If you are anything like myself, the revival of folk and bluegrass music in the past couple of years has been nothing short of a blessing. Bear’s Den presents listeners with somewhat of a more grounded Bon Iver. Their EP is rich with raw, emotional songs that rely on nothing but true and vulnerable musicianship.
In case you weren’t already overheating from emotional overload from their songs, Bear’s Den has recently kicked off their U.S. tour with Daughter, the ghostly songstress whose voice first began haunting listening streams about two years ago. In the midst of the band’s busy schedule, Jonk Music recently got the chance to ask Bear’s Den’s Joey Haynes and Andrew Davie a few questions about their inspiration and subsequent process behind their work.
How and when did Bear’s Den come together as an ensemble?
“Our current setup was cemented on a U.S. tour in 2012 with Ben Howard, The Staves, and Nathaniel Rateliff. Kev and Joey are both originally bass players, but as it was just the three of us we decided to let them have a go at drums and guitar, respectively. We were traveling in VW camper vans from the ’60s, and Joey borrowed Nathaniel’s beautiful custom made banjo which led to a jam in the van which led to Joey playing banjo for the first time on the last couple of shows on the tour. From then on, we’ve just been playing and recording as much as possible, trying to let the band grow in an organic fashion.”
If you were to use one word to explain your sound what would it be and why?
“Aureole — our music exists as a reflected radiance around an ethereal body.”
You’re currently on tour with Daughter. How has your U.S. experience been so far? How does this tour differ from the UK tour you just wrapped up? What is a day in your life right now?
“We’ve just come off a tour with Mumford & Sons which was pretty epic, playing to very large crowds every night and getting to enjoy some of the perks of touring with one of the biggest bands in the world right now. We learned a lot from them, from their live show to how they treat everyone around them. Now we’re on tour with Daughter who are really good friends of us, so it just keeps getting better.
“A day in our life right now is wake up, get in the van, and drive for anywhere between three and twelve hours, do a line check, eat something, play our set, watch the other bands, have a drink, meet some nice locals and go to bed.”
Your songs very clearly have narrative elements to them. When you are songwriting, do you begin with an experience that you know should be written about, or does the music come first and the story after?
“I think the storytelling part of it is informed a lot by the music and we often start working on songs while they are being written. It feels very natural to us to work like that and I guess we just try to listen to the music and serve it as best we can with both the lyrics and the instrumentation.”
What are some contemporary artists that inspire you? How have these artists affected the style of Bear’s Den?
“The National and Sufjan Stevens are two big influences of ours. The way Sufjan Stevens uses banjos, harmonies, and instrumentation is really inspiring, and the way The National utilize dynamics and repetitive patterns likewise. We usually try to understand what the song needs to be communicated most effectively and take it from there.”