Boy & Bear are an Australian

indie folk Indie folk (also called alternative folk) is an alternative genre of music that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Characteristics The staff of '' Paste Magazine'' said in 2020: "No music genre ...

band formed in 2009, consisting of David Hosking (vocals and guitar), Killian Gavin (vocals and guitar),

Tim Hart Tim Hart (9 January 1948 – 24 December 2009) was an English folk singer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founding member of British folk rock band Steeleye Span. Early years Tim Hart was born in Lincoln, England, but moved to St A ...

(drums, vocals, banjo, mandolin), Jonathan Hart (keys, synths, vocals), and David Symes (bass). The band has released two EPs and five studio albums. ''Moonfire'' (2011) debuted at #2 on the ARIA Charts, while ''Harlequin Dream'' (2013) and ''Limit of Love'' (2015) both debuted at #1. On 27 September 2019, they released their long-awaited fourth studio album, '' Suck on Light''. The band released their self-titled fifth studio album on 26 May 2023.

History

2009–2010: Formation

Boy & Bear was formed in 2009 in Sydney, beginning as a solo project for singer-songwriter Dave Hosking. In February 2009, Hosking uploaded a track, "The Storm", to the '' Unearthed'' program on radio station

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

, and it became a featured song at the station. Hosking met Killian Gavin, who was a singer-songwriter and guitarist in Ovell, and the pair started jamming together. Tim Hart, from another university band, Wintersound, joined as a drummer and singer-songwriter. Then they expanded with Hart's brother Jon (ex-Wintersound) on keyboard, vocals, mandolin and banjo and Jake Tarasenko (ex-Tripartisan Approach) on bass guitar. All five had fronted their own groups and became friends after regularly sharing the stage at gigs. Their songwriting usually has Hosking strumming chords on a guitar, Gavin writing the hooks, and the Hart brothers providing backing vocal lyrics, keyboard parts and drum lines. On 21 October, they issued an independent single, "Mexican Mavis", which was a featured song for the "Next Crop '09" segment on Triple J. In November 2009, the band described its style as "a combination of drivey indie folk and choral harmonies". Aside from Triple J, the band received national airplay on NovaFM. The group signed with

Island Records Australia Island Records Australia is an Australian record label that was launched in 2007 by Michael Taylor (now serving as managing director, Universal Music Australia). It is part of the Universal Music Group and is the Australian variant of Island ...

, Note: A free, open-source original online document for this reference does not exist. In this case, the original is from Pandora Archive and was preserved there on 11 June 2010. and in 2013, they signed internationally with Nettwerk. After winning the 2009 ''Unearthed'' competition, they gained a performance spot at

Homebake Homebake was an annual Australian rock festival, featuring an all-Australian lineup (with the occasional artist from New Zealand). The festival was first held on 3 January 1996 at Belongil Fields in Byron Bay, on the far north coast of New Sou ...

in December. They later toured Australia backing

Angus and Julia Stone Angus & Julia Stone are an Australian folk and indie pop group, formed in 2006 by brother and sister Angus and Julia Stone. Angus & Julia Stone have released five studio albums and a soundtrack album: ''A Book Like This'' (2007), ''Down the Wa ...

and

Hungry Kids of Hungary Hungry Kids of Hungary (often shortened to HKOH) were an Australian four-piece indie pop band from Brisbane, Queensland. The band consisted of Dean McGrath (lead vocals, guitar), Kane Mazlin (lead vocals, keys), Ben Dalton (bass guitar, vocals ...

. In 2010, they toured the UK supporting

Laura Marling Laura Beatrice Marling (born 1 February 1990) is an English Folk music, folk singer-songwriter. She won the Brit Award for Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist, Best British Female Solo Artist at the 2011 Brit Awards and was nominated for th ...

and

Alessi's Ark Alessi's Ark is the musical project of Alessi Laurent-Marke (born 30 June 1990), an English singer-songwriter. Career Named after the Italian design company, Alessi Laurent-Marke grew up in Hammersmith, London where her father, Alan Marke, i ...

, and later supported

Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons are a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, double bass, bass guitar), and Ben Lovett (British musician), B ...

on their Australian tour. They also featured on

Passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

's album 'Flight of the Crow'. In May Boy & Bear released their debut extended play, ''With Emperor Antarctica'', which peaked at No. 63 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. In the same year, they recorded the song "

Fall at Your Feet "Fall at Your Feet" is a 1991 song by Crowded House, from their 1991 album, ''Woodface''. It is the only single from ''Woodface'' to be written solely by the group's leader Neil Finn, who co-wrote all other singles from the album with his brothe ...

" for ''

He Will Have His Way ''He Will Have His Way'' is a compilation album featuring male Australian and New Zealand musicians performing songs written by Neil Finn and Tim Finn ( The Finn Brothers), who are best known as members of Split Enz and Crowded House. It was r ...

'', a tribute album to singer-songwriter brothers Tim and

Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz and for being the lead singer of Crowded House. He was also a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018 ...

. Boy & Bear's version of "Fall at Your Feet" was listed at No. 5 on the

Triple J Hottest 100, 2010 The 2010 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced and played on January 26, 2011. It is the eighteenth countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station Triple J. Voting commenced at midnight on ...

. Another of their tracks, "Rabbit Song", was placed at No. 45. In November 2010 their cover of "Fall at Your Feet" peaked at No. 34 on the ARIA Singles Chart. In April 2011, their early single "Mexican Mavis" was featured on US TV series '' 90210'', season three

episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a serial (radio and television), series intended for radio, television or Streaming media, streaming consumption. Etymology The noun ''episode'' is ...

"Nerdy Little Secrets".

2011–2012: ''Moonfire''

On 5 August 2011, Boy & Bear released their debut album '' Moonfire''. It was recorded in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, Tennessee with producer,

Joe Chiccarelli Joe Chiccarelli is an American record producer, mixer and engineer, who is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and has been active since the 1980s. He has produced albums by Julieta Venegas, Jason Mraz, Morrissey, Oingo Boingo, Spoon, Young the Gi ...

and reached No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart. During that year, single " Feeding Line" debuted at No. 49. In December, Moonfire finished third in the Triple J album poll of 2011. It also reached platinum sales. On the

Triple J Hottest 100, 2011 The 2011 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on January 26, 2012. It is the nineteenth countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station Triple J. Voting commenced on 14 December 2011, and c ...

Boy & Bear were listed three times, with "Part Time Believer" and "Milk & Sticks" at No. 50 and No. 49, respectively, while " Feeding Line" reached No. 4. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 2011 The 25th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) were a series of award ceremonies which included the 2011 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Hall of Fame Awards, ARIA Fin ...

Boy & Bear won in five categories: Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Feeding Line"; and Album of the Year, Best Group, Breakthrough Artist – Album and Best Adult Alternative Release for ''Moonfire''. The following year, the band received an ARIA nomination for Best Group. In October 2012, it was announced that the original bass-guitarist Jake Tarasenko had left the band 'to pursue other interests'. He was replaced by David Symes, who had previously worked as a session musician for

The Sleepy Jackson The Sleepy Jackson are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia. The band's name was inspired by a former drummer who was narcoleptic. The band revolves around the distinctive vocal style of multi-instrumentalist ...

Sarah Blasko Sarah Elizabeth Blaskow (born 23 September 1976), known professionally as Sarah Blasko, is an Australian singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. From April 2002, Blasko developed her solo career after fronting Sydney-based band Acquie ...

and

Marcia Hines Marcia Elaine Hines AM (born July 20, 1953) is an American-born Australian singer and TV personality. Hines made her debut, at the age of 16, in the Australian production of the stage musical ''Hair'' and followed with the role of Mary Magdalen ...

. The group also announced that they had started work on a follow-up album.

2013–2014: ''Harlequin Dream''

Boy & Bear released their second album on 16 August 2013, titled '' Harlequin Dream''. It debuted at #1 on the ARIA charts. Its release was preceded by the lead single " Southern Sun", a song which paid homage to

Richard Clapton Richard Clapton (born 18 May 1948) is an Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist and producer. His solo top 20 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart are " Girls on the Avenue" (1975) and " I Am an Island" (1982). He reached the top& ...

's relaxed 1970s steel guitar sound. In 2013 Boy & Bear were nominated for three ARIA awards including, Best Group, Best Rock Album and Producer of the Year with Wayne Connolly. The album was also nominated for a J Award and was ranked #7 in triple j's Top 10 Albums of 2013 poll in the same year. From ''Harlequin Dreams release until the end of 2014, Boy & Bear completed three international tours, covering AUS/NZ/US/CAN/UK/EU and totalling 168 shows. Boy & Bear received an ARIA nomination in 2014 for Best Australia Live Act. The album went Platinum in 2016.

2015–2017: ''Limit of Love''

From April to May 2015 Boy & Bear teamed up with producer

Ethan Johns Ethan Thomas Robert Johns (born 1969 in Merton, London) is an English record producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Johns has worked with artists including Robert Vincent, Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Paul McCartney, ...

(

Ryan Adams David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American Rock music, rock and Country music, country singer-songwriter. He has released 30 studio albums and three as a former member of Whiskeytown. In 2000, Adams left Whiskeytown and released ...

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in 1999. The band includes brothers Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern roc ...

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their cur ...

) at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studio in the UK to record their third album. The album was recorded live and straight to tape, with virtually no overdubs. On 13 August the band announced the album and its lead single "Walk the Wire", which was added to high rotation on triple j. '' Limit of Love'' was released on 9 October 2015 in Australia debuting at #1 on the ARIA charts, New Zealand, North America and Canada and will be available from 30 October in the United Kingdom and Europe. The album was certified Gold in Australia in 2018.

2018–2019: ''Suck on Light''

In July 2018 the band began posting pictures of them in a recording studio for their fourth album. The band's fourth album, '' Suck on Light'', was released on 27 September 2019. Produced by the band and Collin Dupuis at Nashville's Southern Ground Studios, and mixed in part by mixer Tom Elmhirst, the 12-track album includes the singles "Hold Your Nerve", "Work of Art" and "Telescope".

2020: ''At Golden Retriever Studios''

In April 2020, Boy & Bear announced the release of their forthcoming acoustic album titled ''At Golden Retriever Studios'', set for release in September 2020. The band said "When we tour the USA we often get asked to perform our songs acoustically when we are on the radio... It gave us the idea to record a selection of acoustic tracks and present them as an album."

2022–present: ''Boy & Bear''

On 8 April 2022, Boy & Bear released "State of Flight", their first single since 2019, and their first released independently. Throughout June and July 2022, the group celebrated the 10 year anniversary celebration of their album ''Moonfire'' with an extensive national and regional tour. On 23 September 2022, Boy & Bear released "Just to Be Kind". In March 2023, the group released "Apex" and announced their fifth studio album would be released on 26 May 2023. In September 2023, Boy & Bear released the three-track EP ''Lost Dreams''. The tracks were recorded during the studio sessions for the band's second studio album ''Harlequin Dream''.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Extended plays

Singles

Notes

Awards and nominations

APRA Awards

The

APRA Awards APRA Awards may refer to one of two awards ceremonies: *APRA Awards (Australia) *APRA Awards (New Zealand) The APRA Music Awards are several annual and two-yearly award ceremonies run in New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Associatio ...

are presented annually from 1982 by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

(APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters". Boy & Bear have been nominated for one award. , - , rowspan="2",

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , Boy & Bear (Killian Gavin, Jonathon Hart, Timothy Hart, David Hosking, Jacob Tarasenko) , , Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year , , , - , "Feeding Line" (Killian Gavin, Jonathon Hart, Timothy Hart, David Hosking, Jacob Tarasenko) , , Song of the Year , , , - , rowspan="2",

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , "Harlequin Dream" (Killian Gavin, Jonathon Hart, Timothy Hart, David Hosking) , , rowspan="2", Song of the Year , , , - , "Southern Sun" (Killian Gavin, Jonathon Hart, Timothy Hart, David Hosking) , ,

ARIA Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

are presented annually from 1987 by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA). In 2011 Boy & Bear won five awards from seven nominations. The group performed their leading single, "Feeding Line", at the awards ceremony.ARIA Awards 2011 at Allphones Arena begins with battle of the red carpet
– news.com.au – Retrieved 28 November 2011. They received further nominations in 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2016. , - , rowspan="7",

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, , rowspan="2", "Feeding Line" , , Single of the Year , , , - , Breakthrough Artist – Single , , , - , rowspan="4", '' Moonfire'' , , Album of the Year , , , - , Best Group , , , - , Breakthrough Artist – Album , , , - , Best Adult Alternative Album , , , - , ''Moonfire'' –

, , Producer of the Year , , , - ,

, , "Big Man" , , Best Group , , , - , rowspan="3",

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , rowspan="3", '' Harlequin Dream'' , , Best Group , , , - ,

Best Rock Album The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre. Honors in sever ...

, , , - , Producer of the Year , , , - ,

, , ''National Tour'' , , Best Australian Live Act , , , - ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , '' Limit of Love'' , , Best Rock Album , ,

Australian Music Prize

The

Australian Music Prize The Australian Music Prize (often shortened to the AMP) is an annual award of $50,000 ($30,000 from 2005 to 2023) given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The award was ...

(the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The commenced in 2005. , - , 2011 , ''Moonfire'' , Australian Music Prize , , -

J Awards

The

J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J, and which also extend to sister stations, Triple J Unearthed and Double J. The awar ...

are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

's youth-focused radio station

. They commenced in 2005. , - ,

, ''Harlequin Dream'' , Australian Album of the Year , , - ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, "Walk the Wire" , Australian Video of the Year ,

National Live Music Awards

The

National Live Music Awards The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) are annual Australian music awards, established by Heath Media in 2016. They were preceded by the AU Live Music Awards in the previous two years. The awards are given in categories that recognise the best ...

(NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia's diverse live industry, celebrating the success of the Australian live scene. The awards commenced in 2016. , - ,

, themselves , International Live Achievement (Group) ,

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boy And Bear APRA Award winners ARIA Award winners Australian indie pop groups Australian indie rock groups Australian indie folk groups Musical groups established in 2009 Musical groups from Sydney Nettwerk Music Group artists Island Records artists