Los Angeles based artist, Beard Bates returns after having lived in a self-imposed reclusion from the record industry and perhaps life in general. Bates–foremost a prolific musician, writer, abstract painter and designer–has worked with many, produced and recorded much music, for both others and himself, and has been releasing records since the late 90s with various rock, roots, and experimental acts he has formed and or been a part of. Unabridged: Born in Virginia, Beard Bates begin writing songs around age nine when he learned basic guitar chords on a tiny guitar his grandfather, a consummate craftsman, made for him. Beard never really learned other people’s songs, for “at the moment I would begin to learn a song, creative ideas would excite me too much and I’d end up just spontaneously writing my own songs,” he states, “and for this reason I was always just playing my own music.” In early high school, his drummer brother Carter and he formed the alt-rock band JilFlirter, which ended up doing well in college music radio, garnering national attention and was even featured on the cover of Billboard Magazine. Despite record deal offers, Bates, a serial-DIY enthusiast, decided to stay independent and JilFlirter released four further albums; however, there was little to no promotion behind further releases.
Over the past number of years, Beard has not been playing or putting out much popular music, mainly because he has been focusing on ambient recordings, nature field recording, creating much abstract art, and generally trying to pay the bills; however, he did record a track with the late LA posthardcore band The Icarus Line, which will be released on Bates new record, a collaboration with LA artist Jonny Polonsky, and he released a large collection of iPhone demo recordings in 2016 titled, “Spontaneous Acoustic Songs of Digital Capture by iPhone 5 (2012-2016), as well as a number ofsingles, including the popular and campy “Girls in Amish Undertaker Hats” in 2015. 2018 marks the return of Beard Bates as the solo artist with the release of The World is Blown, his first full-length record in many years, which itself is a collection of unreleased songs from a span of years
