Lollapalooza is always a hectic weekend, and no matter how you plan it, things do not always work out the way you’d hope. Yet while traveling from Sydney to LA to Chicago in a matter of 30 hours, Australia’s newest indie success Boy and Bear had a very content beginning in a city brand new to their eyes, and music especially recognizable to their ears. The band’s founder and front-man, Dave Hosking, who I chatted with as the other four members sat back patiently, said that the band was very satisfied after catching My Morning Jacket’s performance earlier in the festival. With the media tent bustling on the final day of another wonderful August weekend at Grant Park, I spoke with Dave on the band’s beginning, as well as their work with esteemed producer Joe Chicarelli (My Morning Jacket, Beck, The Strokes) on their latest critically acclaimed LP Moonfire and much more.
Having heard their names thrown in with the likes of Fleet Foxes, and Mumford and Sons, Boy and Bear are representing a fresh brand of Australian indie rock, as electronic based music has been more prevalent recently in Australia. Hosking stated “I dunno, now there are lot of cool bands like Empire of The Sun, doing more electro based stuff, and more indie/folk indie bands, you know really great bands who are sort of moving away from that traditional rock feel, It’s cool, it’s really exciting. It feels like it’s thriving, a bunch of great bands coming up the ranks, and we’re happy to be a part of it.”
With one LP down, and their first visit to the states behind them, the group is only looking ahead, which for them means simply returning stateside for a larger nationwide tour and recording, recording, recording. Read on to gain the First Look at indie newcomers Boy and Bear.
RubyHornet: If I am correct, originally, Dave, this was your solo project. And then everyone sort of fell into place along the way? How did you guys form?
Boy and Bear: It was originally my solo project, and we have been playing with each other for a while. It sort of played out over two years, and then eventually when Keith came on board it didn’t feel like a solo project anymore. I dunno, it was kind of like a realization that we were a band and we wanted to be a band so we took that and went with it.
RubyHornet: And it definitely worked out. Can you guys speak about your time at Lollapalooza so far?
Boy and Bear: We only got in on Friday night, and we left Sydney Friday afternoon, and got in LA on Friday morning… (time change). But so far it’s been really cool. Yesterday we got to run around and do a bit of press and were able to see My Morning Jacket. A bit a Beiruit.
RubyHornet: Speaking of My Morning Jacket, that leads into your newest work with producer Joe Chicarelli in Nashville on the LP Moonfire, who has worked with the likes of MMJ and The Strokes. Can you speak on what it is like to work with someone like Joe.
Boy and Bear: Part of the reason we got Joe on board is because he’s worked with so many other bands we really like. It was surreal for us to have someone on board who has worked with so many amazing bands. And after discussing with him where the best place would be to record, it ended up being Nashville, and we just went off. And Joe has this amazing engineering ear and he made so many amazing records with great bands, and it was someone who could help us meet our vision and get the record to sonically sound like something interesting, and he’s got a lot of talent there.
RubyHornet: How does recording in Nashville compare to recording at home in Australia?
Boy and Bear: It didn’t really matter. It really came down to A, what studio Joe has worked in before and felt most comfortable in. And B, what kind of gear they had. And we decided by looking at those factors that going to the studio Nashville was the correct choice.
RubyHornet: Australia was known for it’s Rock & Roll in the late 80’s and 90’s, now with more electronic bands taking a step into rock, where do you guys see yourselves among other popular Australian bands like Cut Copy and Empire of The Sun?
Boy and Bear: I think you’re right, since the 80’s and 90’s Australia had rock culture. I dunno, now there are a lot of cool bands like Empire of The Sun, doing more electro based stuff, and more indie/folk indie bands, you know really great bands who are sort of moving away from that traditional rock feel. It’s cool. It’s really exciting. It feels like it’s thriving, a bunch of great bands coming up the ranks, and we’re happy to be a part of it. We have a national radio station called Triple J, and it’s kind of like college radio, but it’s the one for the whole country. and the music director and people that work there play a lot of local music but also from all around the world, and they liked Boy and Bear straight away in 2008 and supported us. And growing up as a young Australian listening to Triple J, you sort of feel like you’re on the cutting edge of music, even on the other end of the World.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYCDNRpyzrM
RubyHornet: That’s something we don’t have in America. We have stations who only play Top 40 music, and it proves how important radio still is in Australia, ushering in breaking music, as it used to do here in America. So what can the fans expect after Moonfire in the upcoming months for Boy and Bear?
Boy and Bear: I mean I guess at the beginning of the new year we want to spend a lot of time in the states. Tour the album as much as we can for the whole year. And then, yeah it depends on how it gets received really, it depends on what you do, but the goal is to spend a considerable amount of time here (in the states) working.
