4 To Watch: Giant Bear

Hometown: Memphis, Tenn.
Members (L-R): Jeff Nuckolls, Jeff White, Robert Humphreys, Jana Misener, Mike Larrivee
Fun fact: The band’s membership among a growing number of synchronously named “bear" bands led to an unexpected recent booking alongside indie acts Golden Bear and Little Bear.
Why they're worth watching: Blending elements of country, rockabilly and bluegrass with hearty doses of art rock and orchestral pomp, Giant Bear gets feet tapping and neck-hairs rising. For fans of: Low, Drive-By Truckers, Oakley Hall

Though Giant Bear’s unintentionally trendy name is now emblazoned on the flanks of its tour van, the clunker’s goldenrod hue reveals its past life as a Stanley Steemer Carpet Cleaner utility vehicle. It’s a fitting mode of transport for passengers who are no strangers to hard work themselves: In just two years, the band has rattled off one EP, a pair of LPs and played hundreds upon hundreds of shows across the country. All the while, its members have held down miscellaneous side jobs in Memphis, never expecting their artistic pursuits to translate into bread and butter.

“It would be nice not to have to work a day job just so you could play music,” bassist Robert Humphreys muses from the back seat as the van lumbers down the highway from Memphis toward Nashville, where Giant Bear is scheduled to perform at an industry showcase.

With the windows rolled down and the stiff interstate breeze compensating for the van’s lack of air conditioning, Humphreys details his bandmates’ current working-class pursuits—elementary-school computer tech support, waiting tables, cleaning houses, screenprinting posters and T-shirts—noting that even with Memphis’ rich musical history, employers willing to accommodate the schedule of touring musicians are still hard to find.

After listening Giant Bear’s self-titled second album—with its banjo versus cello duels, alternately mellow and howling refrains and sharp, searching lyricism—it’s maddening to consider the depth and beauty of music they might create unhindered by the pesky demands of everyday life. But the same disarming, humble sense of humor woven throughout the 12 tracks—including a funky, fiddle-driven cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Head Like A Hole”—is likely responsible for buoying the musicians through all the day-job monotony, awkward bookings and epic road trips in the cleaning van.

“We’re certainly not making any money making music and just traveling around,” he admits, “but it’s worth it.”