Illinois Entertainer December 2015 | Page 47

BOY&BEAR Continued from page 26 “Downhearted,” just to understand how its saxophone solo worked within the mix. And – when Boy & Bear was rehearsing for its current world tour – the members decided to throw some new covers in, just for kicks. Already, their version of Crowded House’s “Fall at Your Feet” (from a 2010 Finn Brothers tribute album He Will Have His Way) had become an unexpected radio smash in Australia. “So in rehearsal, we did a song by The Band, a Talking Heads track, a Ryan Adams song, “Dirty Rain,” and Van Morrison’s “Sweet Thing,” which was cool,” Hosking recalls. “So it’s been fun, diving back into some covers.” The artist has even developed a theory about how learning other people’s material can be beneficial to your own group. “I think it stimulates a different part of your brain,” he explains. “And it’s an ironic thing. You play covers for so long, it becomes hard to play your own stuff. But then you do this record like we just did (“Limit”), and you’re so focused on piecing this puzzle together, and you get a lot of joy from that. Then you go into rehearsals, and you’re focused on getting these new songs ready for tour, so it’s labored over a lot. So there’s this different sense of enjoyment, versus that moment when you’ve got a Talking Heads track kind of clicking. And there’s a freshness in it, because I don’t sing those sorts of melodies, and Killian (Gavin, B&B axeman) doesn’t play that sort of guitar. So Ki Ci throwing covers into the set list is fun, and just purely enjoyable, with no pressure. And you can really learn a lot from them.” Hosking started out solo, recording primitive demos at home. He imagined himself a Dylan-skeletal folksinger at first, and developed his craft accordingly. But gradually, he fleshed out his Boy & Bear concept by adding fellow university-student buddies until he had a full quintet. “They were different songs back then, much softer and folkier, and I didn’t know any different,” he admits. “I just knew the versions of songs that I had written in my bedroom, and that was it. But I wanted to do some live shows to try to replicate them, so I got some friends from university to come play some instruments. And I kind of enjoyed the extra people onstage.” Now, Boy & Bear has progressed to the point where it recruited renowned English producer Ethan Johns – son of the legendary Glyn Johns -- to helm “Limit,” which he did at Peter Gabriel’s posh Real World Studio in Britain. What’s next for the group? A full-blown covers compilation? Hosking snickers. “Well. I’ve had a lot of practice at it, and it would be a lot of fun,” he concedes. “But it is a slightly dangerous game. In the old days, we would take an electro track and do it acoustically, but the novelty of that is just gone for me – I think it would be dumb for us to do a covers record like that now. “But at the same time, I think that covering Daft Punk would be really, really cool. So I’ll to seriously sit down and think about this….” 1972 3 W. Streamwood Blvd. Streamwood, IL (630) 837-3733 www.GoodtimeMusicStore.com december 2015 illinoisentertainer.com 47