Earlier this week, I was luckily enough to catch the live act of the Indie admired, Brooklyn-based trio Bear In Heaven (Jon Philpot, Joe Stickney and Adam Wills) at the Music Hall of Williamsburg alongside opening acts Doldrums and Blouse. Promoting their latest record — I Love You, It’s Cool — the experimental, synth-powered rock trio is currently out on a 12-week tour over the States and Europe. With this latest release, it’s clear that they’ve delved back into the musical scene with perfectly vague vibes. Although I mostly enjoy this album when I’m cleaning my apartment or while I’m riding the train and simultaneously playing Scrabble, that easygoing and dreamy haze it usually evokes propels an entire new existence on stage. When playing live, Bear in Heaven spill Rock and Roll charm. The sound is rich and multidimensional, without being overdone — plus, the bright, flashing lights and fog machine add somewhat of an explosive effect. Philpot and Wills danced around as much as possible, engaging the crowd. Actually, the giddiness of Philpot’s dance moves combined with his young, lithe gestures almost made even me put down my vodka soda and bob around a bit. Key tracks, “Idle Heart” and “Reflection of You,” seemed to be pleasers (besides the usual favorites off their last album, which the crowd was more familiar with).

I chatted with Wills via phone for a bit before I caught the show, and although the same old “Q&A” questions we get tired of asking and they get tired of answering are in place… I have to say that if Bear in Heaven stops by your town you should probably check them out. Or, if you’ve never listened to them before, read below for a little insider’s material and then check out I Love You, It’s Cool. It really is cool. — Rachel Eleanor Sutton

HEY ADAM… SO WHERE ARE YOU GUYS RIGHT NOW?

Adam Wills: We’re in Indiana. We have a six-week tour in the states and then six weeks in Europe.

COOL. ARE YOU PLAYING LONDON?

We are.

TELL ME ABOUT THIS “LIGHT SHOW” THAT YOU’VE INCORPORATED INTO THIS LATEST TOUR.

Sure… Well actually when we were playing live shows before about half way through the tour we decided to introduce some lights. Then for this tour, we thought, let’s add even more lights. It’s like crazy, LED, strobes… It’s pretty intense. It looks really cool. I don’t get to see it because my back is to it, but I can see photos and it looks cool on YouTube and Instagram. It was a lot of hard work.

HOW HAS THE CROWD BEEN WITH THE NEW MATERIAL?

It’s been good. You know… I think we’re kind of lucky that our fans our mostly patient and also, you know, open to anything. People enjoy it even though the record has only been out for two weeks. Only good things to say about the shows so far.

THIS IS THE FIRST ALBUM YOU’VE RECORDED AS A THREE PIECE. WAS THERE ANYTHING WEIRD ABOUT THAT?

Yeah… Just that, we were a four piece and now we’re three is interesting. But, at this point we’ve been playing music together for over eight years. So, we kind of have the same process. It’s a very natural thing for us.

OK! SO… THE ZOOMING VIDEO! FOR “REFLECTION OF YOU.” PRETTY INTERESTING… I COULDN’T STOP WATCHING IT. HOW DID YOU COME ABOUT THAT CONCEPT?

It’s actually a concept that’s been sitting around for kind of a long time. Jon, he used to work with the guy who directed the video like six or seven years ago and did something similar then figured it would make a good music video, but they never did it. So, finally when we came out with a new record we were like, yeah let’s do it. Yeah… So, it was just kind of a wacky idea sitting around waiting to be done.

I KNOW EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT THIS… BUT YOU RELEASED THE ALBUM REALLY “SLOWWWWED DOWNNNN,” SORT OF LIKE A COUNTDOWN. DO YOU THINK IT HELPED BUILD HYPE?

I don’t know what it did. It’s hard to gage that, but I think that it helped reintroduce us into the musical conversation.

DID YOU EVER LISTEN TO IT YOURSELF?

Oh yeah all the time. Yeah. It was really cool. The way it was made… We had no idea what it was going to sound like. It was kind of being made as it was being played.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO ON THE ROAD?

It’s pretty varied here in the van. We kind of choose music based on what kind of setting we’re in. You know, like if we’re in Texas… It sounds stupid to be like we listen to everything, but we really do. We try not to have many repeats.

YOU RECORDED THIS ALBUM A LITTLE DIFFERENT. IT WAS MORE OF A “ONE SHOT” PROCESS AND LESS ON GOING.

Right. Yeah. It was focused. We sat down. Wrote a record. Recorded it. The other records were written without us having “deadlines” or an actual audience. We wanted to write another record and get back on the road, so we sat down in a writing studio everyday and played music. Then when we felt like we had an album we went into the studio. Which was cool.

YOU GUYS ARE PRETTY HARD TO DEFINE — WELL, NOBODY LIKES TO DEFINE SOUND — BUT IF YOU HAD TO, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE BEAR IN HEAVEN TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER HEARD YOU.

Oh… ugh… Pssh. I don’t know. That’s your job. [Small laugh.]

[AWKWARD — NO IT’S NOT.] YOU CAN SAY, “I DON’T KNOW.” IT’S FINE.

I have no idea. At heart I think we’re a rock band… But… I just feel silly even trying to… [Laughs.] I think we’re doing our own thing.

DOING YOUR OWN THING. GOOD ANSWER. ANYWAYS, WHAT DO YOU DO TO SET UP FOR A TWELVE-WEEK TOUR?

Yeah Jon and Joe are both in relationships, so they like to spend time with their ladies as much as possible. Me, I try to see as many friends as possible because you are gone for a long time. It’s a bummer. I’ll try to squeeze in a couple good meals because you definitely wind up having some really great dinners. Do you live in New York?

YEAH I LIVE IN WILLIAMSBURG.

Oh so then you know. Trying to squeeze in a couple good meals.

YEAH I’M SURE. SO… ADAM. THIS IS FAULT MAGAZINE. WHAT IS YOUR FAULT?

[Laughs.] I talk to damn much.

 

DATES:

5/16 – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen – London
5/17- Green Door Store- Brighton
5/18 – Liverpool Sound City – Liverpool
5/19 – Stag & Dagger- Glasgow
5/20 – Soup Kitchen – Manchester
5/22 – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds
5/23 – Louisiana- Bristol
5/25 – Club Solyanka – Moscow
5/26 – Le Guess Who?- Ultrecht NL
5/27- De Kreun – Kotrijk B
5/29 – Sonic – Lyon
5/30 – Point FMR – Paris
5/31 – Laiterie – Strasbourg
6/2 – Forbidden Fruit- Dublin
6/3 – Rock Cafe – Prague
6/4 – Chelsea – Vienna
6/5 – Kong – Munchen
6/6 – Spazio 211 – Torino
6/7 – Residenza Ausgang – Roma
6/8 – Hanna Bi – Marina di Ravenna
6/9 – Kaserne (ZAP Performance Festival) – Basel
6/11 – Studio 672 – Cologne
6/12 – Festsaal Kreuzberg – Berlin
6/14 – Vega – Copenhagen
6/15 – Hultsfred Festival – Hultsfred
6/16 – Bla – Oslo
6/18 – Uebel & Gefahrlich – Hamburg
6/22 – Dia de La Musica – Madrid

[Photographs by Laura Beaven]