"You’ll Be Dancing One Minute And Moved To Tears The Next" - MTV Meets Bear's Den

As we look forward to a jam-packed weekend of music at Reading Festival, we caught up with one of the most exciting bands on the line-up, Bear's Den.

With latest single 'Above The Clouds Of Pompeii' being widely talked about, we asked frontman, Kevin Jones, about their busy festival season and what we can expect from their show this weekend.

Your new record ‘Islands’ has been out since September, how do you feel it's been received?

"I think it’s been received really well! It’s been a nice, natural, organic process with people discovering it gradually and really liking it."

Are you working on new material, or just riding the wave of the first record?

"We’re starting to think about another record, we’re having a lot of conversations about it and songs are starting to emerge, but I think we’re doing half and half at the moment."

You’re currently nearing the end of a very busy festival season, how has it been for you?

"It’s been amazing! I don’t think we quite realised how busy we were gonna be and how well received we were gonna be. We've been everywhere from the US to Canada, to mainland Europe and to UK, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster."

I saw that this weekend (August 21-23) has been a pretty busy one for you guys, hasn’t it, with three countries in three days?

"Yeah, it was quite full on! But it was a lot of fun, Pukkelpop and Lowlands were just amazing festivals!"

Could you pick out a highlight of this festival season?

"Yeah, that’s quite a tough one. To be honest I think Glastonbury was actually just incredible for us. It was quite difficult though because our van caught on fire on the way down, and we thought we weren’t going to make the show. When we actually got there, we managed to get there 10 minutes before, the reception from the fans was just incredible, I think that was probably my favourite of the festival season."

Where is the best place in the world that you have been for a show?

"Ah, that’s a tough question. I think we all have different favourite places that we like playing. I love playing in San Francisco because I love city so much, I love playing New York, and London is really important to us because that’s where we’re from. Playing our hometown is a big thing for us. It’s very hard to pick a particular favourite place because everywhere we go something blows our minds."

What’s the hardest thing about being on tour?

"You don’t get much personal space, or no personal space at all, that can be difficult. It's difficult not seeing friends and family, you kind of just disappear for months on end, but I wouldn’t ever moan about it, as I think we’re very luck to be in the position we are at the moment."

In terms of the crowds you’ve had at all your shows, how does it feel, now the album’s been out for a while, to have your fans sing the words back to you?

"It’s the nicest feeling in the world! I think the first few times that happened to us we just couldn’t believe it, that’s always gonna be a dream for a band I think to have so many people engaged with music you’ve made. It’s a very, very humbling and rewarding experience."

In terms of your live set, do you have a favourite song that you like to play live?

"Probably ‘Above The Clouds Of Pompeii’ just because the fans love it so much. On a personal level I love playing ‘When You Break’, that one's a lot of fun for me personally. We love all the songs equally so I guess it’s…"

Like choosing your favourite child?

"Exactly, exactly."

And so, this weekend we’ve got Reading and Leeds Festival, what can we expect from your set?

"Well, you can expect quite a lot of variety, a lot of different changes of pace in the set, and hopefully you’ll be dancing one minute and moved to tears the next minute. We really draw heavily on the energy we get from our fans and the crowd so hopefully we’ll put in as much as they put in, and it’ll be great!"

What is next for the band? We’re nearing the end of festival season, and you’ve got a tour coming up, are you still going to be relentlessly touring?

"We’ve got a big tour in October of the UK and Europe which we’re really excited about, we’re playing the Roundhouse in London which is going to be amazing, and in between that I think we’re just gonna start thinking about new material."

What bands inspire you?

"We saw Tame Impala for the first time the other day and that blew our tiny minds! We’ve always loved Bon Iver and The National, The War On Drugs as well, their record has been on constantly in the van for the last year or so."

- By Megan Downing