Beartooth bassist Oshie Bichar has confirmed to The Sound Lab that the group is hard at work on material for its upcoming fourth studio album. Bichar revealed that frontman and chief songwriter Caleb Shomo has been writing a lot on tour for the first time.
Bichar said, “Something about the environment — he's really been getting a lot of inspiration from being out here (in Europe). Especially, I think, from playing the live shows and seeing what people react to in real time, and being able to kind of translate that to what he's writing.”
The bassist added, “I'm stoked on it. It's sounding super sick. I can't wait to really dive into it after the tour and get all the songs dialed in.”
Asked if the new music sounds heavier or more melodic than the band's previous efforts, Bichar replied, “It's gonna be kind of a typical Beartooth fashion, because we have the parts that are heavy and the parts that are extremely melodic, and I think what Caleb is good at is blending those two things seamlessly without it feeling bipolar . . . when people hear it, they're gonna be pleasantly surprised.”
Shomo told us a while back that he feels uncertain about his music's power over fans: “That's one thing that a lot of people have been asking in interviews over the last couple of years, is, 'What do you think of being a person with influence to, like, these kids or people that read your lyrics and get into 'em?' And it just gives me anxiety. Like, some people really get off on that, on that power and them being like, 'I can tell these kids whatever.' It just kind of like freaks me out.”
Beartooth's latest release was the folk-and country-inspired The Blackbird Session EP, which came out last September.