BEAR CAT
Auckland, New Zealand. Boy meets girl while working together at a record store. Trained pianist and singer Josie Tuck encourages journalism student Dan Trevarthen to chase his dreams of singing in a band, Dan introduces Josie to a world of music outside the top 40.
Boy often hides around the store, only to leap out and give Josie a fright, delighting Dan and customers alike. Three years later the pair are fast friends. When Dan's panda obsession bursts into four chord pop music one day, Josie instinctively harmonises. They put songs on the internet. They are all about pandas.
Taking a name from the Chinese words for 'panda' ('Xiong Mao', or 'Bear Cat' in English), Dan soon found his two piece pop band being asked to play actual real shows around the country, venturing as far South as chilly Dunedin, and opening the curtains for touring acts like Andrew Bird and Half-handed Cloud back home in Auckland. Often playing amongst a warm community of bands like Artisan Guns, Sing Songs and Teacups, they've recently solidified a lineup with producer Dave Parker on bass, Alex Freer (Artisan Guns) on drums and Theo Sangstar on violin.
After a brief, bizarre flirtation with mainstream recognition in 2009 (they were top five finalists in a nationwide MTV band competition), they eventually stood still long enough to finish an eight song record about the trials of a panda emigrating to New Zealand. The resulting record Xiong Mao betrayed a love for the three chord pop of the Ramones and owed a debt to lush girl group arrangements. Winning alternately glowing/bemused reviews from many a national publication they're a cult band in a tiny country of three million people. Yeah, that record company advance isn't coming anytime soon.
Still, there are faint glimmers of recognition from afar. They managed to find their way onto Reverb's (The Denver Post's music blog) best of 2009 list when the paper's music editor stumbled across their album mid-travels, and they remain a firm favourite with panda lovers worldwide. Now working on a similarly dense record about the perils of true love (and other wild animals), Bear Cat are hoping to find their way to the US/Europe in the near future.
What sort of album influences BEAR CAT?
Weezer - Pinkerton
I heard Pinkerton in my late teens when I realised I'd been hearing Weezer songs via osmosis (I obsessed over basketball and listened to rap). I went to Sounds at Hunter's Plaza and tried to buy the album with all these fantastic hits on it. To my disappointment, upon listening at home, Pinkerton had only ONE of said hits on it. Intense disappointment gave way to obsession like I'd never had with any album before. Pinkerton was exactly what I was looking for, the perfect blend of confessional songwriting and pop, and it was a gateway to a lot more interesting music. Last time I listened to this I ended up singing along way too loudly on a late night broken heart stumble home. I feel like it might even mean more to me now than it did then.
Check out their song "Tappa Tappa Tappa"
Bear Cat -Tappa Tappa Tappa by musichype
BEAR CAT on the interweb
The NZ indie label Border Music
Over Fifteen years down the track and Border Music is still home to some of finest tunes to hit the fair shores of New Zealand. As importers and distributors of CD, Vinyl and DVD to NZ's music retailers Border Music are responsible for making and breaking only the best acts, artists and groups in independent music. We take pride in what we do, knowing that the artist's livelihood is at the heart of what we do. We're here to support the music, the industry and the customer! We love our tunes and chances are we might love yours too! Feel free to send us demos, vids or whatever your beavering away on, just message us or drop us an email.
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