Bear in Heaven’s last album, Beast Rest Forth Mouth, garnered critical acclaim across the board, marking Bear In Heaven as another ‘new’ band to watch out for in 2010 and far into the future. However, as with any field, with quick rise to fame, usually, comes a certain degree of pomp, or self-involvement. With Bear In Heaven however, nothing could be farther from the truth. After talking with guitarist Adam Wills, it’s clear that not only are these guys crazy inventive musicians, but perfect gentlemen to boot. In the interview, Adam was kind enough to share their surprise at their success, how the band got it’s name, as well the long friendships the band members had shared before Bear In Heaven even came together.

IYS: First of all I guess I gotta ask, the band name, Bear In Heaven, where did it come from, what’s the story behind it?

Uhh, it’s a pretty simple story. Jon, he’s in the band, and he formed the band, must have been years ago. We have a really good friend Jeff, who’s an artist, and Jon was looking for a name for his informal music project, and Jeff actually had a painting that was entitled Bear in Heaven, so, that’s about as simple as it gets, Jon named it after the painting. It’s funny, I’ve been in the band six or seven years now and I’ve never seen the painting, no idea what it looks like haha.

IYS: Haha, trade secret, I guess; simplicity can be great. That’s a great story. Some bands I talk to have this whole grandiose thing behind their name, but that’s cool to hear it was named after something so visceral.

Yeah I mean naming a band is pretty much harder than writing the music.

IYS: Yeah, that’s what people know you as. It’s pretty important; it can turn people off to you immediately, or make them love you.

Yeah [laughter]

IYS: So you guys have a really distinct sound, everyone seems to really like it–I know I do–but where did this come from? Were there any major influences that helped shape your current music? Or was it just what you guys do? Like an out-of-nowhere, left-field kind of thing.

I’d like to think it came out of nowhere, I mean a lot of it has to do with the fact that none of us are trained musicians, Joe being the only one who ever really had any formal training, like he grew up playing drums in, you know, middle school and elementary school and stuff like that. Jon and I are definitely self-taught though. A lot of it comes from not knowing what the hell we’re doing. [Laughter] But yeah, I think definitely, I don’t know where the sound came from, it’s more of the vibe from when we first started playing together years ago, we definitely were more involved in the artier side of music, like Jon had worked for a record label called Table of the Elements, which is kind of the premier, kinda most snobby record label you could think of. A lot of avant-noise and jazz and I had been familiar with the record label when I was in college, so I think that we always just wanted to be on a label like that. We definitely tried to fit in to more of an avant-garde thing; we were making a lot of noise and drums and stuff. Wasn’t very crowd pleasing, but we wanted to be a little confrontational. After being in a band for so long that was doing that, you know, what really informed us was watching the crowd and everyone just stared, and you can only play so many shows like that, so that’s helped make us want to write pop songs. If you’re gonna play shows night after night after night, it’s kinda nice to see reactions from people. [Laughter] So that kind of influenced where the music went from there.

IYS: Very cool, so what you’re saying is that initially you shaped your music to fit the kind of label you wanted to be on, and then moved from there as it wasn’t exactly the crowd’s favorite?

I guess so, but when we started out it we didn’t have any goals. We were just a bunch of friends. I mean, we had instruments. Like for two or three years it was really unfocused. Practice was more of chance to get together once or twice a week and drink beers or whatever. Up until two years ago it was basically that: A lot more unfocused.

IYS: So had any of you had past projects before this, or was Bear in Heaven your first musical undertaking?

Bear in Heaven was my first band. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 14, I just never really bothered playing with anybody. Joe was in a jam band when he was in college though, and Jon was in a band called Presocratics which was actually on that label I was just talking about, Table of the Elements. I’ve been involved in other bands outside Bear in Heaven since Bear in Heaven started. But it’s definitely been my first super serious band.

IYS: Well there you go! You’ve found success pretty quickly for this being your first serious band; there’s pretty much widespread positive reviews across the board.

Yeah, it definitely helps. [Laughter]

IYS: So has your life changed much since your rise to stardom? Or is Bear in Heaven just something on the side for you. Obviously you have to do the tours and such, but does it dominate most of your time, or do you still have major things aside from Bear In Heaven that take up time.

No, it’s definitely grown to dominate most of our time. We were just on tour for three months in a row, so that was definitely a big life-changer. And basically we have a month to rest–we got back a few weeks ago–and we leave in a couple weeks for another two months. For me personally, I’m used to working a lot. I’m a video editor, so I work a good amount. But now no way I’m going back to work. [Laughter] Which has been good, because the band has become a day job of sorts. So where before I’d get home at like seven-thirty on a Monday night, and maybe we could practice for three hours, now we can all come in at eleven am and practice for like, six hours. Definitely a change. I gotta say though, I’m pretty bored right now. [Laughter] I just don’t really know what to do with myself. I’m not used to having so much down-time. I’m just wired you know? Like in my nature I’m just a busybody person, but still it’s been nice to just lay on my couch, hang out with my cat, write emails and pour nice coffee.

IYS: The good life, yeah?

Right.

IYS: So you guys are based out of Brooklyn right?

Yeah, Brookyln. We all moved up here about a decade ago. Jon and I are both form Georgia, and Jeff’s from Alabama.

IYS: A long way from home. Brooklyn’s a very lively music scene; Do you, however silly it may be to ask, ever hang out or jam or anything with any of the other rising musicians there?

Sometimes, but not that often. The one good thing about being in a town where there’s so many bands, is that you can commiserate with them, like in any field. Like I can go walk to get a coffee with a friend that’s in a band and we’ll talk about their experiences and ours. Like for instance, we’re touring a lot and I’ll ask ‘did you tour this much?’ or other bands asking us theories about like when they should release their record, ‘Should we release it in November? Or how about January, what do you think?’ It’s just like the industry or whatever, talking to your peers, but it’s really nice being in town, just cause there are so many bands.

IYS: Well, you certainly have without question donned the cloak of a musician, but is this always where you wanted your life to go, or was it just a wild turn your life has taken?

Kind of a wild but happy turn. I asked for a guitar in junior high for Christmas. Basically my best friend at the time had gotten one. I never took a lesson, I just would always enjoy sitting at home and playing guitar. Absolutely zero goals. [Laughter] For me it’s a nice thing to do;, I get a kick out of it, you know? I stuck with something for fifteen years and now I’m getting recognized. On tour, in interviews people love hearing life lessons and stuff, but really I just played. [Laughter] Bear In Heaven was never really something any of us were gunning for, it was just a creative outlet for everybody.