“We always say its funny when you look back because you don’t realise whats happening to you when its happening, you only realise when its been done”. These are the words of Josh, bass player for Hunter and the Bear. If you haven’t heard of them by now then at some point in the next twelve months you will. This is coming on the back of a stellar opening year for the London based trio; a year which has seen them share the stage with none other than Bruce Springsteen, release an EP to a packed out audience and gigged as much as they could. It’s not a bad start to their musical career, and one that promises bigger and better things in the future. Considering the fact that by their own admission, their first gig as a three piece when Josh joined lead guitarist Jimmy and vocalist and rhythm guitarist Will, was a complete disaster. “It was a Wednesday night and Josh’s first gig and it was a shit show, the sound guy I don’t know what he was doing!” reveals Jimmy behind a beard of monstrous proportions. “If you had told us that night that in a years time we’d be headlining our second EP launch night at the 02 Academy 2 Islington we’d have told you to fuck off!” Honest words, but in truth, it has been a journey that the three of them could have scarcely believed to have happened.
Hunter and the Bear on stage. Photography Francesca Paolozzi
It would be a pretty difficult task to meet a more down to earth group of guys than Hunter and the Bear. In their own words, they play the kind of music they want to listen to, and are three best friends who just want to play as many gigs as possible, due to their love of being on the road. Their sound, is according to Will “a folky mix of rock and country with an emphasis on rock”. It’s a unique sound, one that you might not necessarily hear too much in the UK these days, particularly since the disappearance of a particular band who I shan’t name. But as a threesome they all share different tastes which brings about their sound. “Will is a massive Elton John fan, Josh is a massive fan of Arctic Monkeys, we all listen to rock n roll, folk and country and that mix is what brings us our sound”, states Jimmy. There is no particular influence when it comes to writing, with the boys showing each other the different sounds they have been listening to and then taking it from there. “The way it usually works is someone will show the rest of the band a group they’ve been listening to, and then the others will either be like no or yes and then if it’s a yes we go through a period of everyone listening to the band”, according to Josh. “Its funny though coz when we listen back to our songs we can tell who we’ve been listening to at that time, but in terms of sitting down and thinking who do we want to write like, is not really a thing that we do”, Jimmy adds firmly.
Photography Francesca Paolozzi
Although the three of them are now based in London, it is a far cry from where they spent their upbringing, with Josh hailing from Yorkshire and Jimmy and Will both Scotsmen. Moving down south to the capital city could prove daunting for any young group of lads, but is a choice they are starting to see the rewards of now. “For me where I’m from is so far out in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains by the sea and things like that and its such a different lifestyle and its the simple life up there, people love what they do up there, there’s a big fishing community and things like that”, Will reveals solemnly. “I got used to the city when I was at uni (in Newcastle), Jimmy doesn’t live in a city either even though he sounds like he’s from Glasgow. It does take getting used to, London is massive. But it’s wicked though”. London is often said to be the place to be if you are in a band and want to make it, and is a view shared by the group, with Josh saying “The thing has been quite obvious from the start, people have been saying to us if you want to do this then you’ve got to be in London. There’s no point being somewhere else”.
No matter how impressive a year 2013 has been, Hunter and the Bear are looking for more next year. When asked about their plans for next year, Jimmy immediately responds “A new EP for sure and a big festival season”. Josh back this up, saying “The masses are the target right now and we just want to be at one every weekend and be on the road, we love being on the road”. Going from strength to strength seems to run in the blood in the group, and they never seem to be left resting on their laurels. Your aims change all the time, when we started our aim was to play once every couple of weeks then it was once a week, then we wanna play here, want to play a festival, when you reach these things you can’t believe it at the time, but you want to move on so quickly to the next thing, so hopefully we’ll keep moving that way”, states Will, reassuring the fact that they won’t be happy sat on their backsides allowing their instruments to gather dust. Josh wraps things up by saying “We’re pretty hungry for more as well, we’ve got a lot of ambition. We’ve got to that point now where the cogs are moving and we want more, so I don’t think the trains gonna stop”.
Photography Francesca Paolozzi
As the three of them step out onto the stage at 02 Academy 2 at Islington, they are welcomed with not just warm applause, but volcanic eruption hot applause. As they effortlessly glide through their set with tracks from their recent EP Dusty Road amongst others, their fans adoring eyes never venture far from the stage. Not happy with the length of their set, they come back on for an encore, and you can tell by the bewildering looks etched across their faces that they did not expect this kind of reception. As lead single from Dusty Road Forrest On The Hill gets it’s second play of the night, you start to feel that something special is brewing up here.
