Wolf & Bear are a six piece progressive rock band from Sacramento, California. Their music impressed me from the very first listen. Lyrical driven rock music which is balanced by a mix of clean vocals and screams that aren’t overwhelming. They are also the newest band signed by Will Swan to his label, Blue Swan Records.
I recently got a chance to sit down with Tyler and Cameron and discuss their influences, live shows, their upcoming split EP with label-mates Adventurer and of course their upcoming tour.
NT: Where did your band name come from?
CN: “It was kind of an old name that just stuck around from previous members. We had already begun establishing our band under that name so we just decided to keep it.
It mainly came from our old singer, actually. He’s in a band called Dwellings now.”
NT: How did you guys come to meet each other?
TW: “Cameron and I have known each other the longest. We listen to the same music but he is older than me so we weren’t hanging out in high school. I found out Cameron liked the same bands as me because I saw Oh, Sleeper and Letlive. play a show in Modesto. He was at that show. Everyone else in the band pretty much met over the last two years.”
CN: ” Tyler and I went to high school together.”
NT: Is this your first venture into music?
CN: “It’s my first main project.”
TW: “I had played in some bands before. Some post rock and emo bands. What really got me into this kind of music was joining a band called Our Native Tongue and we ended up doing a song with Josh Benton. From there I joined Wolf & Bear and here we are.”
NT: Where do you find you draw most of your musical inspiration?
TW: “Honestly, it’s ever changing. But two bands that we’ve always listened to are Silverstein and Vanna. Right now I’m really into Architechts (UK), Counterparts, The Chariot, ’68.”
CN: “I’m pretty much influenced by all the same things. Since Tyler brought up Silverstein I have to say, It’s crazy to me that Silverstein has only had one member change over all these years.”
NT: What other groups from different genres are you into?
TW: “I’ve been listening to a lot of this guy named River Tiber. Our guitar player Louie is really into Hiatus Kaiyote and got us into them. I also really love Death Grips.”
CN: “Can’t forget about Madvillain.”
NT: How did you guys link up with Will and end up on Blue Swan Records?
TW: “Will messaged me on Facebook and asked to sign us, actually. It took a few months to get our contract in order, but it happened and we’re loving it so far.”
CN: “Will literally got to watch us grow up, which is pretty awesome.”
NT: Do you know how Will found out about you guys?
TW: “Tim Ferrick is a good friend of mine so he showed Will our music. We’ve played a lot of shows with Sianvar, Hail the Sun, and Dance Gavin Dance. We played the Sacramento date of The Night of the Blue Swan.”
NT: Can you tell me about the meaning behind the song “Sight”?
CN: “I woke up one day and I was really upset with some social media stuff. It’s roughly about how people don’t form their own opinions or ideas about anything anymore. They just consume whatever is in front of them on their phone or T.V. It’s about listening to yourself first, above the opinions of other people.”
NT: How closely did you work with Adventurer on your split EP?
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TW: “Will asked us if we wanted to do a split EP with this other band he had signed. We had never met the guys at all. I’ve talked to Steven Christy quite a bit, he’s a super nice guy. He showed us their two songs and vice versa and we created a split release.”
NT: Is there anyone other than the bands you mentioned earlier that you’d love to work with?
TW: “There’s one band more than anybody right now. I know I mentioned them before but definitely ’68. Or Vanna.”
CN: (in the background) “HELL Yeah! I choose Vanna for sure.”
NT: Who’s been your favorite bands to play shows with so far?
TW: “I’d have to say Wrvth, Spirit, LifeLink (Arizona), Welcome to Limerick (L.A.), Dwellings, and Lizard Kingdom. Their live show in absolutely insane.”
NT: When will you be heading to the studio? And what is your writing process?
TW: “We will start recording our debut album on August 10th with producer Dryw Owens. We are currently writing for it.”
CN: “We’re about in the middle of the writing process. The process varies a lot. Sometimes the songs come super easy and form while we’re just jamming. Other times it’s a lot of back and forth with brainstorming ideas.”
NT: When are you starting your tour? Is there anywhere you’d like to go?
TW: “We have a small tour coming up that’ll run from the end of April through May 1st. It’s just us playing two California dates, Vegas, and Arizona. After that we will be hitting the road again in the summer. Details about that will be coming soon.”
CN: “I’d like to play anywhere. I love traveling. That’s such a great opportunity. There’s not a place I wouldn’t want to play.”
TW: “We want to make our shows more intimate with the crowd. We don’t want it to be just shredding the whole time. We want to bring other genres out with us so there’s diversity. It’s really important to us to make the audience part of the show.”
Don’t miss Wolf & Bear live at the shows listed below:
Check out Wolf & Bear on social media in the links below:
Purchase Wolf & Bear’s first two singles on BandCamp by clicking HERE!
Check out Wolf & Bear’s first two singles below and get a taste of their live show in their music video for “Sight”
https://youtu.be/rBV75ZfUrow