Boy & Bear

Boy and Bear have become a familiar face in the touring scene. It’s their shtick and they do it well. So well that they took on 170 live shows from November 2013 to December 2014, a touring schedule that fine-tuned their performance skills and created many lifelong memories.
“You have no idea, there are some things that can’t be unseen,” drummer Tim Hart adds with a laugh.
“Obviously on the bus you’re in close quarters and on a van you’re in even closer quarters. We’ve been in the band now for six years and I’m pretty happy that we’re still together and we haven’t killed each other yet.”
Understandably the band became completely comfortable on stage, and it came at just the right time to prepare them for when they stepped into the studio to create their third album, Limit of Love – live to tape with almost no overdubs or editing.
“It’s hard to let go of yourself and let that go onto a record as well,” he says.
“I love those raw moments because listening to records growing up like Simon & Garfunkel and The Rolling Stones, you hear the imperfections and you go back and you keep rewinding and listening to those moments because it’s cool.
“It was nerve wracking at the time when we first started the record and when I listen to it now, and maybe this is through rose coloured glasses, it sounds better to me than the first two records. Especially in terms of how it feels and the way it fits together. I think when you’re editing things and making them perfectly in tune or in time you lose that humanity to it and you lose that excitement.”
With a change of the recording process also came a change in the accompanying music clips released by the band. Produced by Oh Yeah Wow, the clip for ‘Walk the Wire’ is a whacky, CGI-filled several minutes that offers a view of the band fans have never seen before.
“It’s piss-take really and light hearted and I think that’s what drew us to the concept when they pitched it to us. We wanted to do something different and be a bit more light hearted and we’d never done that before and, to be honest, it’s been a really good fit,” Tim says.
“When you get into doing a film clip you can either be really controlling as an artist or step back and say, ‘Let’s see where these guys want to go with it’ – and we took that approach. I think they always knew what was happening but we didn’t ask too many questions and just went along with it.”
The lightness and fun seen in the clip is echoed throughout the new album, marking a point of change for the band’s progression in the industry. It’s been a great year of firsts for the band, and while the first time for everything is more than welcome, Tim mentions briefly that he would like to continue on the same path for the next album.
Written by Amanda Sherring
Release: Limit of Love is out now at all good retailers
When & Where: Festival Hall, Melbourne – January 23