Backstage with iwrestledabearonce

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Steven Bradley of the avant-garde metal band Iwrestledabearonce. Since 2007 the band has been touring incessantly bringing their unique brand of music to the masses around the globe. Their newest CD, Ruining It For Everybody, was released earlier this year, and the band is once again on the road. Be sure to catch them when they roll into town on November 17th at The Canal Club. Here is what Bradley had to say.

How is the tour going so far?
“It is awesome; it is a lot of fun. It is not quite the same as The Warped Tour, but it is fun…real good times.”

Now that your new CD, Ruining It For Everybody, is complete, how do you feel about it, and are you satisfied with the outcome?

“Yeah it is much better than the last one. We actually like this one; we hated the last one.”

Did you really?
“Well, yeah we were rushed, and we wrote it in like ten days. A lot of parts were on there that we really didn’t want to be on there.”

What is the writing process like for you guys?
“We all kind of write on tour and then come together afterwards and put it all together. We are all...writing on our laptops all the time.”

You mentioned you like this album better, was there a different writing process that made it better?         “This is the album we wanted to make last time. We just had the time now. I think the album definitely sounds better and makes more sense.”

When you write do you think about the live performance at all?
“No, it is really weird playing stuff live as opposed to the studio. It is totally different, especially the way we write.”

Is it difficult translating the songs into a live setting?
“It is not difficult, no, it sometimes just feels weird. Parts that seem heavy on the CD do not turn out that way live and vice versa.”

How is the new material being received?
“It seems that anyone who has ever liked anything we did previously is digging this record and so are other people who didn’t like our previous work. All that really matters is that people that like our band are still stoked on it. We write the music for us, not to cater to people. It sounds rude, because at the same time we want to make sure people don’t hate us. But we don’t want to change our sound to appease anyone.”

You guys have toured quite a bit. Is there anywhere you have not played that you would like to get to?
“Australia, which is hopefully in the cards for 2012. We still have not been to Mexico or South Africa.”

Listen at iwrestledabearonce.com.