Introduction by Caitlyn McGonigal. Interview by Lexi Matuson.
2020 is slated to be a big year for the London-based indie pop outfit, Bears In Trees. Having released two singles in January, “Permanence” and “Ramblings Of A Lunatic,” with more music right around the corner, the I Want To Feel Chaotic era presents the group at their most vulnerable.
The band consists of (pictured above, from left to right) Iain, Callum, George, and Nick. They’ve remained completely independent, handling all of their recordings, merchandise, media, and bookings all on their own. Paired with this journey to coming to terms with the different parts of themselves, it’s safe to say that Bears In Trees is showing the world exactly what they’re capable of in the most authentic way they know how.
We had the opportunity to speak with the band about this new era, and how it came to be.
Your previous EP — you mentioned that you were recording when you were finishing up your degrees. How do you think the creation of your latest singles differs?
Nick: “In terms of as a project, it’s been a lot more concise.”
Iain: “When did I send you ‘Ramblings Of A Lunatic’ first? It must have been April, if that — like April/May. That’s when ‘Ramblings Of A Lunatic’ was written, and it’s already out, so this is probably the fastest turnover ever for us.”
Do you enjoy that process better, or do you like the time?
Iain: “The time wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t a product of us working really hard and trying to perfect it. We were trying really hard, but it was because we weren’t all in the same space working creatively with each other. It was very much everything was on the back-burner, because we were all in our own place doing different things, whereas this is really good because we’re all together, and we’re working creatively together — and that’s why it’s been coming out so fast. So I prefer it this way.”
Nick: “Yeah, definitely. For the past five months we’ve been here pretty much every week working on it and making sure it’s perfect so it’s been a lot more — it’s been nice. It’s really nice.”
One thing I was really paying attention to when I listened was in “Ramblings Of A Lunatic,” the verses literally feel like very carefully crafted ramblings. Can you talk about the process of writing that song?
Iain: “It kind of is an interesting one when it comes to the writing of it, because in terms of lyrical inspiration I was listening to a lot of The Front Bottoms — as I always do — but also a lot of experimental hip hop, which sounds pretty pretentious now that I say that. But in the ones I was listening to, all of the words really mattered and the rhyming structures were really interesting, and I found that really cool. I was playing with a lot of words, but nothing that I was saying made any sense at all. I would come up with little tiny bits. But also aside from that, I had a bad tragedy in the end of 2018, and that kind of stopped me from writing anything of substance for a decent amount of time because I couldn’t actually talk about any of it, because I didn’t want to, effectively. And then one day — I think it was like maybe three lines, ‘So I try and transcend my ego, but don’t we know, it’ll never work, maybe I’ll just descend to dirt‘ — that bit was written, and ‘why has constructing sentences become like pulling teet,’ — that bit was written. But not the second half of that verse, or the chorus, or the bridge, or anything. And I literally just sat down with the guitar, I started playing a few chords and just wrote it all in one go. It all just came out. It was a very surreal experience and I started crying. And that was it, it was done.”
And in the recording process of that song, what was the moment that you all were like “This is it. This is the first song that we’re gonna put out from our I Want To Feel Chaotic era?”
Callum: “Like consciously, we wanted it to feel quite intimate and close. We didn’t want to fill it with loads of stuff.”
George: “The first time I heard the demo I was like ‘Can we just release it like this?’ I didn’t want to touch it — it was so perfect. I didn’t want to add anything to it to ruin it and take away from the kind of… I don’t know what the word is to sum it up —”
Nick: “Intimacy.”
Nick: “Yeah. I think we were all like, you know, the minute we heard it everyone was behind it. It was like ‘This is where we’re going, this is what’s happening next.'”
Iain: “I think it was one of the first songs that I’ve ever written where it was effectively, from like a structuring point of view, was pretty much done. And every thing we added to it was just to support the simplicity of the important bits.”
The title I Want To Feel Chaotic is a pretty eye-catching name, and I know it comes from the song “Permanence,” so how did you go about choosing the name for the new era?
Callum: “That was hard!”
Iain: “It was really hard!”
Nick: “So originally I wanted to call it ‘All My Friends Are Dying,’ but I think because this entire era is about kind of coming to terms with the worst parts of your personality and yourself, and what you’ve been through, and your traumas, and just trying to get past that in the most constructive way possible, I think that kind of sums it up. The feeling of kind of wanting to be a wreck and not really caring. It’s not a positive feeling, but it’s a feeling I think we try to address in each song in a different way.”
Callum: “Pretty much sums it up.”
Iain: “It took us a while to pick because we tried to come up with something that wasn’t the title of a song or wasn’t like the main part of the song — the main lyric. Because with most things, I think we like to have a little — it’s a part of the music that sums everything up, but isn’t a main part, so it doesn’t force that song to become the main song of the project. It makes it become the name of the whole thing.”
So now that you’re all out of uni and you’re feeling like you’re becoming true artists in a sense, like that’s your full job, how do you think you’ve grown as artists over the past two years?
Iain: Well, that’s not true! Nick and Callum have gone back to uni! This is something we want to become our full time job, and it’s becoming more and more like that, but it’s not exactly there yet.”
Nick: “Our degrees allow us a lot of freedom. And like Iain said, we’re transitioning into trying to be full time. But we’re trying to balance it with also living our regular lives.”
Callum: “We have all been to uni, we’ve been away from home, and we’ve all come back and that’s kind of what the uni experience is.”
Nick: “And we’re still together!”
And how do you feel that’s changed how you are as a band and as artists, if at all?
George: “I think that the fact that we managed to get through the four years where we were all over the country and saw each other every couple of months or something — it’s like we got through that, so this is gonna be easy, right?”
Iain: “And also, we’re so happy for the time that we have together, because we know what it’s like to not see each other and not have any productivity. So we’re like while we’re here, we might as well try to get as much done as possible and get as many hours in, because we know what it’s like to not have that opportunity.”
Nick: “Yeah, definitely.”
What’s one thing you’re looking forward to in the upcoming year, aside from the music that you’re releasing?
Nick: So in general?
In general! So as a band, or individuals.
Iain: “We want to tour.”
Nick: “We really want to tour!”
George: “I think just playing live. We certainly haven’t done the new songs live, and we haven’t done any sort of bigger gigs for a while, so I’m looking forward to hopefully doing that soon.”
Iain: “Yeah, that’s the thing we love to do.”
Nick: “It’s the feeling of people singing your songs back at you, is like just —”
Iain: “Surreal.”
Nick “— Incomprehensible.”
What’s one dream tour lineup you’d want to be a part of?
Callum: “The Bears one! It’s us — Bears In Trees, along with Beartooth — the hardcore band, Bear’s Den, and Eliza And The Bear.
Iain: “My dream would be to tour with The Front Bottoms. That would be my dream, always.”
Nick: “I just want to go on tour! Anyone!”
This new era holds a lot in store for Bears In Trees. You can stream their music and follow them on their socials below.
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