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Biography
Having formed a friendship through working together in the music business, Raf Rundell and Joe Goddard decided to start working together musically after a joke by a mutual friend. He had joked that due to their bear-like appearance with their abundance of facial hair and their size, along with Joe Mount from Metronomy, they could start a group and call themselves 'The 3 Bears.' Rundell and Goddard took this idea to heart and began making music together, finding a mutual understanding for what it is that makes a good dance anthem, before embarking upon their new musical journey.
Producing the tracks together, with Raf taking vocal duties initially half-heartedly, the pair forged an eclectic sound that melded everyone from Steely Dan to the Wu Tang Clan to the Beach Boys over their characteristic house beats that are ready to be danced to. The duo released three EPs on Southern Fried Records between 2010 and 2011, gaining radio support from many high-profile names, including Scott Mills, Annie Mac, Huw Stephens and Rob Da Bank Their tracks began to be played in clubs everywhere, such as their soulful cover of Sade's "When Am I Gonna Make a Living?"
In Autumn 2011, The 2 Bears unleashed their debut full length, "Be Strong," which was diverse in its sound channeling the multicultural city of London, UK, incorporating dancehall and garage reggae in he likes of "Time in Mind" and "Heart of the Congos." The record is a dance record with a heavy streak of soul swept through it, with their house music injected with the thriving sub-genres of music that can be heard everywhere in England's capital city. The record was a success, reaching number 35 in the UK charts. Their second LP, "The Night Is Young," followed in 2014, peaking at number 53 in the UK charts.
Live reviews
The 2 Bears are a British house duo consisting of the godly Joe Goddard, of Hot Chip, and Raf Rundell. I always imagined this to be a pretty light-hearted, non-serious side project, something for Goddard to mess around with during downtime from Hot Chip, but when I discovered their debut album Be Strong in 2012 I was blown away by how accomplished the music was. Sure, they incorporate plenty of humour, but the music was some of the best house and 2-step I’d heard in years. I’ve seen them live a few times and they’re just such good fun. The first time was at Sonar in Spain, where they did a set of Chicago house and disco soul, with only a couple of their own productions thrown into the mix. They were even better at Bestival, where they dressed in their trademark bear costumes and pumped out the best of their songs. For ‘Work’, Goddard sang the lead with his sublime and distinctive voice, while for highlight ‘Bear Hug’ Raff came in front of the decks to offer hilarious spoken word vocals.
The 2 Bears pop up at festivals everywhere and have recently had a residency at London club XOYO, inviting truckloads of guest on a weekly basis. They may sugar-coat their music with pop melodies, but this is serious (and seriously good) house music.
cliverozario
As always joe Goddard and raf rundell blew our minds. 'Warm and easy in the club' were we all as the two bears' beat showed us how perfect they could be live. Joined by the incredible sink the pink the stage was a display of awesomeness that we were all made to feel a part of. If anything it was far too short (9.30 -11.30) but I can still hear ghosts and zombies playing in my head. Go and see the 2 bears.
tessa-whitwell
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