Patch in the Park: Don't Upset the Bear
Local stomp-rockers dropped by Van Neste Park to frighten the locals
Comparing one band to another sonically similar band is commonplace — it's an easy shorthand for what's going on musically: Dylan sounds like Woody Guthrie, the guy from Muse like Thom Yorke, The Hold Steady is just Springsteen for the sniffling indie kids. But the ways each of those musical acts is alike often end up revealing far less than the ways those same bands are different. For Don't Upset the Bear, the comparisons jump out immediately (think early 2000s alt-country, mid- to late-1990s alternative), but they can't do justice for the Midland Park quartet blending sincere talent and edgy propulsion into a lapidary live show. Patch sat down with the band after a memorable — in spite of the wind — performance in Ridgewood's Van Neste …
John Cudworth
8:42 pm on Sunday, July 3, 2011
Oh.. I thought that this was about a bear sighting, there have been bears seen in Mahwah area lately. more ›