Bear Mountain At This Saturday’s Sunset Festival

The band are crossing the East Van-Kits divide to perform for 15,000

Brothers Ian and Greg Bevis are everything you would expect from an East Van electronic dance troupe: beards and buttoned-up shirts included. Along with Kyle Statham (guitar) and Kenji Rodrigueze-Tanamachi (visuals), the siblings formed Bear Mountain around three years ago and have since gone on to sell out the Vogue as well as undertaken a continent-wide tour. We chatted with Ian about performing for an expected 15,000 people at this Saturday’s Sunset Festival (taking place after the SeaWheeze half-marathon).Bear Mountain is the only local band in this year’s SeaWheeze lineup. Where exactly do you live?Ian: We live in East Van, but Greg and I grew up on the West Side.Do you play music full-time? Everyone has other things they do, but I just play music.Would you consider yourself ‘big’?It totally depends. We sold out the Vogue last fall, which holds 1,400 people. I think the last show we did in Vancouver was at Celebrities. We have a good following—lots of friends and fans are really good to us.How did the SeaWheeze thing come about?I think they wanted a local band and, genre-wise, we fit in with who they had already booked. They wanted party vibes from electronic, dance-y live bands. It’s an awesome lineup.How is your set different from the others?It’s like the sound and visual integration experience.What’s your favourite song from your set?We have a new one called “Hopeful.” The single is out this September.Where do you like to eat in the city?  II really like the Ramen Butcher. Or, if I’m doing breakfast on a budget, it has to be Red Wagon. If I’m going fancy for dinner, it’s Bistro Wagon Rouge. Have you been there? It’s awesome.Where do you like to drink?I used to go to the Keefer a lot because I used to DJ there. I also really like the Princeton pub—I love that place.Are you a yoga fanatic? Not a fanatic, but I do yoga every day.We think every day classes you as a fanatic… (Laughs) Yeah, I’ve drank the Kool-Aid on the yoga thing. I practice at home in the mornings when I get up, and then I usually take a class at One Yoga.You can check out Bear Mountain at tomorrow’s SeaWheeze festival. Tickets here ($25).