from the eighties.

iain: everyone else will hate me: if i wanna sound cool, the pixies, but what i was really listening to in the 80s was duran duran, michael jackson, madonna, howard jones, eurythmics (ugh)- i hadn't heard of the pixies or the smiths back then. i still love duran and the pixies! michael jackson's 'bad' album still rocks...i think the rest of the band probably liked the cure a lot- i used to live around the corner from robert smith when i was younger but i didn't know who he was really. i never saw him digging his
garden or anything...

Alessandro, Salvatore

Links:

Bearsuit website: www.bearsuit.co.uk
Bearsuit@indiepop.it: bands/bearsuit.htm