The 2 Bears

Since their formation in 2009, the ‘The 2 Bears’ a.k.a Hot Chip’s own Joe Goddard and DJ Raf Rundell have been steadily gaining prominence, with the release of 3 E.P’s of club-thumping, speaker straining house music with a twist. With an army of UK national radio support from some of the countries biggest DJ’s, a built-in fan base and a Bear hug or two, 2012 is looking like it’s going to be theirs for the taking.

To celebrate the release of their debut album, BBM’s own James Stapleton talks to Raf Rundell, one half of the dynamic DJ duo, about their new album, table tennis and why wearing Bear suits aren’t quite as comfortable as they sound….

A warm welcome from BBM, how are you?

I’m good thanks, how are you? (BBM is always well, thanks). I’m just currently working on something with (fellow DJ) Toddla T.

So, a bit of background if you please, how did you and Joe get together?

We DJ’d together first of all at a lot of these Greco-Roman warehouse parties in London that a mutual friend of ours put on. Hot Chip seemed to be playing 3 times a week in their first year and I used to go see them as well.

What was the inspiration behind the 2 Bears concept?

A friend of ours had a fevered vision of a band called the ‘3 Bears’ and envisaged Joe and I and a friend of ours Joseph (Mount) from Metronomy together. Joseph wasn’t living in London as he had moved back down south to make his most recent record so 3 became 2, and the name just stuck really! It was just meant to be a bit of fun as we both were working on other things but yeah it all came together naturally.

So are you enjoying wearing bear costumes?

Not at all, they are horrible! Quite good on a day like today if you are hanging round on the sofa, but not for DJ’ing. We mainly use them for photo shoots; you know it’s a gimmick, anything to avoid looking like two lumpy guys from the studio!

You’ve been described as pop-hip-house, liquid-bmore-house-step and rave-garage but how would you yourself describe your sound?

I’d say London flavoured house music. Everything that we’ve grown up with really.

We really love the album, what’s the response been like?

Surprising. Yeah, you just kind get on with things in the studio and hope that people will like it. I couldn’t be happier.

How did you find taking vocal duties on some of the album tracks?

It was a lot of fun; it’s not something I ever envisaged. We did the BBC Radio One roadshow in Ibiza, and I never thought I’d end up being a rapper on stage in Ibiza in front of people going crazy with their shirts off, it was nuts. Quite a surreal moment really, I originally did them as guide vocals, but people encouraged us and we decided that this would be it.

The album cover has a certain distinctive coat of arms, have you got a band motto, Latin or otherwise to go with it?

Haha – ‘Best Eaten Fresh.’

I noticed a pair of 2 Bear ping-pong bats for sale on the facebook page, is that a passion of yours?

Yeah we play a lot of ping-pong, he’s got a table in his back garden. Every time we’d hit a creative wall, we’d go take our mind off and play ping-pong for half an hour. Usually the answer is there when you come back from the table.

Is there a healthy rivalry? Who normally wins?

Yeah, well…I wouldn’t like to comment in print, he might get upset with me.

So what’s in store for you guys this year? Obviously you’re headed out to France and Germany soon, but any plans to head out to the U.S or Australia?

We are doing Paris and Berlin in the next week or two, lots going on. And obviously Hot Chip are on the road soon, doing all the festivals and it looks like Joe and I are going to dovetail nicely with Hot Chip at various events. We’ve also been busy remixing; we’re working on Wiley and have just done Santagold.

The Bears played on the Stereosonic Australia tour, which was great and I would love to try and get back there. Hot Chip will be going over there to do the Big Day Out this year.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

I really like the Stepkids a lot, they are a sort of American psychedelic soul, I like ‘Storm Queen’ that Walker Giest has been making and all the new innercity remixes, I’ve been playing Kenny Larkin’s innercity remix a lot.

If you could collaborate with anyone at the moment who would you choose?

Well it has to be Andre 3000, he would be an amazing person to work with and full of ideas.

What’s been the most random moment in the history of the 2 Bears so far?

Being told that Paul McCartney was into the Bear Hug, that was pretty random and gob smacking, crikey yeah. Macca Endorsed.

BBM thanks you.

The 2 Bears album ‘Be Strong’ is out now.

Click HERE to listen to the 2 Bears Interview live on the new BBM LIVE Podcast

By James Stapelton

@realjstapleton