Bears Attack!, a drum and bass duo from Saskatoon, chat about being young, Kyle Riabko, and the effects of Subway upon a night's performance.

Who are you and what do you play?
 
Kirk: I'm Kirk and I play drums and y'know...get some vocals going.  I do a couple samples.
 
Ben: I'm Ben.  I play the bass and do a couple vocals.

Bears Attack! is a drum and bass duo.  How much influence do you gather from other Canadian drum and bass acts?
 
Kirk: You mean Death From Above 1979?
 
Is that the only one you know?
 
Kirk: Molten Lava.  I just heard about them.  They're pretty good.
 
You should listen to the Inbreds.
 
Kirk: Never heard of them.  Oh, what about Lightning Bolt?  Are they Canadian?
 
Nope.  You should check out Whitey Houston too.
 
Kirk: Hmm...well, I watched a video of Lightning Bolt.  Other than that, never really listened to them.  I think when we first started the band, we jammed on some Death From Above.  We covered "Blood on Our Hands" by them.  But we're less inspired by that now.
 
Ben: We interested in music that's more "kissy face".
 
Kirk: (Laughs) Yeah, kissy face.  Totally.  We're more "Peacetime Emergency".  (Laughs)
 
You're both younger guys.  Do you constantly get comments like, "You're really good for being kids"?
 
Ben: Yeah, we used to a lot more than we do now.  When we first started the band, that was all we heard.
 
Kirk: When we played the Roxy, everyone kept asking us how old we were.  But yeah, doesn't happen as often anymore.  I think we've gotten better.
 
Do you guys get frustrated by comments like that?
 
Ben: Not really because we are young.  It doesn't really matter to me.  We've got time to grow out of that image.
 
Kirk: Any comment is a good comment.
 
All press is good press?
 
Kirk: That's Lindsay Lohan's motto.  That's what I hear, anyway.  (Laughs)
 
Bears Attack! have experimented with the idea of guitar players in the past.  To this day, you're still a drum and bass duo.
 
Kirk: The first time we played at the Jazz Bassment, we met a little guy named Jordan Smith.  He was looking to jam with us.  He was pretty desperate...on his hands and knees.  But it never really happened.  And just a while ago, we were thinking about Ben playing guitar and trying to find a new bass player, but that also never really panned out either.  We just stuck with how we started.  Instead of changing Bears Attack!, we just started a new project called Stallions, where Ben plays guitar.
 
I remember seeing a video of guitarists Levitron and J Beattie of From Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z joining you on stage at a Louis' gig.
 
Kirk: Oh yeah, that's right.  I guess we did play with guitarists.  That was cool to have them with us.  J just used that opportunity to do some pretty experimental stuff.  It was different compared to what we normally have, which is pretty straight-forward.  
 
Ben: Very fun.   The jam came together that day, actually.
 
Kirk: Yup, came together that day.  We went through the song three times at my house, loaded up the gear, and got some Subway.  You know what?  I had Subway earlier today so maybe there'll be some guitars tonight!
 
Ben: Subway's a good sign, man.  It's a sign of a good show.  (Laughs)
 
Kirk: Yeah, we played with Golden Smoke that night at Louis'... (Conversation trails off for about five minutes about local bands Golden Smoke and Sunndown.  Jokes are made about Sundown Strip.)
 
The local music scene seems to have been saturated by bands that are categorized as nu-hardcore, metalcore, etc.  Do you find that Bears Attack! try to set yourselves apart from all these other bands who essentially sound the same?
 
Kirk: Well, we are a band like that, when it boils down to it.  (Ben laughs)  But...I think we-
 
Ben: -We play whatever we want.  We don't aim for a certain style because we're just playing what we want to play; what sounds good to us.
 
Kirk: I think we're also limited in terms of sound, which might make us a bit different.  With only two instruments, it's harder to open up your sound to different levels.  Anyway, yeah, we have breakdowns in our songs.  But I think compared to all these other bands that are playing that hardcore sound, we are different.
 
Ben: We just want to have fun.  It's all we do.
 
Kirk: We don't give a fuckin' shit.  That's a lyrical quote.  You can use that.  (Both laugh)

Bears Attack! have a blues connection concerning family members.
 
Kirk: Yeah, my dad used to play blues guitar around the house when we were kids.  He would write blues songs about us.  (Starts singing)  "Kiiirrrrk likes to play with his cars!"  (Both laugh)  Ben actually has the blues connection.
 
Ben:  Yeah, my brother plays some guitar here and there.  He's touring.  Now he's doing a musical.
 
For those who don't know, your older brother is...
 
Ben: Kyle Riabko.
 
Is there a war between Kyle Riabko and Bears Attack!?
 
Ben: Nope, there's no war.  It's all love.
 
Kirk: Top Myspace friend!  He gets all the love.  (Both laugh)  He earned that.
 
Will there be a Kyle Riabko/Bears Attack! collaboration in the works?
 
Kirk: One time there almost was, but then Ben went snowboarding instead.  So it didn't work out.  But we were going to be his backup band.  Just didn't work.  I think Ben's going to be playing with him though.
 
Ben: I don't know...maybe.  I might play with him when I'm down in New York.  We'll both be in the same city again.
 
Let's talk about your album.
 
Kirk: We recorded on Remembrance Day.  November, 2007 with Jordan Smith at the Jazz Bassment.  He didn't play guitar with us, but he got to record us.
 
Ben: Jazz Bassment RIP.
 
Kirk: Yeah.  I think we were one of the last bands to record there.  We recorded all over the building.  The drums were recorded in the lobby of the third floor with strategically placed mics.  We also recorded vocals in the girls' bathroom.  We tried them behind the bar but it didn't work.
 
Ben: Yeah.  But didn't one take from behind the bar make it onto the CD?
 
Kirk: That's right.  One "wooo!" made it from the bar.
 
Ben: But it's really synthesized so you can't really even tell.  Anyway, we recorded the whole thing in two days.  It was quick and a lot of fun.
 
I remember seeing you guys play at the Roxy and enjoying myself to the point where I was laughing most of the time because I found your band humorous.  Your lyrical content was funny and it was obvious you guys were having fun.  Because of this, I think a lot of people that night thought you were a joke band and mocking the "hardcore" scene.  Were you surprised to find that's how people perceived your band?
 
Kirk: Well...kind of, a little bit.
 
Ben: I think a lot of people think that about us.  A lot of touring bands think that.
 
Kirk: There was one band we played with who thought we were serious...well, I guess we are serious...but I think they took our performance to heart.  They thought we were mocking them because they take themselves really seriously.  So we got a weird reaction from them.  Maybe it's because we said we were Jewish.  (Both laugh)  We wished everyone a happy Chanukah.
 
Respond to the following quote: "Punk is not dead.  It's just called emo now."
 
Kirk: ...emo...screamo?  Honestly, I can't really say anything about that because I'm not much of a punk.  But, if pop-punk was dead, how else would I pogo?
 
Ben: That makes total sense.
 
Kirk: How else would I pogo to New Found Glory on the way here?  I wouldn't have.  Seriously.  (Both laugh)
 
Last words?
 
Kirk: July 22 at Walker's with us, Means, and A Textbook Tragedy.
 
Ben: Check out our other band, Stallions.

Word up to Ben and Kirk.  Keep on rockin' in the free world.

http://www.myspace.com/bearsattack

1 Comments

J July 06, 2008 205.250.137.56	"Experimental" is just a nice way of saying "sounded like shit", right?