Ha. perhaps im not the best spokesperson for the band. perhaps i am...i will let you decide...either way we got an interview in print with a paper....and i think any publicity is good publicity...a little worried about the backlash maybe from the strasse haus.....but at least ill know who it is. here you go...check it out..Thanks to Allison Catse for writing this btw
Oso Bear
Members: Chris Bowling, guitar/vox; Ben Cochran, guitar; Matt Kaliin, bass; George Marshall Jenkins IV, drums
Hometown: Covington
Latest project: six-song EP unofficially titled “Whoopy-Dang!”
Sound like: rock ‘n’ roll with a Southern bent
Oso Bear is a collection of Kentucky natives who like to rock hard and party hard and who have become well-known locally for the energy and vigor of their live shows. When the band first started playing about two years ago, they were actually kicked out of a couple of venues for being too loud. But these days, the band draws a loyal crowd who shares its enthusiasm for loud rock ‘n’ roll. We spoke to drummer George Marshall Jenkins IV about the band’s new EP, the party-lifestyle in Covington and, of course, about bears.
So what’s the story behind your name? It’s essentially Spanish Bear English Bear. Do you guys just like bears a lot?
Jenkins: [laughs] Ohhh. Spanish Bear, English Bear. Yeah. It’s one of those things. … I guess in our minds it just sounded cool. Band names, nowadays, seem like the least important things, you know. So there’s no real story behind it, except that it just sounded cool, just one of those drunken things.
Can you tell me about your new release?
Jenkins: Yeah, we put out a six-song EP back in October. We call it — I guess the unofficial name of it is “Whoopy-Dang!” which is something that people have started to say at our shows. It’s kind of like, instead of yelling out “Yeah!” or “Whoo!” people yell out “Whoopy-Dang!” We actually recorded nine songs with this guy, this other guy named Ben Cochran, who is no relation to our Ben Cochran. We started out recording nine songs with him, scrapped three of them and just put out six. Oh, and he’s got a studio called Soap Floats. He’s done stuff with The Harlequins and Duppy A’ Jamba.
I have to ask, how did your fans start saying “Whoopy-Dang!”?
Jenkins: [laughs] We all live together in Covington and it all kind of started like … we were actually going to copyright the name to make T-shirts and have clothing lines that said “Whoopy-Dang!” across them, because it’s something that you yell when you’re highly intoxicated or having a good time. So that was pretty much how that got started. Ben, our bass player, actually started saying it, and then it just caught on.
So you all live together in Covington? What’s that like?
Jenkins: Yeah, we all have a house together in MainStrasse [Village]. We live right behind the Strasse Haus. [laughs] Our house is permanently trashed [laughs again]. We become the afterparty on the weekends after the bars let out. It’s alright, the rent’s cheap, but you do have to hear a lot of crappy cover bands from the Strasse Haus.
Now you have to share an anecdote about this place!
Jenkins: Well, this past Wednesday, we played at the Down Under and then we had a Madonna dance party … and a little bit of Hall & Oates. We’ve had, I don’t know, there are always people over here on the weekends, but we’ve had a couple of really big things that have gotten — you have a hundred people in your house and you only know 30 of them!
Do you have any new projects you’re working on since putting out your EP?
Jenkins: We’ve got four new songs that we’re putting in our set. But right now we’re really just trying to sell the CD. We’ve gotten rid of nearly 300 of a 500 pressing. We probably play out about three times a month locally. So we’re just using the money that we make from playing shows and selling merchandise to buy a van, so hopefully we’ll get on —we’ve just submitted to South by Southwest, so hopefully, we’ll get on that.
Final question. What would you do if you met a bear in the wild?
Jenkins: [Laughs] I think the appropriate thing to do would be to play dead, but I think we would probably feed it. … (Long pause after some pondering) I would like to change the answer to the last question. If we saw a bear in the woods, we would get it drunk.
If you go:
When: 10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3. With The Satin Peaches and DJ Empirical
Where: Southgate House,
24 E. Third St.Newport. Price: Free
Information: 859-431-2201, www.southgatehouse.com
