Beartooth
| Established. Jan 01, 2013 | INDIE
Music
Press
There were two bands on this year's Warped Tour that were simply impossible to ignore. One of them is on the cover of this very issue, and the other was Beartooth. Aside from selling Beartooth-branded socks (which is never a bad thing, because novelty merch is the best kind of merch), Caleb Shomo's gang played to huge - an completely insane - crowds almost every single day, and delivered a pulsating, jaw-dropping show that is set to make them more than just one of the tour's breakout bands. - Rock Sound Magazine
No one saw this coming. Not even the promise of last summer's "Sick" EP suggested Beartooth were capable of anything as accomplished as "Disgusting". Former Attack! Attack! maverick Caleb Shomo wrote, played and produced everything here as a means of exorcising his demons - depression, an eating disorder and a drinking problem to name just a few - and it makes for a breathless, bile-filled audio belch. Screams are instinctive, not stylised. Lyrics are like bloodstained diary entries. The end result? His career-best work, thus far. Equally emotional and exhilirating, "Disgusting" is a contender for debut album of the year. - Rock Sound Magazine
Frontman Caleb Shomo was in Attack! Attack!, but we can forgive him cos he's back with a bigger beast in Beartooth (fuck yes alliteration). There's a full-length coming this year and we reckon it'll be some of the best metalcore of the year. - Front Magazine
Last night, Beartooth brainiac Caleb Shomo shared a 15-second clip of a new song via his personal Instagram account. It looks like it passed his headbang test—what about yours?
With this clip, it seems as though a new Beartooth album isn’t as far off as you may have assumed. The band released their debut LP, Disgusting, in 2014. What are you hoping to hear on future material? How would you like to see them progress? - Alternative Press
Why You Should Pay Attention: The group's vocalist, Caleb Shomo, previously fronted Attack Attack! – the EDM-infused metalcore group who spawned the "crabcore" genre thanks to their creepy-crawly dance in their "Stick Stickly" video. But the smarter, leaner Beartooth have anted up the aggression with poppy hooks and slinky hardcore riffing. Their debut full-length, Disgusting, follows a 2013 EP, Sick, and tours with August Burns Red and the Word Alive, and captures Shomo's knack for incisive, depressive lyrics with matchstick-thin silver linings. Most notable is the battering-ram rhythms of "I Have a Problem," a song that comes off as a declaration of alcoholism ("My stomach is bleeding / But I'm still drinking") but Shomo says it's a metaphor for the depression and anxiety he felt following the dissolution of Attack Attack! "I was just doing whatever I could to stay out of my head and out of my thoughts," he says. "I would do whatever I could to keep my mind off things and, for me, drinking helped me get to sleep. I realized later after writing it that it was incredibly literal and I feel like people think I'm a raging drunk at 21. Like, no."
They Say: "Obviously, the 'crabcore' thing was just hilarious," Shomo says. "That was an odd time in my life. We were just being dumb and having fun. It's not like we cared or had an agenda. Basically what it comes down to is, if I'm doing it for myself then at the end of the day I don't care what everyone else thinks because I know that I made an honest piece of music that I'm happy with."
Hear for Yourself: Shomo nearly bursts a vein while screaming the verses to Beartooth's gut-wrenching "I Have a Problem." By Kory Grow - Rolling Stone
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Collaborative creativity can produce brilliant results, but there’s something almost otherworldly about what emerges from the minds of remarkably talented artists, the types who’ve lived many lifetimes in a short period, left to his/her own devices.
As much as Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure or Foo Fighters (particularly on that first album) are considered “bands,” they brazenly exhibit the precision focused passion of a specific person; often a person bursting at the seams with something to say. BEARTOOTH began and in many ways continues to be such an artist, bubbling forth from the psyche, soul and complex emotions buried in multitalented instrumentalist and songwriter, Caleb Shomo.
Beartooth shares equal inspiration with brutal metalcore as with old-school punk like The Ramones and the bombastic theatricality of Queen. The end result is a back-to-basics hardcore stomp that would get the crowd moving at a Hatebreed or Terror show, interspersed with a steadfast determination to give equal importance to anthemic choruses.
Beartooth began as a way to blow off steam and add another dimension to Shomo’s genre-hopping creative output. He and his hometown friends started jamming; hanging out in his Columbus, OH basement studio and playing music for fun. They released an EP, Sick, and then hit the road, touring North America and Europe with genre titans August Burns Red, Memphis May Fire, The Word Alive and Of Mice & Men, among others. In between support slots the five-piece headlined everything from basements to club shows, building a strong and devoted following. The EP’s accompanying music videos for “Go Be the Voice” and “I Have a Problem” (both live and traditional) quickly accumulated over one million views, and set the stage for the band’s next endeavor, Disgusting.
While he’s still a very young guy, Shomo has lived a lifetime in music already. He had already dabbled in a project with Escape The Fate cofounder Max Green and Craig Mabbit (Blessthefall/The World Alive/Escape The Fate) when he was called up to play keyboards for Attack Attack! at the tender age of 15. The band incited polarizing dialogue around the world, as some jaded critics mocked the group’s “crabcore” while a new generation of fans followed the band’s every move. Shomo found himself thrust into the front man role following a series of lineup changes. The band’s self-titled sophomore effort debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Independent chart.
Battling the same type of depression, anxiety and overindulgence as many of his fans, Shomo bowed out of Attack Attack! to get himself together, and the songs on Disgusting reflect that struggle.
There’s a beautiful authenticity in Beartooth’s music, which is the result of Shomo’s simple intention: to write songs for the sake of writing songs. There is nothing calculated, nothing crafted for mass appeal. It’s simply the truth of his experiences and emotions.
“Red Bull Records has been backing whatever I want to do musically which has been really refreshing,” Shomo says. “There isn’t any pressure to write certain types of songs or to have a certain sound. I don’t go into my basement thinking, ‘OK, I’ve got to write a pop song’ or ‘I’ve got to write a heavy song.’ The songs are what they are and are allowed to be whatever comes out of me. Beartooth ends up having a lot of dynamics that way, a lot of diversity. I never want to make a record that becomes boring.”
Band Members
Links
