Seattle’s Minus The Bear are modern day musical shapeshifters. In the five subsequent albums since 2002 debut Highly Refined Pirates, the rock four-piece have continuously wriggled free from the pigeon holes in which many find themselves confined.
Recently off the back of a five-week US tour and with one eye on their upcoming Australian gigs, the band are in high form. This, after a period of huge uncertainty: five years away from the studio, a time of great upheaval and changing personal circumstances.
“Infinity was our last album and there’s been a lot of change in those five years,” explains guitarist Dave Knudson. “Jake (singer) and I now have kids, we got new management. Our original drummer left the band, too – there was quite a bit of time spent finding someone else to work with.
“Then our record label folded from under us in the States, so we went back to Suicide Squeeze which was maybe one of the best things that we’ve done as a band.”
The desire to prove themselves as musicians fanned the quartet’s resurgence. “We were like: ‘Do we wanna keep doing this?’ Then we just wanted to prove it to ourselves that yeah, we can still do this – and at the same time have fun and enjoy ourselves.
“It’s in our DNA,” says Knudson. “I just love writing music. I love playing with people, going in the studio and creating new things. It was just so fulfilling for me to be back in that mindset.”
The band’s long layoff meant they were ”raring to go” – their first writing session in years sparked a flurry of new tracks and a newfound energy. “It was definitely more prolific than it had been in the past,” he says. “We were ready to jump into this.”
It all culminated in MTB’s sixth studio album, Voids. Here, the band continue their tradition of producing bodies of work distinct from the last. “Planet Of Ice was more of a prog journey; this record is a little bit more synth-y and pop-y. We write what comes out, but once the first few songs are written I think sometimes we have a path that we feel is going to be successful, and then go down that path.
This is the kind of stuff I like to do: trying to make the guitar sound like anything but a guitar.
“I do feel like we fall outside of certain genre lines,” he adds. “We’re not like a complete indie rock band, we’re not like a hard rock band, we’re not an electronic band, but we take certain elements of all of those and try to fuse them together.”
It’s clear that Knudson and his fellow bandmates – Jake Snider (vocals, guitar), Cory Murchy (bass) and Alex Rose (synths, vocals) – are flourishing within the experimental world they’ve immersed themselves in.
“Alex plays a more prominent role on this record in terms of keyboard and sequencing stuff,” explains Knudson. “When we were at the studio with our producer Sam [Bell], I spent a lot of time getting my guitar to sound more synth-y so some of the guitar tones try to emulate keyboards more than they do actual guitars. This is the kind of stuff I like to do: trying to make the guitar sound like anything but a guitar.”
Knudson is more than aware that the band are not your garden variety outfit, particularly when each album often requires a recalibrated ear. So how would he describe Minus The Bear?
“We’re a fairly unique band,” he answers. “I think we operate in a zone where we try to be progressive, write interesting stuff, but also keep something melodic. But there’s a lot of underlying weirdness.
In the next six months you’re going to see so many more records coming out that are just going to be incredibly pissed off.
“When someone who doesn’t know much about music asks us: ‘What do you sound like?’ I say we’re a weird alternative band.”
One of the biggest thrills for Knudson is being back on the road. For all the joys of making music again he is unequivocal as to where their main strength lies. “There’s no replacing the energy of our live show. I would say that’s one of our core strengths: getting onstage, feeling the energy, playing along with each other and really connecting.
“People always say that the band is a completely different animal when you see us live because there’s so much going on and you get to appreciate and realise what each instrument is doing, rather than hearing the record and kind of guessing. It’s nice for people to see the musicianship in a live setting.”
Looking to the future, Knudson predicts an insurgence of new and reactive music. The arrival of Donald Trump on the global political stage has, for him, already sewn the seeds of artistic backlash. With what he sees as America’s standing in the world being “eroded” and the world’s approach to problem-solving becoming “way more insular”, he is convinced rock music’s response will be as thrilling as it is unforgiving.
“The lying and hypocrisy that comes out of Trump’s mouth is absolutely infuriating. The good thing is that it is providing people an outlet for art. There’s already a tonne of great punk and hardcore metal bands, but in the next six months you’re going to see so many more records coming out that are just going to be incredibly pissed off.”
Minus The Bear hit the stage of the Oxford Art Factory on Thursday August 3.
