GRIZZLY BEAR ///
INTERVIEW CAMERON COOK ///
ZEBULON, BROOKLYN ///

Once upon a time there were three bears: Ed Bear was the biggest and loudest of the bunch, Chris Bear was quiet and played the drums, and Chris T. Bear liked to sit and play the clarinet. One day, at the beginning of the hibernating season, Ed Bear started to write pretty songs about broken hearts and car accidents, and would venture outside of his Greenpoint cave to capture wind rushes and bird calls on his handheld tape recorder. He thought it would be cool to record some of the songs he had been working on all winter and share them with his furry forest friends come the spring thaw. But something was missing...

"Hey guys," Ed Bear said to the two Chris Bears, "would you guys like to help me make my songs about heartbreaks and car accidents and deep sea divers?" And the two Chris' looked at each other and said: "Why of course Ed Bear!"

"I went to school in Chicago and played in loads of jazz bands," exclaimed Chris Bear, "so, I can play drums!"
"I have a healthy background in jazz too!" said Chris T. "I can play the clarinet and glockenspiel better than any other bear in the woods! And sing too!"

"Then it's decided," said Ed. "We shall form a band and play in deep, dark venues. We will blow people away with layers and layers of distorted guitars and folk pop melodies. We will keep each other warm, huddled onstage, singing softly, making people cry. We shall be our own quite little revolution, and people will love it and clamor for more and more. Then we'll tour, visit bigger and bigger cities, and slowly take over the world!"

And everyone lived happily ever after. The end.

OK, so you've described your music as "cave-core"? Want to explain that term a bit? ?
Chris B: It was a total joke. Ed: We were writing our bio on the week that the "freak-folk" term had been coined. We just thought it was annoying. We read it on like, Pitchfork or something. So we just made something up, like 'we're not freaks!' We were totally joking. "Cave-core" and "wood-tempo"? Those were jokes.

Do you consider yourselves to have the same characteristics as some of the bands labeled as "freak-folk"??
Ed: Maybe, yeah. That's why we were joking around, because people make those comparisons.

To artists like Devendra Banhart and Animal Collective? ?
Ed: I don't see the resemblance at all. Chris T: Really? Ed: Between us and Devendra Banhart? Chris B: We're as much related to-I don't know, if those two names constituted part of a genre, they're sort of far from each other in terms of sound, and we're just as far from that. They're both psychedelic in their own way, and I think we're psychedelic in our own way.

What do you mean by "psychedelic in our own way?" ?
Chris T: We do the "Wall of sound," lots of thing happening. Fairly loose and melodic structures. Some melody buried in a bunch of slightly chaotic things. I think that's what we mean by "psychedelic". We don't spend everyday doing mushrooms or anything like that, or have hippie tendencies necessarily. We do three-part harmonies and just try to sound very pretty. We're not trying to be experimental. Just trying to make something that's really pleasing and pretty. So, I think the label makes sense. I mean, I don't mind being placed beside those folks, I think they're awesome. But the term "freak-folk" is kind of stupid (laughs).

At the show you played for CMJ at Rothko, you were just sitting around the stage, with no PA, just singing and strumming your instruments. How do you make a show work with such a minimalist atmosphere? ?
Chris T: I sit down because I have to. I have too many things to fiddle with, to pick up and put back down. I tried having a small table and standing, but then I was the only one standing, and Chris has to sit down-Ed: It's also a matter of intimacy. It's more inclusive, and the music is very intimate. It's not meant to be like we're standing up there and shouting: 'THAT'S RIGHT! LISTEN TO THIS!' Chris B: We don't ask for the audience to stand up either. It would be nice if they just sat down and relaxed and took it in.

Sometimes I felt like I was at camp, like everyone sitting, singing songs... ?
Chris T: Our first show was actually at camp. Ed: We played two shows at Cape Cod, at this summerhouse. Chris B: The first one totally felt like summer camp. We were all sitting around a fire, and we recorded it, and there's loud fire cracking in the background and all the insects. Chris T: I love how portable the music is too. It's not like we need a drum-set, and amps, and this guitar and that guitar. It's just singing with two or three guitars, and this little keyboard. It really feels good being that portable and playing shows to very little people in very intimate settings. It's very rewarding. I know it sounds really hippie (laughs). But there's a real value in being that close to people, which is what we're trying to do in the end anyway. On a bigger scale it's easier, seeing 150 people at once, but just reaching 12 people and doing a private show for them? It's so special.

Ed, you were the songwriter before the two Chris' joined the band; what do you think they've brought to your songwriting? ?
Ed: Well, I don't really look at it as me writing songs and them contributing, it's more of a communal activity. But in terms of the old songs, I'm really grateful-I mean I wouldn't be able to do anything without either of them. Music can get really stale if it's just you. You listen to it over and over again. Even the original recordings...I mean, I like them, but we're so much better off now because Chris B came in and did stuff, and now the live show is even better now that Chris T came in and added stuff. If I were just left to my own devices, I would sound repetitive or stale. I also think it's so much better to work with other people, because it's also challenging. Chris T: Before the Tonic show we were rehearsing, we wanted to play some new songs but we didn't have all of them written yet. So, I had a song that I wrote and Chris B had a song that he wrote and we each played them by ourselves for Ed, and we all decided that, although they sounded good by themselves, they weren't Grizzly Bear songs. So, it's this very specific context that we definitely couldn't define. We couldn't write out what would fit and what wouldn't, but we seem to have a really solid communication, as to what our energy is supposed to feel like.

You guys have been getting mad hype from your debut album, Horn of Plenty. Other Music featured you on their Web site, there have been many posts on certain blogs...Why do you think you're gathering so much buzz now?
Chris T: Because we're hot. Chris B: Because we're good! Ed: I think the sound is kind of different, for the most part. The live show is really different from the album, and we've been really lucky with early press, like Other Music helping us out, and our label has been really supportive. Chris T: We really believe in it. We had a feeling that it would be worth our while to invest a whole lot of time into this, even if it meant devoting days and days and weeks and weeks [to this]. ///