Spirit of the Bear, an independent rock group, was founded in the Youngstown region in 2014 while its members were still in high school. James Harker, Jamie Vitullo, Ethan Schwendeman, and Danny Svenson have since signed a record deal, kept up their fan base growth. And now divide their time between Northeast Ohio and Columbus, where Harker owns a studio. They have been releasing new songs this spring that combine guitar, keys, and synth. While experimenting with brand-new sounds that have a ’70s feel.
What Spirit Of The Bear Drummer Jamie Vitullo Said About Their Band’s Journey?
He said they’ve come a long way since playing in coffee shops and parking lots because they weren’t old enough to play in bars. “We’ve grown so much as friends, especially in the last few years. As we’ve been being way more collaborative in our writing and everything. . And because we’ve been able to become such good friends, it feels strange for us to be apart. Nothing else compares to it. I struggle to even express the emotion,” he said.
- That evolution has led the band to move away from its debut album, 2016’s “Remains,” taking it down from streaming services earlier this year.
“We were kids and we were making those songs. However, we weren’t always a band like we are now. We have it on our subscription club. So, anyone there can still hear it, along with some of our really old material, said Vitullo.
- The band continued to perform throughout the pandemic despite delaying the release of its eagerly anticipated self-titled album until January 2021.
“We had the album’s masters ready when the pandemic broke out. We were overjoyed because we received what we believed to be our best work to date. That was like the first time that we had collaborated on every single song,” he said. And he claimed that after that album was released, Shelter Music Group offered them a new record deal.
In May or June, Jackson Stubner, our manager, “heard ‘Opaque’ on Spotify and thought to reach out to us,” according to Vitullo.
- The band’s new sound is exemplified by “Wires,” the first single to be released under the new record deal, which includes a saxophone solo played by Harker’s father.
We experienced a sudden burst of inspiration, and it hasn’t really subsided since then. For the past many months, we have only been exchanging demos.
- The group also creates, records, and mixes its music. In Columbus, Harker is the founder of Moonlight Audio, a recording studio.
The band discovered fresh ways to interact with fans throughout the pandemic. Vitullo explained, “We set up a Discord chat, sometimes we did listening parties, and Bummer Club about six months ago.. We are able to create a variety of content for it. James breaks down the songs in production videos. You get early access to the demos. We’ve been doing a lot of game nights and movie nights with everyone, which is fun too.