So…four very talented musicians (James Hinks, Jon Fazal, Alex O’Hare and Jon Bennalick)
have brought a huge smile toROUGH ONLINE’s faces with their major-chord driven, Indie rock single “Moonshaped”
which will definitely have you clapping and dancing along to its’ punky claps that drop in the first verse, as well as unexpectedly feeling a little bittersweet to profoundly sad lyrics like “I am going back when I should be moving on.”
Since we found ourselves playing back this track a little too much over the last couple of weeks, due to its’ throwback sound, reminiscent of The Strokes and The Libertines which bring on that British, Punk sound we love listening to at the pub, we felt like getting to know Bear Paw a little bit more…
ROUGH ONLINE: Listening to "Moonshaped" we found that although the music is uplifting and definitely makes you want to dance, the words at times are quite profoundly sad. What was the inspiration behind the lyrics?
BEAR PAW: Moonshaped is about the frustration of being stuck in an environment that no longer satisfies you, finding it difficult to settle and longing for something more. It's about doing everything that you thought you were supposed to do but finding that you still want it to be more than that.
ROUGH ONLINE : How did Bear Paw get together?
BEAR PAW:
Bear Paw formed after songwriters James Hinks and Jon Fazal met at a Walthamstow house party and decided to form a band that night. The following day we had our first practice and wrote our first song. We properly hit their stride when Alex O'Hare (Drums) and Jon Bennalick (Bass) joined in early 2017. We played a string of amazing gigs and began writing, arranging and recording the E.P straight away.
ROUGH ONLINE : You must be very excited about the release of your E.P "Something More" this November. Tell your fans what they should expect to hear. How would you describe your upcoming E.P, both musically and lyrically?
BEAR PAW: The EP is our longest release to date. It is about drifting through your twenties and navigating all the joy and confusion of parties, passions, relationships and responsibilities. A lot of people leave school or university thinking that they're finally free to follow their passions and finally do whatever they want, but the reality is, particularly as an artist in London, you often have to do a job that doesn't really fulfil you, you have less time to create and it can leave you feeling lost. For the first time there is no next thing and I think the songs are about the anxiety that comes with that. You start to wonder if you're doing the right thing. What if this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing? Writing these songs has been an opportunity for us to turn this frustration into something positive and despite themes of dissatisfaction and despair, we've tried to make the songs sparkle with optimism and joy. Musically we all grew up obsessed with the Beatles. When we first started playing instruments and writing songs it was all about the Libertines and the Strokes. As songwriters, James and Jon are inspired by the storytelling and narrative song writing of Ray Davies, Alex Turner, Damon Albarn and Conor Oberst.
ROUGH ONLINE :
ROUGH ONLINE would love to see you guys perform live. Any tour dates coming up that we should know about?
BEAR PAW: We are playing our EP launch at Tamesis Dock on the 1st November. Would be great to see you there!
