Polar Bear Club

Wed 13th Jan, 2010 in Features

While the Queensland sun was building into yet another stinking hot summer’s day, Jimmy Stadt of Polar Bear Club was taking cover from the white-out blizzard taking over Rochester, New York.

2009 has been a busy year for the five-piece, who’ve released their second full-length album, Chasing Hamburg. According to many, it was one of the most-anticipated albums of the year. “We’re honoured that people think that,” Jimmy says. “We’re kinda modest about it. We don’t really think that about ourselves but we’re lucky we’ve gotten the exposure. A lot of bands would kill for that sort of thing.

“On the other hand, there is a little bit of pressure. When we were writing the songs, we made a conscious effort to ignore all that pressure because we didn’t want to write an album that we thought people would want to hear or that we thought would live up to the hype of our previous albums. We went in and wrote the album we wanted to hear and that’s what we’ve always done.

“After it was done and recorded, that pressure sinks in a little bit more; when everything is done and you’re waiting on it for months. No one’s heard it but you, you’ve listened to it five thousand times and analysed every little thing, that’s when the pressure gets to you.”

With the release of Chasing Hamburg, Polar Bear Club has found a refined sound, while maintaining the hardcore elements of previous releases. Overall, the album has a live feel about it.

“I think it was written with the live show in mind,” Jimmy explains. “I don’t think we talked about it as a band but doing the other albums, we did we weren’t really a touring band. We went in and we just went nuts with guitar effects, background sounds, vocals and harmonies and layers, and some of the songs don’t translate as well as we’d like live. It helps that we’ve spent the whole year playing shows so that was ingrained in us without us even trying. The songs are a bit shorter and straightforward, but we can play all those songs live.”

For PBC, this was the first time working with hardcore super producer, engineer, mixer and Minus The Bear member Matt Bayles. “Working with Matt Bayles was definitely a change for us. He was very geared towards making a live-sounding album. His specialty is just making a band sound like the band; what’s already there and making it sound good. I don’t think we would have been ready had we not been touring so much. He’s really good at being hands on at the right times and being hands-off at the right times. He’s like a ninja of being OCD and relaxing. It’s this weird middle-ground that he’s mastered over the past 10 years, and it shows.”

This year the band signed to independent label Bridge 9. Initially, they weren’t the band one would expect to see on the B9 list. “We definitely are a wildcard on their roster, but that seems to be everything we do,” the frontman concedes. “We’re always the wildcard band and that excited us about Bridge 9. When we went into our meeting with them we had no intention of signing with them whatsoever, we almost skipped the meeting. We thought we’d go get a free dinner out it and hear what they had to say. Coming out of that meeting, every member of the band was unanimous that B9 was where we were going to sign.”

With Bridge 9 behind them, where will the road take them from here? “I don’t anticipate that we’re going to be biggest band in the world. I don’t have any sort of delusions about that. It would be fun as hell but I think right now we all want to live off this band and bands do that at a lot of different levels.

“You’ve got bands like Thrice and Alkaline Trio – they’re not as big as the Foo Fighters, but they’re definitely living off their band, and that’s the goal. Just be able to be a middle-class band and make a living, but do it our way. I don’t think it’s that hard nowadays. As backwards as it sounds, you stand to make more money as a band staying with an independent label.”

As a band that started out with no intention of being a full-time touring unit, things have certainly changed. January 2010 will see them make the trek to Australian shores on their own headlining tour. “I always knew that I would go to Australia sometime because I always wanted to, but the fact I get to go with my band and essentially go for free is a lot better. But no, I never thought this band would get to Australia.

“I imagined when we first came to Australia we would do a Soundwave or a festival tour but the fact we get to come over and headline right out of the gate is kind of scary. But exciting scary. It seems that everyone I talk to in Australia is pretty optimistic about it.”

Chasing Hamburg is out now on Bridge 9 through Stomp. Polar Bear Club plays these shows on their Australian tour.

Thur Jan 21 – Rosies, Brisbane
Fri Jan 22 – Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle [18+]
Sat Jan 23 – Annandale Hotel, Sydney
Sun Jan 24 – Annandale Hotel, Sydney [AA]
Wed Jan 27 – Rosemount, Perth
Thu Jan 28 – YMCA HQ, Perth [AA]
Fri Jan 29 – Enigma Bar, Adelaide
Sat Jan 30 – East Brunswick Club, Melbourne
Sun Jan 31 – Castle, Melbourne [AA]