POLAR BEAR CLUB
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Emmett Menke - Drums, Jimmy Stadt - Vocals, Nate Morris - Guitar, Chris Browne - Guitar, Goosey Goosey Goose - Bass
When a band releases an album that is named one of the year’s essentials and “absolutely spectacular post-hardcore’ by Alternative Press, said band has a lot to live up to. That was 2008, and now Pol...read morear Bear Club has returned with an album that is even more groundbreaking than their last: Chasing Hamburg. Effortlessly seaming together the sounds of 90’s punk and hardcore – akin to bands like Lifetime and Hot Water Music – with a refreshingly 2000’s style and their own personal twist, Polar Bear Club will no doubt be one of this year’s breakout bands and live up to the additional ‘Most Anticipated of 2009’ tag they received from AP.
Back in 2005, Chris Browne (guitar) and Jimmy Stadt (vocals) got together as a side project to their various bands. Eventually, Nate Morris (guitar), Erik Henning (bass), and Emmett Menke (drums) joined in and Polar Bear Club was formed with little to no intention of going full time. Spread out amongst states and time zones, the band released the EP The Redder The Better before they hit the studio to record 2008's critically acclaimed Sometimes Things Just Disappear on Red Leader Records. As the interest in the band grew, they dropped jobs, took leaves of absence from school and hit the road with bands like Gaslight Anthem, Crime In Stereo, Broadway Calls, American Steel, A Wilhelm Scream and many more. Vocalist Jimmy Stadt said, “Every full-time band makes sacrifices to do this for a living. We’ve been fortunate to be able to do this full-time but there is a lot of baggage. Not seeing your family, little stability, no real income, uncertain future and a lot of hard work. There are a lot of upsides as well. It's just like pursuing anything you love outside the norm. We knew it would be a real hard climb – but after releasing Sometimes Things Just Disappear, we knew what we had to do. And now we’re doing it.”
Polar Bear Club got their bearings and with that came the time to find a new label. Bridge Nine Records came knocking in 2008 and the band “unanimously decided to go with B9. Red Leader was an amazing label to us but we felt that for what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go as a band it was time to move on. B9 was one of the couple labels we met with and everyone in PBC was most impressed with them when it was all said and done. They were very straight forward and clear with us which we appreciated and we just clicked”, said Stadt. Shortly after the label announcement, Polar Bear Club headed across the pond to play some of the biggest and best shows thus far in their career alongside Gaslight Anthem. Stadt continued to say, “Playing Shepherds Bush in London to around 2,000 Gaslight fans was incredible. But I’d have to say the best thing is when kids come up and buy a record and tell you they loved your set and had never heard you before tonight. That is the best.”
Upon their return to the states, the band polished up their demos and headed into the studio with acclaimed Producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Minus the Bear) to record what would become Chasing Hamburg. With songs that pay homage to influential bands like Hot Water Music, Small Brown Bike and The Get Up Kids, Polar Bear Club delivered a record that sounds familiar yet is completely refreshing and new. Stadt went on to say, “The recording process was really natural for us. We were more meticulous with the song writing this time around. We did more pre production than we've ever done and were working together really well. Before 'Hamburg' we would write our parts and try and make it sound as cool as possible but this time around we were working off each other a lot more and writing stuff that fit the song. It was a big leap for us. We recorded with Matt Bayles and he helped a lot as well. He's really good at making a band sound like a band. No bells and whistles. He was very hands off when he needed to be but there for us when we he could tell we needed him.” Drummer Emmett Menke continued, “The new songs are overall a bit shorter and more upbeat, while somehow getting a little darker. Lyrically, they’re a lot more personal than our previous efforts. We're very happy with the final product.”
Poised to be one of 2009’s greatest successes, as bands like this don’t come around often, Polar Bear Club will undoubtedly join the ranks with bands like At The Drive In and Refused as highly influential artists at a time when many others are doing little more than clinging onto neon t-shirts. One thing is certain: Chasing Hamburg is an inevitable classic that’s sure to please fans of many different music genres – punk, hardcore, emo, and everything else in between. Polar Bear Club will spend the remainder of 2009 wrapping up a jaunt with Four Year Strong and Set your Goals, hitting up east coast markets with Face to Face, then touring across North America on the Bridge Nine Records tour with Strike Anywhere, Crime In Stereo, and Ruiner, with jaunts across the globe to follow. Get ready for world domination in 2010. Collapse
Polar Bear Club
Polar Bear Club
