FE: Ok man, name and occupation?

John: I'm John and I play bass and guitar in Bear Vs. Shark.

FE: Can you give me a brief history of the band?

John: We were all friends in high school and we all picked up instruments around the same time but we never really formed a band until about 3 years ago, we were all in college, and we decided to start the band, 'cause we didn't wanna...

FE: Go to college?

John: Yeah, we didn't wanna go to college. So basically, we sent Equal Vision a demo that we recorded a year after we became a band, then they flew out and saw us and decided to sign us right when we..like, I graduated pretty early, then the other guys graduated, and as soon as everybody graduated we signed and got everything going with the label. So it worked out pretty well for us.

FE: Alright, so the CD came out in July, what has the response been so far? I know you released like an EP kind of thing before hand, how different was this?

John: Yeah, that was pretty limited circulation, we probably pressed about 500 of those. This one has been really favorable so far. It's pretty cool, we're playing places that I've never even been to and and there will be 1 or 2 kids who has the CD and sing the words and it's pretty awesome. I've heard some negative comments about it before, but I expect all branches of response, but it's mostly favorable.

FE: What about the difference when you play your hometown now and when you come out to a place like New York City?

John: Well, when we play in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is pretty much our hometown, we play this club called The Blind Pig, and everybody comes out, it's usually our friends, and theres like 300 or 350 people there, and its amazing, its not a specifc kind of music crowd, everybody that's there just loves music and its just a really good time. When we come out here, we get on other people's tours, and a lot of people have never seen us before and dotn really know what to expect. I think a lot of times we kind of put a lot of people off because we're kind of in your face and pretty intense and it puts a lot of people off.

FE: Yeah, I've never seen you before, but from what I hear your live shows are off the wall.

John: Yeah, Mark gets pretty intense, he gets in people's faces and shit. Some people get scared. But I think the more and more we play around the more people understand what we're doing and know what to expect and I think we'll just keep getting better and better from that.

FE: Now, all the artwork on the CD was Mark's artwork. Does he do anything else with that, has he brought that to other mediums, like art shows and stuff like that?

John: Oh yeah, he's a fine arts major at Eastern Michigan University and he's had shows in Michigan before, he's really into art. He doesn't just do like small colored drawings, he does full portraits, full paintings. He actually painted a mural, a big mural at some kids camp in Michigan. He does a lot of artwork, he's good, he's a really creative dude.

FE: So what's coming up next for you guys, what's on the horizon? I know you're doing this tour, do you have any more recording plans or more tours lined up?

John: After this, we're going out with Stretch Armstrong for two weeks, then we go out with the Liars Academy for two weeks. Then we're playing around Michigan for the month of Deember, playing local shows and shit. In January, we're going to be writing a whole new album, then we're gonna tour again, but we don't really have any plans yet. Hopefully next summer we're gonna record the new album. We'd like to do it earlier, but we gotta tour.

FE: I like to give everyone I interview an opportunity to tell everyone about bands in their local area that are coming up that everyone should be looking out for, do you have any?

John: Yeah, you should look into Rome For A Day, you should look for Kill Drama, and probably my most recent favorite, Heads Will Roll. You might of heard of them, have you heard of Capture the Flag? Well, it's one of the guys from them and they're fucking awesome, it's like really hard, heavy metal but really well done and just really awesome.

FE: What's, uh...

John: Wait! I gotta say another band too, its... oh hold on, I know I'm forgetting somebody. Oh, Edison Ohio! Alright.

FE: Ha. What's your favorite part about being in this band, what do you take home at the end of the day?

John: Um, I almost don't have to have a real job. That's it.

FE: That's good enough.

John: Yeah, it's awesome. Also, obviously, I'm doing what I love, I get to hang out with 5 of my best friends pretty much non-stop. It's a good time.

(At this point, Jerry Graham of Warm Fuzzy Publicity walks up)

John: What's up.

Jerry: I'm going to see Bear Vs. Shark, I gotta go.

John: Ok, cool.

Jerry: Alright.

John: This is Jerry, he's from Warm Fuzzy.

FE: Well, that's pretty much all I got man, do you have anything else to say?

John: Alright, um, our van blew up a couple of days ago, and I'm really happy that we get to play New York City tonight...

FE: So what are you doing for the rest of the tour?

John: We had to get a new van, we skipped like 5 shows, went home, and bought a new van, and made it to this show.

FE: What are you drinking there?

John: I am drinking Anh- Busch World Select.

FE: Is that good?

John: Yes.

(Here, John's friend Mike comes over)

John: This is my good friend Mike.

Mike: What are you guys doing?

John: An interview.

Mike: Oh that's pretty sweet.

FE: For Rolling Stone.

Mike: For Rolling Stone! Rolling Stone is one of the largest music magazines in the country. It dwarfs any other lame ass small competitor. Uh, I gotta pee.

FE: So is that beer really that good?

John: Uh, it's ok.

FE: I used to work at a brewery, and...

John: Me too.

FE: Oh yeah, which one?

John: At this place, it's a microbrewery in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Its called Grizzly Peak.

FE: I worked at a brewery out on Long Island, called Blue Point, and they're fucking awesome, you can find it a few places here in the city. I loved it.

John: Yeah, I fucking love it dude. I went over there to have dinner the other day and my girlfriend is actually one of the managers there. Its a restaurant too, had some beer, free full dinner, then I got to take home a growler of their Hefeweizen.

FE: It's all about the growlers.

John: Oh my god. They had two barrels left of it before they switched over to fall, you know. It was so awesome, I went home and drank all 64 ounces of it.

FE: Awesome. There's this place here in the city called the Gingerman, and they have like 70 beers on tap and another 200 different bottles. I don't know how long you're here for, but you should check it out, it's the best.

John: I'd love to, I think we're only here for tonight though. And I have no money, so I'm gonna have to drink the free beer here.

FE: That's awesome, I wish I got free beer.

John: Yeah, we don't get that most places. I got all these drink tickets, so I'm gonna have a really good time tonight.

FE: I usually come in and go to the Gingerman for 2 or 3 hours then go to a show.

John: Hey, makes the shows better right?

FE: Yeah it's great, if i have to do an interview too, its great.

John: Ha.

FE: Alright, thanks a lot man.