Wednesday 25 November 2015

Listen to our new single 'All You Need Is An Electric Guitar' out Dec 18.



Listen to our new single 'All You Need Is An Electric Guitar' (officially out 18 December) here:

https://soundcloud.com/straw-bear/all-you-need-is-an-electric-guitar/s-K69c3

It's an infectious slice of psychedelic power-pop that celebrates the irresistible power of music to soothe and sustain us.

For anyone who cares about music, there will be a time when a song or a favourite album has got them out of a hole,” says Ian Ray. 

“So the song’s really all about how music can come to your rescue; it has an incredible capacity to soothe and elevate you from the everyday grind.”


We recorded the song in our own studio in rural Essex, and its the first taste of our new album, Fiction, out in 2016.

Saturday 29 March 2014

New songs coming soon!

We're currently recording a bunch of new songs that we're really excited about! 

The first session at Blue Barn studios went really well, so watch this space for news about upcoming releases.

Straw Bear

Tuesday 27 August 2013

If you only ever see one Straw Bear gig ...

We’re playing a very special gig on November 16 at Waterbeach Baptist Chapel. For some time now, the people at The Beach Sessions have been staging increasingly popular nights at The Sun in the Cambridgeshire village. Andrew and Helen at The Beach Sessions have built a really strong following, through a combination of sticking their necks out and booking decent bands and keeping the atmosphere pretty relaxed and hassle-free. It’s pretty amazing to see so many people coming along to a pub on the village green to watch new music, and our gigs with them have always been great fun (apart from this one time when I had a throat infection and couldn’t sing a note). This time though, they’ve asked to play at the Waterbeach Baptist Chapel ... which should be amazing. What’s more, the man at the mixing desk for the night will be Sam Inglis of audio bible Sound on Sound, for whom we will forever have a soft spot for after he gave our album the best review we’re ever likely to get. So with Sam working the desk, a beautiful venue, the good people at the Beach Sessions behind the event, and the fact that it’s probably as close to a hometown gig as we’re likely to have ... we think you should try to come along. The photo is Tom Adams at Waterbeach Baptist Chapel.

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Northern mini-tour - dates in Manchester and Liverpool

We're off on a mini-tour at the end of the week supporting the Kate Rogers Band. We'll be at the Night & Day Cafe in Manchester on Thursday 25 July and at The Zanzibar Club, Liverpool, on Friday 26 July.

Monday 20 May 2013

Meadowlands calling ... and The Great Escape

We've been lucky enough to be invited to play the Meadowlands Festival this weekend. For those who don't know, it's a fantastic boutique festival nestled in the picturesque South Downs in East Sussex. Find out more about it here. The organisers are massively driven and passionate about what they're doing, so we're very much hoping we'll all enjoy some decent weather for the bank holiday weekend. We're playing on the Sunday around noon if you happen to be going along. Thank you to everyone who came along to see us play the BBC Introducing Stage at Brighton's Great Escape festival. Tom Robinson of BBC6 picked us for the event, and so we rehearsed pretty hard to ensure we were able to put on a decent show ... thankfully, the audience really seemed to be behind us and we loved every second of the performance. We've had some strong reviews and a bit of airplay on Radio One, so it's been a very satisfying experience for us. We owe Tom Robinson a great deal, once again. SB

Thursday 18 April 2013

BBC pick Straw Bear to appear at The Great Escape

BBC Introducing has chosen us to appear at their showcase at The Great Escape Festival 2013, held in Brighton from 16 to 18 May. We'll be appearing at Blind Tiger on Friday 17 May - our show is at 7.45pm.

Link to BBC Introducing blog

Link to The Great Escape 2013