The Act: CHINA BEARS

The Release: ‘I'VE NEVER MET ANYONE LIKE YOU’

The Format: DIGITAL EP

The Release Date: OUT NOW

The Digital Link: https://orcd.co/chinabears_inmaly_ep

The Tracklisting: 1. 'COLD SHIVERS' 2. 'SUNDAY' 3. 'STAY FOR GOOD' 4. 'TRICK MYSELF' 5. 'I'VE NEVER MET ANYONE LIKE YOU'

The Ace Review: “China Bears have fired an arrow through the heart with a rare emotional precision. A gift from the heavens, an absolute masterpiece.” - www.underscorepart3.co.uk

The Truth: China Bears were formed in Somerset in 2015 by twin brothers Ivan (guitar / vox) and Frazer (guitar). The line-up was completed after meeting bassist James and drummer Dean at university in Guildford later that year. Late in 2019 they took their exquisite debut ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone Like You’ EP out on a fulsome UK tour, and early in 2020 they hit the road again for these shows here, including a pawful of supports with epic indie dreamers Geneva:

January 10th FROME CHEESE & GRAIN
January 11th BRISTOL SOFAR SOUNDS
January 15th LONDON THE VICTORIA
(Pandamonium ’20 show w/ Classic Yellow + Prima Queen)
January 28th BRIDGEWATER BAR 27
February 1st BRIGHTON KOMEDIA (with GENEVA)
February 2nd LONDON LEXINGTON (with GENEVA)
February 4th GLASGOW KING TUT’S (with GENEVA)
February 28th CHELTENHAM FROG & FIDDLE
February 29th SOMERSET GLASTONBURY CALLING
March 14th READING OAKFORD SOCIAL CLUB (with SOFTER STILL)

'I've Never Met Anyone Like You' contains five tracks including ‘Stay For Good’, their barnstorming first single on fierce panda in early 2019, the vibrantly emotive follow-ups ‘Sunday’ and ‘Cold Shivers’ and their most recent radio outburst, the deceptively epic 'Trick Myself'. Add in the quietly amazed melancholy of the title track and you have yourself an EP for the ages by a quartet heading for the grandest of stages.

For here is a band which gently bandies around words like "honesty"; a band which makes music which can be painfully intimate, but enormously approachable; a band which nods sagely at the stadium-sized introspection of The National, Dry The River, Snow Patrol and Death Cab For Cutie; and a band which, in the case of the aforementioned 'Sunday' can come up with a sublimely sub-hysterical hook which goes: “Good God it’s a Sunday afternoon / What are you doing on the kitchen floor again?”

Happily before cuddling up to fierce panda China Bears had already self-released three sultry tracks, ‘Meet Me In London’, ‘Hydra’ and ‘Night Calls’, earning airplay from Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1, Steve Lamacq on BBC 6music, John Kennedy on Radio X and Melita Dennett via BBC Introducing in The South along the way. Along another way they’ve had notable support slots with acts such as Genghar, The Districts, To Kill A King, The Howl & The Hum, Declan McKenna, The Big Moon, Blackwaters and most recently Goldheart Assembly at the 100 Club.

www.chinabears.co.uk
www.facebook.com/chinabearsband
www.fiercepanda.co.uk