Music / Interviews
Eliza and the Bear
London-based indie pop quintet, Eliza and the Bear celebrate the release of latest EP Light It Up and prepare themselves for a two-month tour across the UK, following a hugely successful summer of festival line-ups. Katie Amos speaks to frontman James Kellegher ahead of their show at the Fleece on October 24.
Despite the name, there is no Eliza in the London-based band, nor any bears for that matter. Their moniker was actually plucked from a collection of poems by Eleanor Rees, whose fairy tale-induced themes rang true in their own music.
The poem, which speaks of bizarre mysteries involving singing trees and dissolving houses, is said to have inspired their jaunty, enchanting sound. Their lyricism encapsulates an escapist attitude towards the mundane and the band’s infectious sound is one that has been impossible to ignore over the past couple of years.
is needed now More than ever
“When we started Eliza and the Bear and were deciding on which way to go, we wanted to mature ourselves and become a bit more mainstream,” James says.
“I mean me and Callie, our piano player, used to play like six and a half minute songs in our old bands, which is quite a bit different to what we’re doing now. So with this band, I think we wanted to show that we’re a bit more grown up now and we wanted to write some more radio-friendly, family-friendly music. It’s definitely a deliberate change in our path, but we’ve already evolved from the music we wrote when we started the band a few years ago and I think we will always continue to do so.”
The birth of Eliza and the Bear in 2011 was one that came as somewhat of a surprise for the close-knit group of friends. They recorded their first demo in drummer Paul Kevin Jackson’s living room.
A support slot with Paramore on their UK arena tour in 2013 saw the band garner a legion of new fans. They were also chosen to face the highly influential Communion Records’ inaugural New Faces Tour, a tour across ten cities spanning two weeks, being named as one of the hottest tipped artists of 2014.
And this month they start their biggest headlining tour yet.
“I think with touring you just have to kind of trust yourself and trust that you know what you’re doing,” James tells me in a break from rehearsals.
“We’ve done this before, but obviously we want to step up the game with every tour we do and try some new things out. I think we just try and rehearse as hard as we possibly can beforehand. I know it’s just one of those things where we just have to wing it and trust in ourselves that we’re good enough to entertain all those people who have bought tickets to come and see us.”
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