Minus the Bear’s tour in support of their latest release Lost Loves, a collection of unreleased material recorded during sessions for the Planet of Ice, Omni, and Infinity Overhead albums and the ten year anniversary of the They Make Beer Commercials Like This EP, made a stop at Philadelphia’s subterranean music venue aptly named Underground Arts.
After a bombastic opening set by Atlanta, Georgia post-hardcore band O’ Brother, and an amazingly quick stage turnover, Minus the Bear opened their set by playing the entire original six songs in the order they appear on the They Make Beer Commercials Like This EP (a seventh song, “Houston We Have Uh-Oh” was added on the 2008 Suicide Squeeze Records re-release). The quick tempo of the opening song “Fine + 2” immediately displayed the precision of the rhythm section of bassist Cory Murchy and drum tech Kiefer Matthias filling in for Eric Tate. . The band cruised through the They Make Beer Commercials Like This segment of the set at a fast clip, pausing only for quick tuning adjustments and brief acknowledgements for the exuberant applause from the crowd of the sold out show. Minus the Bear kept mostly to the form of the original recordings developing ethereal layers of intricate guitar and keyboards soaring behind the silky smooth vocals of lead singer/guitarist Jake Snider.
Guitar solos by Dave Knudson and synth leads by Alex Rose contained a refined restraint that meshed well with group’s meticulous rhythmic style. Quirky song titles like “I’m Totally Not Down With Rob’s Alien” and “Hey! Is That a Ninja Up There?” belie the content of the artistically penned songs, and do not have much to do with aliens or Ninjas but of fractured relationships, isolation and reckless behavior. A driving base line steered the band through the final song of the They Make Beer Commercials Like This barrage, “Pony Up”, which featured searing guitars that meshed with the simple but eloquent lyrics about an intimate moment.
“My Time”, was the first song that ventured into the band’s other material, a scorcher from the 2010 album Omni, and it was laden with funky keyboards and lyrics with sexual overtones and catchy choruses. Two songs, “The Lucky Ones” and “Electric Rainbow” from the bands latest release, Lost Loves was a clear statement that the songs from the album definitely deserved to be brought out of exile. Minus the Bear showed their tender side with a stirring version of “ Diamond Lightning.” It was pretty clear the sold out show was inhabited with mostly hard-core Minus the Bear fans based on the amount of people who were singing along to the songs, most enthusiastically during “Pachuca Sunrise”. The band dug deeper into their catalog for the encore, playing “Monkey!!!Knife!!!Fight!!!”and “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse.” both from the first Minus the Bear LP, Highly Refined Pirates. With Lost Loves offering such a diverse selection of sounds, it’s fair to say that this Minus the Bear run might be their most generous tour to date.
