One of Australia’s most illustrious Indie rock bands, Boy and Bear, dropped anchor in Boston on Thursday. The Paradise Rock club, a New England rock haven, was the most recent stop during the Sydney quintet’s tour of North America. The venue was flooded with a technicolor sea of flannel-clad fans, whose ages ranged from fresh-faced students to middle-aged married couples. The band’s modern folk rock sound whipped the crowd into a collective, hip-swinging gyration within the first minutes of their first song “Old Town Blues.” This energy was sustained throughout the entire night, reaching a crescendo at the set’s final song “Southern Sun,” which has been one of the band’s most popular ballads.
Boy and Bear has been a part of the new wave of Indie rock bands from Australia that have been enjoying a relatively recent surge of success in America. They are wrapping up their month long tour of North America, which began in Austin, Texas and will end on Nov. 3 in San Diego, California.
“There are differences in audiences around the world, and in culture,” said David Symes, the band’s bassist/vocalist in a post show interview with The Journal. “In big cities, where a lot of bands and critics are, you get a much more serious crowd. When we get to tour in America, I think we get to be apart of these journeys that we’ve heard and read about with venues that are quite nostalgic.”
In Sydney, Singer-songwriter Dave Hosking founded the band in 2009 as a solo project, but they currently feature Tim Hart (drums), Jonathan Hart (banjo, mandolin, and keyboards), Killian Gavin (guitar), and David Symes (bass). All five members contribute to the vocals that the band produces. They have produced three different records to date. Their first album “Moonfire,” was incredibly well received, reaching double Platinum in the Australia Record Industry Association (ARIA). They followed that with “Harlequin Dream,” which has earned them an ARIA Gold record. The band’s most recent album, “Limit of Love,” peaked at number one on the Australian Indie rock music list. During the show, the band sampled their two most recent albums as a part of their set list. They have since been riding the wave of musical success that has taken their traveling performance all over Europe, North America, and Australia.
“Our last two records were both number one, which is amazing for us.” said Symes. “Obviously it usually only lasts a week, but it was crazy for us. All that stuff, we don’t take for granted and I think we always feel lucky when things like that happen. You work hard, but you can never expect those things.”
As the crowd funneled out of the Paradise Rock club, Symes sat in a recently vacated booth, sipping bottled local beer and alluded to a next possible album for the still young band.
“We’re still pretty hungry and ambitious to make music,” he said. “We want to be doing this for a long time and get to the top, whatever that is. We are kind of looking to make another record hopefully next year. We would like to grow internationally.”
Being on tour in the United States, during this current turbulent political season, has been somewhat impressionable on the Aussie musician. Even while hopping from city to city to play packed rock halls, the corrosively controversial Presidential campaign has made its mark.
“Unfortunately I think the world often views America as a massive joke because of the Hollywood side to corporate politics,” explained Symes. “It’s unbelievable that it’s been allowed to happen like this. Someone needs to shut this thing down.”
Boy and Bear’s opening act was Cobi, an American musician from Minnesota, and a former member of the local Boston band Gentlemen hall. Cobi will be joining Boy and Bear throughout their North American tour, tasked with warming up the crowds for the Aussie band. Their, Steve Earle-esque, blue-collar American vibe contrasts well with Boy and Bear’s alternative rock style effectively.
Boy and Bear’s albums and commentary can be found on Spotify. For more information regarding tour dates and upcoming albums, they can be found on Facebook and Twitter as Boy & Bear.
