sandiegopunk.com
We caught up with Da Bears for a quick follow-up interview to their recent CD review.
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Is The World Famous Da Bears Da Bears' first official release? |
How do you feel about the final product? Are there any particular highlights or aspects you wish you could change?
Ryan: I feel great about it. It's hard from the perspective of being the producer too, because you've heard the songs like a billion times, and it's easy to grow indifferent to them. But as time goes on and I can get a better idea of how they turned out, the more I listen, the more I seem to like it. I'm not sure if I have any personal highlights, in general I'm a big fan of the last half of the record. We took so long making it that anything I would have wanted to change has already been done. After we released the first pressing, but before we sent it to mastering, I went back and did a bit of remixing, but the changes were very small.
EJ: Ya, when I first heard the album as a whole I was immediately taken back with what Ryan had done with it, very impressive. This album proves you can make a professional quality album in your own house, on your own terms if you are determined and patient enough to do it. One of my personal favorites on the album is the opening song, "Leonardo Says." It's a 2 minute psychedelic song featuring our friend from the Skank Agents on horns. Every song on the album that features those guys is awesome.
How would you describe the album and what type of music fans do you think it appeals to?
Ryan: I'm sure that anyone who enjoys diversity in albums will enjoy it. So many people play on it and it draws from so many influences, you could describe it as Tasteful Pop 101, haha. It's like a survey of rock music, sometimes really in your face, sometimes a bit more subtle. Fans of Broken Social Scene will like the dense instrumentation and fans of Pavement will like the abstract qualities and diversity. We also of course like to name drop Beatles, Wilco, Beck, Of Montreal, and Belle & Sebastian as influences.
EJ: We get positive feedback from pretty much every type of music fan, from top 40 listeners to the most stuck-up of underground indie musicphiles.
What was the recording process like?
Ryan: The recording process was pretty laborious and confusing. Gage, who plays drums on the album, lives in Ramona, so there was a period of a month or two where I would drive up there with the outlines of the songs, and we'd fully write them out together. Eventually I brought some of my gear up there and we tracked all the drums to his computer. Then he would send me the files, and we'd start adding to them at my house. We had kind of a "make it up as you go" approach to recording the rest, which gave me a lot of freedom with mixing. The hardest part was getting everyone to come in. Garrett (piano) goes to school up in Pasadena, so he'd only be down for a few days at a time and we'd have to whip through everything.
EJ : Ya, and I was in Philadelphia at the time. Actually, Ryan came out to visit me for a few weeks and we did some recording there. 3 different producers, 3 different studios, 3000 miles apart.
How has the response been so far?
EJ: Exciting. It's been really exciting, everyday we get new feedback from people all around the world, it's fun to read what people think. Especially since we've had such poor response to our older bands and recordings which we had faith in, now it's really amazing to actually have a product people WANT to listen to.
Ryan: The response has been surprisingly good. I get a feeling people like it genuinely more than our stuff in the past. A lot of people whose taste I respect a lot but used to hate us seem to really like it, so that's cool. I guess we took things a bit more seriously this time around, so that can be good or bad depending on who you are. I think of it as a positive change.
What's next for the band?
Ryan: Right now we're kind of in a defunct stage. Curly and EJ, who were big parts of our summer lineup, go to school out in Philly, so they're gone. Fortunately we were able to track some drums before they left, so I'm keeping busy with new recordings. The plan right now is for me to go out to Philly in January, and do Da Bears out there for a few months. Then in summer we'll be back in San Diego and hopefully touring. Until then I'm going to be working on new stuff with Jake and Chelsea. We're also trying to put together some kind of show in December before I leave, so keep your eyes open.
EJ: As soon as Ryan gets out on the east coast we will be touring the east coast from New York to DC as much as our schedules with school allow. Then over the summer Curly and I are planning a 2 month DIY summer tour all over the country and a little in Canada where we seem to be getting a lot of positive responses from. The newly re-mastered cd will be available on Grizzly Records in January with all new artwork and a free sample for the first 100 sold.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Ryan: First of all thanks so much to Joel and SanDiegoPunk. I've been a fan of the site for so long, it's a fantastic thing. Also give our music a listen, and if you like it, considering picking up an album from us! Be on the watch for new stuff too, xoxoxox.
EJ: Hah, ya, Ryan stole my words. Joel gave me my start in the local music scene when the site first started and I would like to thank him for opening up this industry to me. You can pick up our CD at most Music Traders in San Diego for only like $7 or from us for $5. Come to our shows, talk to us, shoot us a myspace message, we love talking to people about anything music and shit. Awesome dude.
More info on Da Bears:
www.dabearsrock.com
www.myspace.com/dabears
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