Teddy and the Bears: Who’s Ready for Teddy?

By Jon Adam Green.

Ask former Gravel Undertone frontman Sean Thompson how he came to play for Teddy and the Bears, and be met with a simple reply.

“It was only inevitable this would happen,” remarks the scruffy-faced, SG-wielding lead guitarist as he nurses a Miller High Life during a Friday afternoon practice session. “Me and Ryan (Ryan Ross, drummer) worked together and he’d always come in with these songs [...] Eventually it happened one day when I was like, ‘These are really good. What are you doing with these?’”

And the rest is history. Sort of. Actually, the quartet is looking forward to its debut performance at Atlanta’s Star Community Bar on November 27th, and is promoting the event with fervor.

“We’re real fun to hang out with. We give hugs and drink beer,” Thompson jokes. “We’re impregnating the world with our music.”

But the tomfoolery and knee-slapping end when the amps are turned up to eleven.

Being present during a Teddy and the Bears practice session reminds me of my first experience walking the streets in a foreign country: New sounds spill over from all directions with a subtlety such that if you focus on just one of them, you will be sure to lose it in an intricate, ever-shifting melody. It is also louder than you’re accustomed to, alien to the senses and slightly disorienting. But despite all this, you know that what you’re hearing is precise: that its current incarnation is the product of development from time immemorial.

What it all comes down to, according to drummer Ryan Ross, is “the energy between everybody. Just how it all naturally happened.”

That’s a pretty serious comment from a band with such unserious song titles as “Twosies,” “Squeedles,” and “That’s What She Said.”

“We love our beers, and we love hanging out,” explains Ross, not neglecting to mention how most of the time, “we’re sitting at home. Sitting, writing music all night.”

And it shows. When I arrive outside the practice space, I can already hear the band playing from the street. Although about fifty yards and several layers of sheetrock separate us, I can still pick out the hooks, and it’s clear to me from the very beginning that these guys are tight. The kind of tight that doesn’t need to be polished because it comes out just right on its own.

Heading down some stairs and into what used to be a small garage, I find four guys so gripped by the music they’re playing that my intrusion upon their quarters has completely escaped anyone’s notice. Enjoying my anonymity, I listen intently to the rolling bassline of “That’s What She Said” until it all breaks down into a melodic roar, complete with liberal bashing of crash symbols and righteous harmonies.

How exactly Teddy and the Bears’ sound fits into Atlanta’s music scene, however, is a difficult question for the band to answer. Then again, what musician enjoys pigeonholing his or her style into the previously-established, artistic norms of a particular city?

“It’s an up-and-coming music city,” says Hunter Lee (bassist). “There are a lot of places to play and a lot of bands to play with.”

Thompson agrees, though he laments how “people don’t just come see a band out of curiosity. People have to be convinced to come and see a band.”

And that’s just what these Bears have been doing. The “Are You Ready for Teddy” campaign is harnessing the assistance of Atlanta’s visual artists, not to mention other musicians, in an effort to convince the masses that this is no bear to shake a stick at.

“Jaynie Coffee at Door 44 has helped us out a lot,” notes Ross. “And Say Anything, they’ve been behind us, too.”

Also seeing potential in new media, particularly Facebook, the band has generated support and guaranteed good attendance at its first show through the nearly effortless process of sending out loads upon loads of electronic invitations. The benefits of having loyal friends and access to free advertising surely cannot be quantified, and most bands nowadays would be completely helpless without them.

But what is it that separates Teddy and the Bears from their peers? What exactly are these guys doing that no one else is trying right now?

“Wearing men’s pants,” jokes Lee.

“We’re completely different from anything you’ve ever heard,” adds guitarist and lead singer Jason Engel. “We want to take over the world. Or at least Atlanta.”

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/teddyandthebears.

Tags: Are You Ready for Teddy, Atlanta, band, Door 44, Facebook, Gravel Undertone, Hunter Lee, Hunter Lee bassist, Jaynie Coffee, Jaynie Coffee Door 44, Jon Adam Green, music, practice session, Ryan Ross, Ryan Ross drummer, Say Anything, Sean Thompson, Squeedles, Star Community Bar, Teddy and the Bears, That’s What She Said, Twosies

More articles by Jon Adam Green

This article was published on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 and is filed under Artists, Atlanta Character, Bands, Music. You can follow any comments to this article through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.