Interview: Bear Arms (September 15, 2012)

For the record, who is Bear Arms and how did you get together?

Bear Arms is Richard Wardrop (guitar/vocals), Keiran Hird (guitar/vocals), Lewis McGourty (bass) and Dean Louden (drums).

Lewis and I (Richard) went to school together along with our original drummer, Ben Sneddon. We all moved to Glasgow together and started the band, we then began looking for a second guitarist and recruited Keiran into the band. Ben Moved away to Surrey to go to uni and we now have the talented Dean Louden playing drums for us now!

How would you describe Bear Arms music for the unacquainted?

I usually describe our music as alt/post-hardcore. The best way I've ever heard it described though was 'a healthy mix of Thrice, The Xcerts and Fightstar'.

How has 2012 been for you?

2012 has been good for Bear Arms. We played our very first ever show at King Tuts, recorded and released our latest e.p New Skin, had both singles, 'Towers' and 'Cities' from the e.p played on Radio 1, played a tour around Scotland with our buds in Forest Fires, supported Flood of Red and the mighty Funeral for a Friend!

How was the recording process for your recent EP, New Skin? How did the EP come together?

We've never really struggled to write material so when it came to recording and releasing the e.p we were able to choose the best tracks out of a potential list. we just chose what we thought were the punchiest tracks and tried to put together an e.p that flowed nicely. Recording was and always will be one of my favourite things about being in a band, so personally I loved it... Even though our producer, Owen Waldron can be a bit of a nazi when it comes to tracking guitars and vocals!

What's your favourite song from the release?

Personally, my favourite song is the apple and the tree, the 2 minute beat down at the end is always so much fun to play live. We always end the set on it.

What plans have you got tour-wise for the rest of the year?

We're currently looking into a mini tour in November. It's really coming down to how much money it's gonna cost though! Typical band type struggles really but it can get quite difficult to generate even enough money from a band to break even. Especially seen as we just give our music away for free where and when we can!

What bands influence Bear Arms? Who do you personally listen to?

Brand New, The Xcerts, Biffy Clyro, Thrice, Fightstar, Funeral for a Friend and Deftones. All of those bands and probably much more.

If Bear Arms was a flavor of ice cream, what flavor would it be?

Probably chocolate, cause I'd like to think our music can be quite more-ish!

Final words?

Thanks very much for asking us to do this interview! Please help us continue to spread the word about Bear Arms. 'Like' the Facebook page and get your free download of 'New Skin' from our Bandcamp.

http://www.facebook.com/beararmsuk

https://twitter.com/#!/BearArmsuk

http://www.youtube.com/user/BearArmsTV/videos

http://beararms.bandcamp.com/

Kelly Doherty

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