Messages

We'll be releasing our new album "You Will Need Gods", December 23rd on Cursed Monk Records.

Preorders via the link below:

https://cursedmonk.bandcamp.com/album/you-will-need-gods

As a wee treat, here's some footage of us enjoying the shit out of Crypt Of The Riff festival in Belfast last week:

https://youtu.be/QuYokLqGUzM

So much to my delight, this is a thing that has happened

https://www.cursedmonk.com/post/molarbear-sign-to-cursed-monk-records

We're going to be releasing our new album "You Will Need Gods" through Cursed Monk this summer, and it's going to look a bit like this. Artwork by Adam @art_of_lore. Preorder details to follow

We also recommend the below bands for quality local riffs

https://thirdisland.bandcamp.com/

https://ionadeathcult.bandcamp.com/

https://bitchfalcon.bandcamp.com/

https://elderdruidband.bandcamp.com/

https://nomadicrituals.bandcamp.com/

https://godalone.bandcamp.com/

https://yurt.bandcamp.com/

https://mawmusic.bandcamp.com/

https://slomatics.bandcamp.com/

It's Bandcamp Friday! This means that once again we have drastically undervalued our current stock so that you, the listener, can grab a wee bargain and help offset the cost of our next round of merch and studio time! Yay for capitalism

All shirts are now £5, digital releases are Name Your Price.

https://molarbear.bandcamp.com/

I completely agree man - Bandcamp is the boy - and I am actually gonna wrap it up on this soon as I don't want people reading this to be all "Molarbear? Why he replied 4 times and we're not really sure what he was giving off about so fuck that band, I shall never listen to them again"

My original point was more about how I felt that as part of a local scene, in this Covid period, I wanted to utilise more local resources rather than rely on the big hitters. I do agree with what you're saying about FB being bullshit, but I still see it as a big part of how promoters take new bands on, and how they use FB impacts every aspect of the scene - me personally, I think I'd like to see the entire industry move away from FB in particular, but I know I'm just pissing in the wind with that one.

With regard to costs and ticking over - yeah that's all grand what you're saying but that was all based on pre-covid activity. Merch/album sales at gigs make up about 70% of our revenue, if we can't get out there and literally shove riffs into peoples faces, we're relying on 2 things - how we market when not playing live, and people being sound enough to keep following the band. FB has such potential, it should be ideal, but if they're throttling reach for smaller bands, the only way to get to people is to pay out money you don't have in order to get to the audience who have chosen to follow you anyway, or meme yourself into oblivion. It's the death of creativity at the behest of an algorithm. Bandcamp is perfect for so much but lacks the community aspect, and it's the community that drives the marketing potential.

As for post-covid gigging, for those local bands that are still active at the end of this, just a cursory glance at the bigger bands pages would suggest that when everything kicks off again, it's gonna be hard to get a look in, as every tour under the sun will be happening to try and reclaim lost revenue for those musicians who rely on touring and merch sales as a primary source of income, in a world where a lot of people won't have the disposable income that they did. So smaller bands will be relying on smaller venues... who probably won't exist anymore. As I said, this is part of a much bigger picture, and I genuinely see a return to DIY venues and local forums as a way of sustaining the local music scene.

In some ways I agree with you and in others I would suggest, respectably, maybe your views are part of the issue

^{The reality is the average metal fan is in their late 30s and they stopped giving a flying fuck about local bands back when they were teenagers.}


There are a number of studies showing that the human brain is most receptive to new music up to around 30 years old. This is nothing new. We know all this. As mentioned before, I'm in my 40s and this is a hobby. I have no desire to be a "rock star" and even less desire to sleep on floors across Europe. I paid good money for this quality mattress. My back appreciates it. It's a comfy fellow.

I think it's your perspective on this thats throwing me - my issue is that I'm recognising that THE most widely used promotional tool for all bands these days is strangling those without constant interaction and/or money. As most local bands have neither, you're effectively saying "I don't care about local bands because they're local and they don't have the content I want". You're absolutely entitled to your opinion of course, but every band is a local band to someone, and the majority of bands are affected in the exact same way. So really to me you're just burying your head in the sand to this bigger issue.

Just a quick point regarding the financial aspect of your point above. I'm not sure how much you gig or how good your merch game is, but you're suggesting that bands can't survive financially without going full slog or outside assistance in the form of licensing deals. We as a band don't gig a lot, we don't sell a huge amount of music, our merch game is OK. I operate entirely within our budget of £0 personal contribution. Despite playing 6ish gigs per year, and not really being most peoples cup of tea, we make enough money to fund regular new merch and pay for decent studio time with minimal impact to our personal bank accounts. We have a good reputation amongst the bands that know us and in many regards I am utterly content to continue at this level - it's great craic and we try to put a bit of positivety into everything we do. I know there are countless bands operating the same way we do. Are you suggesting that all of us are irrelevant somehow because we're not the next big thing, that we're not screaming for your attention?

^{It might just be better to go the other way entirely,  maintaining a very minimal online presence and generating a little buzz on your own somehow. How to do that, though, I'm not entirely sure.}


I think Yurt are a great example of this. I'd never even heard of them before I spent 30 minutes with my jaw on the floor, just a phenomenal band to watch. I'll happily fanboy over their drummer for the rest of my life

Shouldn't it be about writing music you want to hear and not caring what anyone else thinks?
I know not many people give a shit about anything I release and I couldn't care less. Its all about writing music I'm satisfied with.

Exactly this man. It's been really interesting for me personally with this band just being relaxed about the direction we're going, and finding similar bands/people across the country who exist in that same space, John/Third Island being a classic case in point - I think we've done two shows with those guys now, and it's the little things that count - supporting each other with merch, playlists, or just chatting about gear or bands. That's just absolutely sound as fuck and makes the band experience for me.

I think what's most frustrating about social media is seeing that you could potentially have an audience of x, but your last post only reached 10% of that and even that you had to pay for the reach, and 90% of those reached have zero interest, because as mentioned, the market is fucking flooded. But yet if I want my band to get a shot at decent support slots, social media is absolutely a metric in achieving that. So the local scenes get stifled by bland shit - take a couple of the most recent support slots in Belfast. At The Drive In supported by Brand New Friend? Alice In Chains supported by Wynona Bleach? Bit of a joke really.

I don't want this to seem all Old Man Yells At Cloud, because it's genuinely not meant to be, more of a reflection on how I want to focus my efforts going forward. But aye, Facebook is a fucking melt

Hi all,

In 2018, we released an album we really enjoyed making, Storklord - you can find it here https://molarbear.bandcamp.com/album/storklord

It was a complete labour of love, and we think we did alright for a random bunch of guys with no money who should have been past their best many years before.

It's been an odd couple of years, Covid has fucked so much of the local scene/industry, and I've been looking at how we've been affected as a band/very small business, particularly on social media - every band I've spoken to recently has said the same - whatever reach or engagement we've had previously is now in the toilet. I'm in my 40's, and don't particularly want what I consider to be an enjoyable hobby with mates to become an endless cycle of trying to meme our way to engagement to impress young'uns, I have no interest in that. Anyone else feeling the same?

Anyway, for the 17 people who like our output, I'm basically gonna redirect them here. Tbh most of them are probably here anyway. I keep seeing these "buy local this chrimbus, fuck amazon" ads, and I figure that has to apply across the board. I'm not one for posting much at the best of times but I'd much rather use a local forum to interact with people who might show a bit of interest, rather than fighting with an algorithm to keep in with a 17 year old who thought our latest video of Barra Best was class. I keep thinking about how I grew up with music, tape trading, absorbing music and lyrics. Those days are mostly gone now, but the least I can do is replicate the fact that a band just existed and I got to enjoy them. I think if Iron Maiden had have been writing to me every fortnight saying "lol check out Steve in his new leggings" or "who's the best guitarist, answer our poll", I'd have packed this all in years ago.

So yeah, hi, how's it going, hope these sounds find you well. Cheers for reading/listening, and hopefully when gigs are a thing again I'll see some of you about.

Also, new album in February, it's fucking class, basically a doom/punk version of Reign In Blood as written by Tears For Fears, much heft, you'll love it

Cheers

Andy

Really digging your stuff dude, if you're ever looking to get a show in the north give me a wee shout and I'll put something together