Bear Trade

Formed in 2011 from the remnants of Blocko, Former Cell Mates, Pure Graft, and the Mercury League, Bear Trade originated after frontman and guitarist Greg Robson accumulated enough original songs to launch a fresh project. Drummer Peter Morley and guitarist Callum Goldsbrough came aboard first, yet the trio still required a permanent bassist; that slot was filled when Robson encountered Lloyd Chambers by chance at a mutual friend’s wedding. Following practice sessions at Nile Street in Sunderland, the completed lineup began performing its new material across the U.K., appearing alongside Latterman and Bridge & Tunnel while also headlining its own shows. Late in 2012 the band received an invitation to Fest 11 in Gainesville, Florida, which prompted an accompanying U.S. tour; during the same period it signed with American imprint Dead Broke for a limited-cassette-and-download release of the six-track album Hip Flask Life. The following year Japanese label Waterslide reissued the record as Whisky on a Bluebird, while newly established U.K. outlet Everything Sucks issued a four-song 7" drawn from the same sessions. Returning to the Nile Street rehearsal space, the group tracked its debut full-length, Blood and Sand, which surfaced in early May 2014 and earned favorable notices for the melodic punk rock shaped by the members’ prior involvement in the British punk scene.