Here are interviews with each member of POLARBEAR, done exclusively for this
site between July-October 1998.
Eric Avery
Q: I'd like to ask you about the new songs you guys played at the Spaceland 9/26/97 show. Am I right when I guess that the song with the line "it's so quiet" is "Gone"?
Eric: Yes.
Q: How about "carry my blood away"? Is that "Flyer" (the song inspired by Chris Brinkman, right?)
Eric: Now, flyer is the song that was inspired by the death of chris but it is not the song with the words "carry my blood away". Im not sure what we called that song....maybe Nubong. We often title songs because we have to save them as computer files before ive written lyrics so we wind up with arbitrary tiles.
Q: And what about "it's not so easy"? Is that "Fryday"?
Eric: Yes. Example of arbitrary title, we began writing it on a friday.
Q: Could you let me know what's up with that "things to do when I'm dead" song? Will it ever be released?
Eric: I think we might have lost that one to the ether. It might be in the dusty corner of one of our hard drives. It probably wont ever make it anywhere.
Q: In "leader", there's a part not in the CD lyrics insert where the vocals sound a bit distant. I can't quite make it out.
Eric: "i greet the faces of, i greet the faces of, i greet the faces of the creeps ive kept with me"
Q: And the opening sample of "water"?
Eric: The opening sample of water is a female choir singing in bulgarian.
[a month or so later...]
Q: I just got the new demo tape and I really love it. I've been listening to it constantly since I got it, especially the last 2 songs, "Bodybag" and "Flyer". I had been hoping to hear 'the PB sound' mixed with acoustic guitar, and it works incredibly well. I'm curious if these particular versions are lined up for the new album, or if they're just meant as demo versions for prospective record labels..?
Eric: Thank you, gavin. No home yet for a new album. We have our own studio so we have the luxury of recording as we please so...these songs are for our own writing purposes, for intersted fans and for prospective labels.
Q: After you answered that question about "leader", I popped in the CD to check out that line and it wasn't there. But then I found it on the old demo version. So did I just miss it on the CD, or did you leave it off the 'Chewing Gum' version?
Eric: Youre right, i forgot. I dont really listen to my work once it is finished. We did mute that part on the cd mix.
Q: What are the chances of "Daytime" ending up on the next album?
Eric: I dont know. Biff asks the same thing. That song is currently in mothballs.
Q: Have "Being Sucked In Again" or "Flyer" ever been played live by PB?
Eric: Ask biff about "Being..." because i seem to remember having played it but it would have been a while ago and just once or twice. "Flyer" we play now and again. I didnt want it to get stale emotionally.
Q: In "Zulu," who are MR and RJ?
Eric: I am referring to two guys i know/knew. Over the span of a couple of days one got sentenced to eight years for drugs and the other was found dead behind a dumpster in an alley. Both good guys, both fucked.
Biff Sanders
Q: How is the new stuff coming along? Are there any songs in particular that you're especially excited about?
Biff: Hard to say. Each one usually fills a different sort of need/gap/hole. One's big another song is little, a little of this, a little of that.
Q: How have the LA crowds been responding to the band?
Biff: Really great. It's been really fun being in a band that has developed a solid fan base and haven't needed any wild antics or whatever to keep people coming back. Of course, it seems that they come back for the music.
Q: I heard that at a recent show, during a new song, one of the guitarists took over drumming duties while you played keyboards. Any chance of a keyboardist being added to the band?
Biff: Actually Andrew is as good or better a keyboardist as I am. As it is now we are busy with 4 members in the band. Probably you'll see us switching out instruments more in the future. Dani can play bass and of course
Eric could use a break to shake it loose and sing, etc. ;)
Q: What's it like having to drum and cue samples simultaneously? Seems like it'd be hard work. You do backing vocals too, right?
Biff: I've always been a bit of a nerd. I need to keep my brain busy so it's not that difficult. Our little Powerbook 150 gets alot of the credit too. When it comes to singing, that's another story. Singing and playing is like splitting your brain in two and finding some strange Zen state
where you're not thinking to much about either of the two different things you're doing. I guess playing drums is similar too.
Q: Where do the ideas for the samples come from?
Biff: Hmm. Where? Good question. Sometimes we may have a gtr/bass or drum loop thing started and as it progresses the material will start leaning one way or the other. We either lean with it and see if it goes to some cool place or we or I will try to lean (gently or not) against it to find out
its other aspects that we may not have recognized at first. Sometimes an idea for a sample comes weeks later after we've been frustrated over some aspect of the song. Finally something clicks, enough that we can say it's done for the time being. Specifically, on samples, I don't
like to much factory/canned sounds. I also prefer messy untamed ones more than clean, perfect ones. The stranger the better. Brassy, gritty, thin, old, weird, whatever works. Go find it somewhere if neccessary.
Q: Any people/bands you'd like to tour with?
Biff: I'm not very hip when it comes to the huge range of bands out there. I think Polar Bear could be on a bill with alot of different bands. It'd be nice if it was with a band that is not a "one-hit wonder" and had some integrity. At this point I'm not too picky.
Q: You have your own studio, Motiv. Do you have other bands coming in and out, or is it just for your own personal use?
Biff: I have bands in and out. Recent work at Motiv has been demos for Carla's (Geraldine Fibbers/Ethyl Meatplow) recent project with Nels Cline (Banyon) called Scarnella. Also, Brian Grillo (Extra Fancy) did a demo
for a band he's starting. I haven't heard from my friends in Lifter recently. Space Twins (Weazer guitarist Brian Bell) did quite a bit of work at Motiv last year. I'm trying to break into doing music for ads now. I've just finished music for three Vans tennis shoes ads to air in the fall on MTV,ESPN2, etc.
Q: You mentioned being a Magi-astrology freak. How did you get interested in that?
Biff: Well, I've been into astrology for a few years but I was constantly frustrated by the preponderance of hippy-dippy mush in most books. Finally I found a couple of books from a group of astrologers in New York that are only into those parts of astrology that are provable. It's
complicated stuff and it gives my brain these huge puzzles to try to solve. I think that was my first attraction to astrology. Not to mention that it's fun trying to figure out people especially when you have a road map to look at.
Q: Who are some of your musical influences?
Biff: I think alot of drummers would say the Bill Bruford influenced them. Me too. Not as much in drumming style but in drumming philosophy. John Bonham influenced me alot as a teenager. These days influences are more
subtle. Portishead, Bill Laswell and Material, Stravinsky, Bulgarian Women's Choir, Bowie's last album, gee, alot of weird stuff that I can't pin down at the moment.
Q: What would you say is Polar Bear's "goal" right now?
Biff: Do a real album with a real record label and then do a real tour. Work real hard.
Q: How did you originally hook up with Eric and how long after did the Polar Bear idea arise?
Biff: We had been friends for awhile and had always thought, hey we should do
something sometime but we both figured that it probably wouldn't present itself.
Well, it did. Eric was going it alone with a Midi sequencer setup and I was still
moping about Ethyl Meatplow breaking up. I was writing stuff alone which is not
my ideal at all. I gave a tape of stuff I was doing to Eric and he dug it. He
gave me a 8-track of stuff he was working on and we starting adding bits to each
others stuff. It was cool so we decided lets take the plunge and call it a project
of something. The name Polar Bear didn't come about until about a year after which
would put somewhere in early '96.
Q: Will anything else come of the "Chewing Gum" EP? (i.e. Any plans for it to be released overseas or in Canada?)
Biff: I'm not sure. I think we want it to stay kind of indy, but we don't want to be impossible to find, which I'm afraid is starting to happen.
Andrew Troy
Q: Could you give us some background information on yourself? What other bands have you played with?
Andrew: I've lived in SoCal off and on my entire life. A large amount of my time was spent in Long Beach CA., where I first started playing in Punk Rock bands in
1981-82 w/old friends Eric Wilson, Bud Gaugh and Bradley Nowell of Sublime. My brother Chris and I had a group called Candida, which had everybody from Mike
Dunigan of Suicidal Tendencies, to Tim Swenson of Lunch Box, to Tony Scalzo of Fastball. None of them worked out quite the way we had expected, so after 5 or so years we decided to put it to rest. Afterwards Chris and I backed Hip-Hop group the Mexacinz w/DJ-Doug of HED, and drummer Keith Mcbean. Chris and I started working with Ives of Cypress Hill and Deliquent Habits for a short
time before deciding to go our separate ways.
Q: How did you get the gig with PB?
Andrew: I started hearing about POLARBEAR through good friend Keven Swenson who at one time managed my old group Candida and who later worked at the Talent
House. What was kind of funny about the whole audition situation was that I was one of the first people to audition and Dani was one of the last. I auditioned in Nov/Dec of 97' and Dani auditioned in Jan/Feb 98'. I didn't receive a call back from Eric and Biff until Feb 98', I was surprised.
Originally Eric and Biff were only looking for one guitarist but couldn't decide between us. The day after my second audition Eric called Dani and I to ask how we felt about working with one another. I'm glad it worked out the way
it did. Dani and I play very different from each other but create parts that work well together. Plus we have this weird connection going on. I just recently found out that Dani lived in the same old Victorian semi-mansion off
Olympic in Los Angeles that my family and I lived in when they immigrated here from Holland.
Q: How is the recording of the new album coming along? Could we expect it to be on a major label?
Andrew: We started working on a new record for Stone Gossard's label Loose Grooves a few months back but half way through decided to back off from the project. Stone seemed to understand what we were feeling and left it open to helping us out if he could. We really just wanted more time to develop the songs, maybe play a few more shows, possibly tour before we record a new record. Though we are not with a label yet, we have been utilizing Biff's studio to record new work.
Q: A lot of people not lucky enough to live in southern California are dying to see you guys live. Any plans in the near future for shows outside of the L.A. area?
Andrew: Of course we want to play outside of LA. I think that if the right act asks us to play a few good shows out of town we'd be interested. As far as POLARBEAR
planning our own tour, I don't think that's going to happen soon.
Dani Tull
Q: Could you give us some background information on yourself?
Dani: Cal. native. After killing some time getting an MFA from Stanford, I moved
to L.A. to direct an Art Gallery that focused on exhibiting the work of emerging
artists. At the same time I was exhibiting my own work. To this day I continue
to exhibit in Museums and Galleries internationally. You could probably find some
of my work on the internet by doing a search. Although I've played in
and out of bands for the past 16 years, I'm a bit of an outsider. I'm self taught
and started as a bass player because I had a guitar that only had 4 strings. Hillel
Slovak, the first guitarist for the Red Hot Chile Peppers, was a family friend.
He was definitely the first true musician I new and my earliest impression of
a musician impassioned to the core. I went to Fairfax High School and played in
bands that had future members of Guns n' Roses and L.A. Guns. The Chili Peppers
were two years a head of us, they were so cool back then. We were in to Metal
and were total dorks.
Q: What are some of the other bands you've played in?
Dani: My last two bands I fronted were [sic], and boygeorgemichaeljacksonbrown. [sic] has some pages and reviews on the internet at endlesslosangeles, a websight of the local music scene. I also played in Overpass with Tom Watson (The Red Krayola) and George Hurley (Minutemen and Firehose). I was also a guest member of the legendary Half Japanese.
Q: How did you get the gig with PB?
Dani: I had to sleep my way in- It was so humiliating. No, I was at the crossroads kicking a can around and a shoe hit me on the back of my head. The wind blew up a cloud of dust. I couldn't see a thing, but I heard this sound and it really sucked ! it was the radio, so I ran into the other direction right into the arms of POALARBEAR.
Q: Can you take us through the PB song writing process?
Dani: Up one flight of stairs from a Mexican dancetaria/brothel, sometimes it happens like this:
Biff puts a spin on the Solar System, the sudden movement send some planets colliding, there's a rhythmic combustion, the sounds are somewhat familiar-a distant civilization. At first I thought it was from the past, histories slip, no- this sound is of the future, he's fucking with the future. What biff creates is awesome, funky, and timeless.
Eric walks into the studio, he immediately misplaces the tall cup of coffee he picked up on the way in. He sees and hears biffs beautiful mess. The dank studio becomes illuminated as Eric begins his excavation. There are hidden treasures, sometimes too many. A deeper dig requires the removal of some gems, it's O.K. though, he carries with him a satchel, Eric reaches in and deposits a strange seed. With the focus of a brain surgeon, he picks up a bass or guitar, his melody is exotic, deliberate, yet simple.
Andrews PB studio is a pristine mechanics garage. The engine of this vehicle is alive. The purr of the subbase is seductive. Andrew listens. Being a great musician also means being a great listener. Is this a song that we're creating ? With a smogged out L.A. sunset through the studio windows, Andrew is skilled mechanic. His tools are clean and well organized. He's under the hood of this vehicle with guitar, a little waxing, total control a bar chord reveals some subtle secrets.
I'm in this stinky ill-lit studio spinning with galactic collisions, an engine hums then clanks, the boat rocks the computer spews, I'm strapped in and paddling for an incoming set of waves. More often then not, I'm finding comfort in the least likely of places-an awkward chord, some wrong melody that I found with my eyes closed. Some times if it sound too right and easy, I'll invert it and tweak. And if it's too bad too be good, I trust my 3 compadres to let some air out of my bubble.
Eric excavates further finding words. Reading in between the lines of a poem, there's a novel. With all of this going on, we're teetering on a high wire. Is it good? Ahh... sometimes it's great.
Q: What is your setup when you play (equipment/effects)?
Dani: I'm a handmedown, thrift store, "can I barrow it?", duct taping, low tech, "what does it do?" Joe. At the moment, I'm borrowing an old Marshall and using some guitars that Fender gave us. But I like pedals and effects-especially when all those cables and electricity is buzzing around me.
Q: Who are some of your musical influences?
Dani: Captain Beefheart, T.Monk, Martin Denny, Conlan Nancarrow, Butthole Surfers, Nick Cave, Japanese Noise, Sonic Youth, Esquival, Beastie Boys, Led Zeppelin, Old school Funk, and some other stuff that isn't coming to mind right now because it's late.
Q: Who do you find yourself often listening to these days?
Dani: My shrink, Boredoms, various Hip-Hop, Blonde Redhead, various Exotica, radio noise, and Polar Bear.
Huge thanks, of course, to the guys for taking the time for this.
