Minus The Bear

The more distant you get in our solar system, the more the planets tend to be covered with ice; from the lunar South Pole to the rings of Saturn, the substance seems to coat the outer reaches of our universe like a snowy blanket. Alternately, for the past six years, Seattle's Minus the Bear have orbited the music world like a distant meteor, fine-tuning their unique brand of indie rock and discovering how technology can help enhance the band's unique pop vision - all of which is about to culminate with their latest full-length Planet of Ice, an album showing the band not so much transforming their sound as transcending it.

Formed in Seattle, Washington in 2001, Minus the Bear was initially formed by guitarist David Knudson, bassist Cory Murchy, and drummer Erin Tate who eventually recruited keyboardist/sequencer, Matt Bayles and vocalist/guitarist Jake Snider. Once in the same room they realized they were on to something special - and the band quickly earned a rabid and rapidly growing fan base ranging from teenagers to middle-aged parents. ""I know every band says they can't explain their music, but I really can't say that we sound like one specific thing,"" Murchy explains. ""We don't follow a particular scene or genre and hopefully that shows.""

In true Minus the Bear fashion, the band plan to stay on the road for the next year-and-a-half promoting Planet of Ice and continuing to write and push the limits of their sound. ""There's kind of a joke that if there was a part that we would play and it made you laugh, it must be good,"" Murchy explains about the band's well-known sense of humor. ""As far as the music goes, we do take it seriously but we also like to have a good time - and hopefully the attention to detail, especially at our live performances, shows through to people,"" he adds. ""We want it to sound right, but on the same token we do like to have a laugh and fuck around,"" he summarizes. ""It's a nice balance.""