Antihero Magazine‘s James Geiser had the opportunity to chat with bassist Gustav Eriksson of ABANDONDED BY BEARS.
All great things have humble beginnings and ABANDONED BY BEARS is no exception. Sharing the same love of music, bass player Gustav Eriksson and singer Fredric Andersson met in early 2012 with a mutual passion to create energetic, aggressive yet fun, digestible music. “We started to play with the intention to mix the dynamics from hardcore and metal music with the tone and feel you get from pop punk,” mused Gustav about the ideas that lead to the bands formation out of Gothenburg, Sweden.
With the fusion of electronics and classy pop-punk, ABANDONED BY BEARS were not limited by the frames music is typically written. “We don’t follow the norm or what is right or wrong, we follow what we think sounds good. Our songwriting process is very unorthodox in a way, since we record everything ourselves, we can basically decide when we want to record and that gives us a type of freedom which shines through in the songs. All of us have the ability to play and understand each others instruments, so everyone writes, whether it’d be melodies, lyrics, guitar leads or drum fills.”
2013 saw the release of their four track EP Bear Sides, which included the first ever recordings of “You Need To Stick Up” and “We Can Break Loose.” Those first demos were released through the bands YouTube channel which quickly gained fans from around the world. “After the ripple effect started to spread, this was what convinced us to keep working on ABANDONED BY BEARS,” continues Ericksson.
After several more singles were released, along with the album When Nothing Goes Right, Go Left!, ABANDONED BY BEARS caught the ears of Victory Records and signed with the Chicago based label in 2015. The band took their DIY premeditation into the studio, self-producing their upcoming release The Years Ahead. On the title Gustav laments, “It’s basically the years we have ahead of ourselves as a band together, and the music we can’t wait to share with fans new and old. We want people to get good vibes when they listen to it. Even though some of our lyrics can be melancholy, we think people will find the contrast interesting. We want to share a feeling people can relate to, with both our lyrics and instrumentals.”
The Years Ahead is a reflection and reaction to the past 12 months of the bands life. With the recent addition of drummer Max, ABANDONED BY BEARS is set to continue carrying the torch for memorable sing-alongs, thumping beats and bouncing energy to fans worldwide. “It’s hard to say without sounding cheesy, but it’s amazing how much our fans support us. We can’t wait to get this going and finally be able to meet some of all the amazing people we’ve talked to on the internet during these years as a band. They make us proud to be a part of this.”
