Reverberations: Garbage Bear
Oh, what could have been...
Garbage Bear was a short-lived band that existed in Asheville, NC around 2009 for no longer than a year or so. It was an amalgamation of musicians from very different backgrounds, and that is a large part of what made it so unique.
You had Brad Hutchison and Jennie Benford from Jim & Jennie and the Pinetops (with Brad also being part of the Greasy Beans), Josh Haddix, also from the Greasy Beans and The Whappers, and Will Straughan of Red June. Then there was me, with my punk rock drumming background.
Will S. and Jennie had a way of blending their voices together for this incredible rich symphonic relationship. That, on top of their top-notch songwriting skills, set the band up for success. Josh provided his country-ish electic guitar flourishes that mingled with Will S's pedal steel guitar.
Every time we played out, which was only 4 or 5 times in Asheville and once in Winston-Salem, we got a bigger and bigger crowd. The word spread quickly. After our debut opening for The Magenetic Fields at the Grey Eagle, they sought us out the next time they came to town.
Sadly, we had disbanded. Brad and Jennie had moved away to have kids. We had started recording a record, which Brad hopefully still has somewhere, some of which might see the light of day at some point.
Check out some live videos of Garbage Bear:
This was one of my favorites:
And lastly, a video I shot at rehearsal, from my phone:
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