Interview Chicago’s Bear Claw will pummel you

Chicago’s double-bass face-stompers Bear Claw recently unleashed their third full-length, Refuse This Gift, into the world via Chicago’s Sickroom Records. Simultaneously visceral and cerebral, Bear Claw’s mathy, mid-tempo noise-rock plays like a Corey Rusk mix-tape: Not only do its three full-lengths recall rhythm-heavy mid-’90s Touch And Go standard bearers like Shellac and Arcwelder, but each album has been recorded with Shellac’s Steve Albini in his Electrical Audio studio, giving extra-huge-room life to Scott Picco’s deliberate, pulverizing drums. Meanwhile Rich Fessler and Rob Raspolich’s twin bass guitars snake around each other sprung from a novelty peanut can—covered in fuzz and likely to explode into scraping feedback when you least expect it. (Don’t take our word for it—you can stream it yourself on Bandcamp.) The A.V. Club spoke to Picco before tonight’s show at Club Garibaldi.

The A.V. Club: On your Bandcamp page, you talk about the “experimentation” that went into the songwriting for the new album. How was the songwriting process different on Refuse This Gift compared to the first two?

Scott Picco: Well, previously we were more of a band in which Rich would usually have riffs that he’d come up with and Rob and I would write parts to. I’d be more part of the arrangement and Rob would put in his two cents. We didn’t do a whole lot of just jamming without something being already somewhat organized. On Refuse This Gift, we did a lot more jamming as a group and coming up with the base ideas together. There was also overlap, in that Rich would suggest ways to go with the drums; I’d suggest ideas for the bass, etcetera.

AVC: The new album still has a very similar sound to the other two, and I’m sure that’s because you’ve worked with Steve Albini and EA on all three records. How did you get to know Albini?

SP: We went into Electrical for the first time back in 2004 to record Find The Sun. We were all fans of Shellac at that point in time and also admired Steve’s earlier bands, as well as his recording techniques and bands he’s worked with, but we were decidedly set on concentrating on having Steve record Bear Claw and nothing else. We were specifically not paying any attention to whether he liked the band or not, and didn’t want to hold any expectations that he’d care or anything like that. After the first day it was apparent that he was really enjoying the music. After that it became very comfortable, which helped us get the best performance out of our recording, and we decided that as long as we could financially do it, we stick with Steve at Electrical. Once we went back for the second record, it was even more enjoyable, and there was less tension. On this record he started making little suggestions and weighing in, which really helped to fine-tune the process. Plus at this point we’d played with Shellac, and we started getting friendly with all of the guys. Once we went back for Refuse This Gift, we were all very comfortable with one another and we even got a little involved in technical things, like mic choice and placement. It felt like getting together with our friends at Electrical and doing a record.

AVC: I imagine the concept of doing things really minimally—with minimal overdubs and an organic, live feel—probably connected the two parties.

SP: Yeah, we’ve always been more about performance and more of a live thing when recording. It meets up well with what the band is all about, having the two bass guitars and drums; we’ve always been about trying to do more with less.

AVC: When you get through these album release shows, are you guys planning any more touring?

SP: We are doing 3 weeks in Europe in May of 2011. We’re also going with Self-Evident from Minneapolis. Other than that, playing regionally and maybe out to the East Coast as time permits.

AVC: Do you think it’s more cost-effective to do Europe?

SP: It’s hard to say. We get a lot more money per show, but the day-to-day costs are higher. We also always get food and board comped. In the end it just is a lot more fun and the shows are better attended in general.

AVC: What’s your reception over there compared to the shows you’ve done on tour in the States?

SP: Better. People care more about art and music in general and come out to shows just because they want to see music. It’s pretty refreshing. Don’t get me wrong—we’ve played some great shows in the U.S., and we do want to go west as we’ve had some interest from people, but we just love the EU experience and wanted to do it again. Plus this band has always been a serious hobby for us as we all have serious straight jobs, so if we’re going to tour, why not go based on fun and ... turn it into a vacation as well?