MINUS THE BEAR
EMERGE FROM HIBERNATION
ANNOUNCE MENOS EL OSO
TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
SHARE “DRILLING” VIDEO
“From Menos el Oso, I’ve learned to see the beauty in the pangs of longing, in the pressures of work, in the fear of loss. After all, “this is the difference between living and not living.” – The Line of Best Fit
“…crisp, calculated, and linear.” – Alternative Press
“…a near-perfect album that found Minus the Bear operating at the absolute top of their game.” – Brooklyn Vegan
“The intricately woven guitars and propulsive beats that anchor Menos el Oso aren’t just “math rock” exercises, they’re a vital mode of expression, tracing the modern worry that the individual is being slowly absorbed by religion, government, corporations, or something more sinister.” – AV Club
“A steady rhythm section flows beneath Jake Snider’s sturdy vocals while David Knudson’s staccato guitar compositions lightly dance on the surface, consistently adding both a vibrant beauty and an anxious energy to the music.” – The Stranger
Formed in Seattle, WA at the turn of the millennium, and founded by a veritable who’s-who of local musicians, including singer-guitarist Jake Snider (Sharks Keep Moving), guitarist David Knudson (Botch), Cory Murchy on bass, drummer Erin Tate (Kill Sadie) and keyboardist-engineer Matt Bayles, Minus the Bear burst onto the alternative rock scene in the waning days of nineties burn-out, and at the birth of the early-aughts indie revival. When they played their debut show in Seattle back in September 2001, there was an immediate hype surrounding the band.
Four years later, on August 23, 2005, the band would release their sophomore album, Menos el Oso, on local independent label, Suicide Squeeze Records. Since then there have been a number of line-up changes, with the addition of Alex Rose on keyboard and backing vocal duty and drummer Joshua Sparks.
The band bid farewell to performing in 2018, to focus on other priorities, but the passage of time has brought them back together, just in time to celebrate the album that changed their lives forever twenty years after the fact. Last week, the band was announced as co-headliners of Best Friends Forever in Las Vegas, NV this October, and today are thrilled to announce a nationwide tour, where they will be playing the seminal album in full. Dates below, tickets available for purchase on Friday, March 14 at 10:00 A.M. local time here. Additionally, the band have shared a new video for “Drilling,” which you can find here.
Guitarist and founding member David Knudson, while reflecting on the album, notes “Menos el Oso put us on a trajectory that none of us were expecting. There is a “before ‘Pachuca Sunrise’ video” moment in time, and then there is an “after ‘Pachuca Sunrise’ video” moment in time. It seemed like once people heard that song, and saw that video, everyone went straight to Limewire, Napster, Soulseek, BitTorrent, etc. and shared the album immediately. Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of something this monumental in our lives is a gift. Having the chance to appreciate it with our fans, families and fellow bandmates while we are all alive and kicking is an opportunity I can’t wait to embrace.”
At the first Minus the Bear rehearsal in seven years earlier this year, the band’s drummer Joshua Sparks put it this way, “These songs are like having a really nice car in the garage… it’d be a shame not to take them out for a drive every now and then.”
