SouthSonic
ELIZA AND THE BEAR INTERVIEW
April 2016
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Ahead of their Bristol show at The Thekla to celebrate the release of their self-titled debut album, we spoke to Eliza and the Bear on their choice of animal attack, TV drama preferences and their favourite songs to play on tour. They also debunk a pesky rumour…
SouthSonic: Would you rather be attacked by? A bear or a shark?
James: I feel like I could run faster than I could swim but then a bear could run faster than I could run…I’m going to go for a shark: because a shark - you can jab it in the eye.
SS: But you do have to be attacked.
James: Ok, then a bear. At least if I’m attacked then it can leave me alone and I could possibly kind of pull myself along like Leonardo Di Caprio for a couple of days. But if I get attacked by a shark and I lose my leg, I’m sinking, I’m done. I’m down the bottom of the sea.
Callie: That’s a bad way to die.
SS: We know that Eliza and the bear is named after an Eleanor Rees poem, so tell us, who’s the Rees fan?
James: Paul, our drummer, found the book. She actually eventually all gave us a copy of the book each. We just really liked the name. At that time we didn’t think about being a proper band, we just thought that it sounded like a nice name so we used it. Now everyone thinks I’m called Eliza and *indicates Callie* he’s a bear.
Callie: Well I’m not hairy at all, other than the hair on my head…
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SS: Elements of the Rees poem are far more apparent in your earlier tracks – do you think your more recent work has purposefully moved away from this?
James: It’s not a deliberate departure. That was five or six years ago that we were writing those songs and now we’ve naturally moved on from that.
SS: How did you guys meet?
James: Callie and I were in one band and the other three boys were in a different band. We were trying to be big shots and be as famous as we possibly could be, but then those bands broke up so we got together and decided to find some other people and write some music.
I knew the other boys; we’d played a couple of shows with them. We’re all five or ten minutes down the road from one another so we just picked up the phone, got together and wrote some music. Now, here we are I guess.
SS: James, there are a lot of rumours that you’re a bit of an unsung hero: suffering from arthritis in the hand but carrying on playing guitar regardless, is there any truth to this?
James: Right, this has been taken out of context from a long story that essentially came from Brother’s Boat. I have arthritis in my knee and Brother’s Boat is a little bit about that. Somehow that’s turned into me having arthritis in my hand and that playing guitar is the only thing that soothes the pain. That is such bollocks – I read that and thought that I sound like a complete moron. Yeah, I’ve just got a gammy knee really.
SS: What’s been your favourite place to play on tour so far?
James: London’s always got a place in our heart because that is our home town show, and obviously at the moment, London is the biggest show on the tour and all our family are there. I think its London for me, although we haven’t played Bristol yet.
SS: Who are your favourite bands and/or who have you been listening to on tour?
Callie: Brand New are my favourite band. Loads of Taylor Swift.
James: Deftones.
Callie: the new Selena Gomez album is really banging.
*they start singing*
James: Frightened Rabbit’s new album. That’s really good; really, really good.
SS: What’s your favourite track to play?
James: I think the favourite track to play live changes on each tour. This tour, because the album’s out now, is probably ‘Where Have You Been’. What do you like playing, Paul?
Paul: Oxygen, I think.
SS: What is the relation between the lyrics and video of ‘It Gets Cold’?
James: Good question. I don’t even know if there is a strong relation.
We’ve got a director called Markus Schroder who is a wizard of weird. He’s an absolute nutcase. He’ll just email us across this idea and be like, “trust me”. We’ll say there’s no way in hell, in this budget and this time frame, that you’ll be able to pull together this video and he’ll say: *dons mock-German accent* “Don’t worry, it will happen”. Then you’ll just turn up and it’ll be there and it will have happened.
Martin liked the reference to the Smashing Pumpkins video: the slightly sped up silent movie vibe to it. That was something we really liked.
SS: You went to Nashville to record your latest album with Jacquire King. What influences has he had on the sound - has it changed at all?
James: Not as such the sound, but the production is the main thing he’s had an effect on, and we think it sounds bloody massive. That was what we wanted; we wanted a record that sounds way bigger than we can actually do in our little shit studio with trigger drums and addictive rhythms.
Southern Wild, for example: he pulled it apart and pieced it back together and Lion’s Heart came out the other end. We loved it so much we made it a single.
SS: Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad?
James: Game of Thrones every fucking time.
Callie: I don’t watch Game of Thrones, I watch Breaking Bad.
James: You need to get on game of Thrones.
Callie: No, no, no, no. If I watched it I’d get attached to a character and then I’d just end up crying. Every time I read about it it’s in the news for some hardcore rape scene or something.
James: That was once. You watch Hannah Montana all the time.
Callie: The movie, yes.
James: Guys, Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad?
Chris: Breaking Bad.
Martin: Always Game of Thrones.
Paul: I’d have to say Game of Thrones.