Be Strong cemented the giant fuzzy bears’ reputation as one of the most fun DJ sets going round and with Bear Hug and the title track gaining significant radio rotation in 2012, it became a rite of passage for any serious Hot Chip fan to find what club The 2 Bears were playing at for a serious after-party. But with their second album dropping this year, it was time to forge their own identity away from Joe’s genre-defining day job. The Night Is Young is at once more serious and more diverse than its predecessor, with South African collaborations and an overall theme that deviates heavily from the loved up ecstasy of their previous releases.
“The first album is filled with hymns to love and partying and I stand by the message it sends. We could have made another ten jolly house tracks, but we would’ve been driven mad doing that”, Raf explains. He’s philosophical and measured, pausing before he answers any question, deliberating his thoughts carefully. The former 1965 Records businessman turned creative is open about his ambitions for The 2 Bears, “When we began in 2010, it was just a pet project for Joe and for me it was just a creative outlet, so I didn’t have any aspirations for it to go full-time. But a lot has changed and for The Night Is Young, the idea was to have an album that was less club-focused; we were interested in doing something a bit different. Joe is so busy all the time with his projects, so it’s important The 2 Bears is something that engages him creatively, so it was necessarily a bit different in that way.”
This is in keeping with their dichotomy; the line has always been blurred for the duo, were they a pop band in the electronic scene, or electronic act in the pop scene? “We’re trying to create something honestly and show a bit of ourselves. We were conscious that we still wanted to reach as many people as possible, but if you start the creative process with the idea to make it on the radio, especially the way radio is and how fast it evolves, it doesn’t work. We’ve travelled a lot together since we released Be Strong, we’ve listened to a lot more records and we’re always trying to find new things to steal from, both pop and electronic.”
On the topic of their influences and what sounds have bled into the new record, it’s obvious the two are as informed by classic song writing as they are by the latest house staple: “We’ve always loved our big American house and techno producers, like Dennis Ferrer, Matias Aguayo and Green Velvet. We listened to a lot of that whilst we were in the studio and we wear our influences proudly on our sleeves. But I’d say I’m just as influenced by guys like Ian Dury or Ray Davies from The Kinks or Terry Hall from The Specials. When we’re working on varied, rambling demos with no lyrics and feeling our way in, the music we listen to seeps into that.”
On the topic of their South African excursion during the making of The Night Is Young, Raf is remarkably candid about the effect both personally and sonically the experience had on him. “Trips like that put a lot of perspective on your own life, I thought about a lot of things to do with my own life after I came home. The spirit of creativity there was amazing, it made us forget about any hang-ups we had about how a song should sound or be made. Everyone we worked with in South Africa, especially Sbusiso and Senyaka whom we worked with in a studio in Soweto were amazing and quite inspirational, that track Son of the Sun…Sbusiso makes that track.” Probed whether he thinks he’s made the electronic world’s answer to Graceland, Raf bursts out laughing, “I don’t think so, but that would be a cool thing to do.”
Was your sojourn in Cape Town and Johannesburg responsible for the darkness that crept into the production on this album? “It wasn’t necessarily Africa, if there are darker themes on the record, it’s because of what’s going on around us in the UK We’ve both had babies since last record has come out so we’ve had shifts in priorities, this album is a nod to the future we’re raising our kids in. That’s not to say we’re horribly depressed or anything, I’m quite positive about everything, these are terrifying and thrilling times in equal measure.”
The tagline that The 2 Bears are a side-project of Joe from Hot Chip is both a reality and non-issue for Raf. His group has grown up in shadow of Hot Chip’s success and speaking on the subject Raf comes across as a fan not a mistress. “It’s mostly it’s a positive thing, people who are into Hot Chip might look a bit further and find us and if people find us on their own then that’s great as well. Hot Chip are an amazing band with a lot of fans, so if it’s a negative thing, it’s only for Joe because he has so much work on his plate.” Commercially it acts as a blessing and curse as The 2 Bears can piggy-back off Hot Chip’s tour schedule for DJ sets and there are already plans afoot to replicate the all-in glory of the As Heard On Radio Soulwax nights joining all the associated Hot Chips acts together for the same night. “We’ve done a few live gigs as The 2 Bears and there’s talk already of joining Hot Chip on tour in 2015 and doing both shows live. Al and Felix have their band New Build, Alexis has Fimber Bravo and About Group so hopefully soon we can put together the whole shebang. We’re all one big family really.”
BY CHRISTOPHER LEWIS
