Portland – Bearcubbin’! were picked as having one of the worst band names at SXSW, but don’t be deterred; this Portland trio plays some of the best instrumental math rock out there. Their latest LP, Girls With Fun Haircuts, is a big ‘ol chunk of pure unbridled fun. I like to imagine it’s what the Kool-Aid guy listens to right before he bursts through a wall and gets the party started. I talked with guitarist/looper-in-chief Chris Scott about Gang Starr, the band’s goofy song titles, and potential predators.
Jared Christenson: What is an early album you bought or a concert you attended?
Chris Scott: I remember buying albums at ten or eleven that were all by Weird Al. Whichever one had the Jurassic Park logo on, that was my favorite. I also remember buying Dookie and In Utero on cassette and maybe Smash by The Offspring, but not sure. I also—this is more a nostalgic reference—remember buying the single for “Misery” by Soul Asylum on CD and I think “Runaround” by Blues Traveler. The first album I remember buying and being super excited about was Full Clip: A Decade of Hits by Gang Starr. They were in like every skate video I watched, and I still like to listen to that album from time to time.
The first concert I went to was Blink 182, New Found Glory, and Jimmy Eat World at the Rose Garden (our basketball arena) in Portland. I was so excited! I thought they were the coolest cause they had a sign that said F**K and it was on fire.
JC: What does a typical jam session look like for Bearcubbin’!?
CS: I don’t know if there is a “typical” jam session for us just cause each song comes together in a different way, but usually it starts with a guitar or keyboard riff/progression/loop/idea, and then the song develops from the bass and drum reaction to that initial idea. Then the guitar and keys reaction to how the drums and bass incorporate the initial idea is what makes the song. It’s everyone contributing to something external to all of us. Then the twists are turns are sometimes accidental and sometimes planned- but when the song is done, we know it.
JC: Speaking of looping, I gather that you’ve been studying electrical engineering. Have you ever experimented with making any of your own pedals?
CS: I actually just finished getting my BS in electrical engineering, and music technology—along with a drive for a more sustainable career path—is what drove me there. I was really hoping that when I got into school I’d learn how to build all these cool amplifier circuits and talk tube amps, but I actually didn’t even touch on that. But, I did learn a lot of the underpinnings and theory behind a lot of the pedal designs and signal processing that I am interested in creating. I have started to build pedalboards for myself and for friends. It took me a few years to design a two-tier pedalboard system that maximizes space, allows instant access to all components (for troubleshooting), and functions in such a way that you just gotta plug in a few cords (power, guitar, amp) and you are ready to go. I finally have one I like, and I have started to build them for friends to kind of perfect the construction aspect of the design.
JC: “Solid Gold Monster Truck”, “High School Field Trip to Murder Island”—these are some grade-A song titles from Girls With Fun Haircuts, but let’s talk about “Kevin.” Other than a six-and-a-half minute trip to chill-riff city, who or why is Kevin?
CS: Kevin, like all the other song titles, is an inside joke or reference to something all of us know about. Kevin is a reference to a kid I grew up down the street from. He was an interesting dude. Beyond that, I think Kevin is one of the song titles that is up to personal interpretation. If I remember correctly, that song was in danger of being titled “Miami Advice” or “Octopus Problems” (you know, when you wanna eat nine hot pockets at once, but you only have eight hands).
JC: Last year you guys put out a remix album with Irish electronic artist Auxiliary Phoenix. How did that collaboration come about and what was the working process like?
CS: That collaboration came totally out of the blue. He contacted us about possibly doing a remix or collaboration and I figured “why not?” I had listened to a little bit of his stuff and enjoyed it, but I had no idea what we were in for until he sent back the first remix for “Good Job Fat Dracula.” It was incredible. It totally blew me away, and then I asked him if he wanted to do any more and maybe put out a remix EP. He was stoked, and we talked about the songs he wanted to do and what to call it, and it was all done through email and Facebook in a matter of a month or two. He’s a pretty talented dude, and I am excited to hear his remix of songs from our new album. We are currently starting the process of recruiting various artists to do remixes of Girls With Fun Haircuts and I am really excited to see what happens. It’s really amazing how people interpret music you’ve made.
JC: I’m always fascinated by remixes and covers. They seem like a throwback to an older way of making music, when it was less about being original and more about interpreting traditional songs. Do you guys ever play around with any cover songs?
CS: I remember hating remixes for the longest time. I thought they were the worst space fillers on a single or release by a band that had one song I liked and sixteen versions of that song that either didn’t sound that much different or were unlistenable themselves. But I have softened to them over the years, mainly because bands I really liked started to do them. The Interpretaciones del Oso album [a Minus The Bear remix album] was awesome, especially Tyondai’s version of “Drilling.” Then Maserati’s album Passagesand all the Battles remixes got me more into the idea. I feel like the music we make, instrumental and somewhat electronic sounding, lends itself very well to being hacked up and repurposed. I like the idea of someone listening to the fourteen guitar parts in a passage and saying, “that guitar part is the one I like!” when that part is a harmony to some tertiary part that is really inconsequential on its own. As for covers, we used to do them as jokes sometimes. For example, we would put the beginning of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” in between “Raspberry Breaks” and “Master Cylinder” live, and sometimes we’d start the set with a piece of U2′s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” or Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So,” but I don’t think we have ever done a cover song all the way through. It’s usually just a reference piece, but we have been talking about maybe doing a Halloween cover band of These Arms are Snakes.
JC: Bearcubbin’!’s brand of math rock seems pretty physically and mentally demanding. You have any important pre-show routines? Visualization? Carb-loading?
CS:The most important pre-show ritual is practice. Playing the songs over and over is really important because all the looping is done live and figuring out the feel of the song that day or week is really important. For me, I have to run through the songs a bunch because it’s not only the playing of the material, but also it is the muscle memory of what pedal to turn on when and the specific pattern of pedal turn-ons and -offs to play the song. It’s crazy how throwing it can be to turn on the wrong pedal at the wrong time and have to deal with it. Also, breakfast burritos.
JC: Word association—what are the first two experiences that come to mind when I say SXSW?
CS: The first two experiences I think of are the DO512 secret lounge session we did, where we went crazy and accidently broke a string of Christmas lights, spraying glass all over the stage; and playing in front of 1,500 people at the Stange Brew party on a thirty-six hour no-sleep bender. If it were words, I’d say “surprising” and “home.” We got very well taken care of there, and it’s crazy how nice people in Austin are.
JC: Final question—if a listener finds themselves trapped between Bearcubbin’! and a momma bear, what do you recommend they do?
CS: They should puff up and make themselves look bigger, like a potential predator. We are very scared of potential predators, and we will definitely run off. The mother bear will be pissed, but you can’t win them all.
You can check out Bearcubbin!’s LP Girls With Fun Haircuts here.
Photo By Todd Walberg
