Ursa Major is one of the most interesting bands playing in St. Louis right now. Their mix of jazz, post-hardcore, hip-hop, emo, and punk is as pleasing as it is provocative. I got to talk to Ursa about their EP L’appel Du Vide, playing shows, and standing out.
BIASED: How are you guys?
Ursa Major: Dude, we are as far on top of the world as we can be. Thank you for asking!
Your EP, L’appel Du Vide, came out a couple months ago. It is really a fun listen. How has the response to that been so far?
Honestly, almost every response has been killer. There have been some people who we didn’t expect to dig who it who are really into it, and others who we expected to dig it who love it. We’ve made a few postings online with NOTHING but great feedback and even have a review coming out on PlaybackSTL so keep your eyes peeled for that!
How do you feel that this ep has been a progression or departure from what you were playing before?
I don’t know that it’s a departure so much so as a rung in the ladder. We’ve been playing together just over a year now and it definitely feels like a step in the right direction of finding our sound, but we know we still have a very long way to go. As far as our 3 singles we put out before it, I think it’s safe to say that we went in a different direction with our writing, not only musically but also lyrically. This EP feels like a sampler for what we are capable of doing, the options that we have. It’s fun to see it as an experiment that we all had our hands on, one that we are pleased with the results as well. Every time we get to write, it is like a kid on a new playground for the first time. He knows what he’s capable of doing, but is curious to find out how he can make it fun and interesting.
I just saw you guys at Barnfest this summer. You put on a hell of a live show. Super high energy. Do you put much effort into upping the energy for your shows?
We move as the music tells us to. We love to watch live music as much as we love to play it so we want to make sure that people get a good experience. At the same time, we don’t want to lie to anyone and act in a way that’s not how we would act with no eyes on us at all, we just do as we feel and I think that our passion is the moving force behind it…and that is what makes for a good live show. Be yourself man!
Ursa Major has a pretty refreshingly unique sound compared to the other bands around right now. It’s almost guaranteed that you’d stand out when playing with other local bands so I’d have to image that people are going to remember you. Have you noticed this to be beneficial to you? How so?
Honestly, it’s sort of hard to gauge it sometimes because we do stand out. What do we have to gauge it against? I would like to say it has been extremely beneficial not only when we play but also when we describe our music to people. Our exact genres (post hardcore/jazz/hiphop) seem to be such drastically different styles that I imagine it sounds hard to pull off based on description alone so people are interested in seeing how well we do it, which is just one more listen each time. Sometimes, I think people are caught off guard and it takes a bit for us to grow on them, because it is new. I think that we do a great job of embracing it though and also wearing it. We know what it is and we don’t want to force anything musically, like we aren’t trying to be different…it just so happens that we can do make what we do and its conception is totally natural.
Whats your favorite local beer(s), band(s), and restaurant(s)?! (im talkin stl)
We’ve played with a bunch of awesome St. Louis bands. Lobby Boxer, Jr. Clooney, and My Twins are all pretty cool. Small Talk puts on a pretty good show as well. As far as food/beer goes, we dig anything by 4 Hands, Schlafly, or Urban Chestnut. Dylan works at Diablitos Cantina in SLU. That place is awesome. Sweetie Pies in the Grove is probably a band favorite though. Hope this answered your question!
