INTERVIEW: ELIZA AND THE BEAR, BARROWLANDS

Sat in a dimly lit, history steeped room somewhere within the legendary Barrowlands are myself and Martin & James of Eliza and the Bear in a tranquil state of slippers, sweats and their post pizza and Uno playing haziness. 30 minutes till doors are set to open not only for one of The Lafontaines most eagerly awaited headlines to date but E&TB's support slot debut on this stage of major stature:“with shows like tonight we want people to go away switched on to who we are, we know they didn't come here knowing us but because people listen to us and then they see us live and it connects the dots and shows the people the energy in our set and they understand us.”

The Barrowlands Ballroom has been a melancholic rite of passage undertaken by young Glaswegians for decades and in some ways the members of Eliza and the Bear can relate to this, having all dabbled in and out of failed musical ventures in their teens to the background of their local youth club, much like this venue, without the use of that one constant meeting place then the formation of the collective as we know it today may not have even occurred.

To offer an introduction to the band they are an Essex born but London based quintet. In terms of their music, it’s hard to categorise, with soft rock and folk undertones they offer a plethora of different genres:“We're the worst band to ask to explain ourselves, I feel like fun, energetic, indie pop is how others would describe us. I just want people to enjoy it and feel good, just smile.”

Though they place themselves on the “pop” spectrum, that’s with the loosest of truth.  Under the correct setting their live set can prove to be an almost transcendent feeling, a truly heart racing experience, though their studio recordings are upbeat, they show merely half of the power translated through hearing them first hand. Their musicianship has the clarity only ever found in a well 

experienced band, having spent the last few years together on the road it certainly shows.

Where they may be novices in the workings of this venue, strangers they are not to the city of Glasgow: "all of our crew are Scottish, and we've built a relationship with everyone, our guitar tech's and our manager's Scottish so it's good, we're the only English ones here really. It's awesome we love it. Playing King Tuts was a turning point for us, we had a really special show there and the fire alarm went off and it was carried on outside, then we played The Hydro which was amazing, there's something about Glasgow crowds that are so refreshing because they like to get involved."

The promising release of their debut album next February is going to be a personal highlight for the band being the culmination of many years of planning, gigging and EP releasing to result in a completely fresh, diverse compilation of the band's best work to date: "it's been a process for us since day one, not that we had it in mind since day one but the more we write the more we get to know each other and our writing styles and we develop, but we're lucky we all have a good relationship. When we did the album tracklist we were all in agreement and so were our label, we're lucky we have a good relationship with them aswell." The band's plans for 2016 being:“touring more really, and we're always in the studio.”So whether you’ve caught a set from E&TB or not yet there will be ample opportunity for that in the new year: “In terms of tour we don't know if we're going to go big or do some smaller really special shows there are different ways we could go with it, small shows are really sweaty and intimate, but we’re at a stage where we want to play bigger venues, like the Ritz or academies, we want to push ourselves to get better.” 

PRE-GIG PLAYLIST:

"It always changes we just put on whatever's popular."

However certain tracks stood out including: "Teenage Dirtbag, new Coldplay, anything Alt J, one of Little Mix's songs, partial sometimes to a bit of Calvin Harris most recently How Deep Is Your Love" and they are unashamedly into the new works of Justin Bieber.

"POST GIG is always Elvis."

Twitter: @elizaandthebear

Instagram: elizaandthebear

Website: http://www.elizaandthebear.com