Bear Hands is an American

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

and

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band, consisting of Dylan Rau (vocals and guitar), Val Loper (bass), and TJ Orscher (drums). Hailing from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States, and formed in 2006, with Ted Feldman (guitar) the band signed with

Cantora Records Cantora Records is a Brooklyn-based independent record label, most notable for signing the psychedelic pop band MGMT and issuing the band's first commercial release, '' Time to Pretend''. History Cantora Records was formed in 2005 by Jesse Israe ...

in 2010 upon the release of its single "What a Drag". After releasing their debut LP ''Burning Bush Supper Club'' in 2010, Bear Hands toured as the opening act for

Passion Pit Passion Pit is an American indie pop band from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Formed in 2007, frontman and keyboardist Michael Angelakos is the band's primary recording member. As a touring act, the band currently consists of Angelakos (vocals, syn ...

GZA Gary Eldridge Grice (born August 22, 1966), better known by his stage names GZA ( ) and the Genius, is an American rapper. A founding member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, GZA is the group's "spiritual head", being both the first member in ...

, and We Were Promised Jetpacks. Their single "

Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) * Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'g ...

" became a top-ten hit on the

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

chart in mid-2014.

History

Dylan Rau met Ted Feldman while the two attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

, and were later joined by Loper and Orscher through their previous band (In Pieces), who were involved in the local Connecticut ska & hardcore punk scene. During an interview at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

2010, Orscher was quoted saying "Dylan had some material he wanted to put with a band, and a project Val and I were working on for the last half decade just ended. He said he knew the perfect guitarist and when we met up and played for the first time, as cliche as it may be, everything just clicked. We started writing material together, fleshing songs out and started playing some local shows around NYC." A few months after forming, the band released their first EP, ''Golden'', and became a "New York buzz band" due to popular blog features. Three years later, the group released their 11-track album, ''Burning Bush Supper Club''. In 2019 they released the single " Blue Lips". Bear Hands has an impressive history of live performances and notable appearances. On April 1, 2014, the band performed a live session at KEXP, showcasing their dynamic sound and energetic performance style. Later that year, on October 27, Bear Hands made an appearance on '' Conan''. Over the years, Bear Hands has played at some of the most renowned music festivals around the world. They performed at the

Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fest ...

in 2009, marking their entry into the international festival circuit. In 2014, the band played at several major festivals, including

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

, and the Lowlands Festival, reaching a wide audience and gaining significant acclaim. Bear Hands also has toured with

Twenty One Pilots Twenty One Pilots is an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who both left in 2011. Since their departure, the line-up h ...

as the opening act for the Bandito Tour from May 12 to June 30, 2019. In 2024, Bear Hands re-signed with Cantora Records. This newly reformed label, now under the umbrella of

Rostrum Records Rostrum Records is an American independent record label initially located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now located in Los Angeles, California. Benjy Grinberg is the founder and president of the label, which currently has sixteen artists on its ro ...

, represents a new chapter for the band as they continue to create and perform music.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Burning Bush Supper Club'' (2010) * ''

Distraction Distraction is the process of diverting the attention of an individual or group from a desired area of focus and thereby blocking or diminishing the reception of desired information. Distraction is caused by: inability to pay attention; lack of i ...

'' (2014) * '' You'll Pay for This'' (2016) * '' Fake Tunes'' (2019) * ''The Key to What'' (2024)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bear Hands American experimental musical groups American post-punk music groups Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups from Brooklyn Musical groups established in 2006