







by kellie abrahamson
Local indie-pop twosome SUNBEARS! have had audiences dancing and discriminating music bloggers buzzing since forming a little over a year ago. Band mates Jared Bowser and Jonathan Berlin have been busy recently recording their newest effort, Dream Happy Dreams, but took a moment to answer some of EU’s questions via email. Here’s the scoop on the record and their upcoming appearance at Harvest of Hope Fest in their own words.
EU: How long have you guys been making music together?
SUNBEARS!: Wow… let’s see… for years! Not always as SUNBEARS! though. SUNBEARS! has been around for one year! Jonathan and I were in some bands together prior to this, but those bands are all extinct now!
EU: Your live shows are somewhat unique. Give people who may not have seen SUNBEARS! live yet an idea of what they’ll see.
S: We just try to have a fun time at our shows. In my opinion, nothing is worse than spending your allowance on a boring show, ya know? SOOO we decided that it could be neat to have a video show synced to our tunes to project behind us! We also try to incorporate really neat lights, confetti, smoke, ETCETERA!
EU: You’ll be performing at Harvest of Hope Fest. How will your performance be different given the setting?
S: Hrmmm… We really havent put much thought into that yet, just kidding… but seriously, were definitely up for trying something super different with it probably being daylight when we hit the stage. One idea is that we want to SKY-DIVE and open our parachutes and land on stage. We also thought about tying kittens to weather balloons and letting them hover above the crowd (assuming anyone is watching us!) I dont know… we just want it to be sweet! LOL.
EU: How did you get involved with Harvest of Hope Fest?
S: One of our good buddies, whose name I WILL NOT mention, hooked it up for us. He is a really great dude. We have not known him for that long, but we feel like we are lifelong friends. Unfortunately, he doesn’t live here. If he DID live here, we would probably hang out every day. Sigh…
EU: Which bands are you looking forward to seeing?
S: We are really excited to see Ghost Mice, Brainworms, Diet Cokeheads, and Alligator.
EU: Tell us about Dream Happy Dreams.
S: Dream Happy Dreams is the second chapter in the history of SUNBEARS! It is more over-the-top and OUT THERE! than our previous works. We just wanted to make something happy and alive! It’s got seven juicy tracks, and was recorded all over the country! Were really excited about how it has turned out, and we cant wait to share it with everyone! YAY!
EU: Besides the album and HOH, what else can we expect from SUNBEARS! in the near future? Any plans to tour?
S: ACTUALLLLY YES! We just got invited on the east coast portion of the MATES OF STATE / BLACK KIDS tour. Soo… we said yes! We’re really happy and excited about that! It’s hard to believe, really! What a great opportunity! So other than that, we’re gonna release the record, and hope for the best alwayz!
The tentative release date for Dream Happy Dreams is sometime in mid-March. In the meantime, go to Harvest of Hope Fest for a full, live dose of SUNBEARS!
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