By: Paige Zinaman
Photo By Eleanor Petry
Q) Who are some of the artists who became influences to you over the years?
Bryce: Too many! The Beatles, Sly & The Family Stone, The B-52’s, Pond, Jay Watson from GUM, MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Hether, Prince, Gorillaz…too many!
Anne: I love my girly pop music. I’m a huge Swiftie (attending the Eras Tour in Seattle was one of the best days of my life) and take a lot of inspiration from Taylor’s storytelling and the way she connects with her fans.
Q) Your sound pulls from everything from The Flaming Lips to mandopop to cartoon energy. When you’re writing, are you consciously referencing influences, or does it all blur together instinctively?
Bryce: Sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously. I think, in general, I make an effort to not listen to or reference other artists’ music too much. I used to do that a lot more, and my music just ended up sounding like others. I think what I actively reference the most is not a sound, or a genre, but a state of mind. For example, The Flaming Lips are wildly experimental songwriters and their production is often totally whacked out. I like that. So, the mentality isn’t to copy the sound of The Flaming Lips, but to have that mindset of experimentation and approach.
Anne: I mostly write lyrics. When I’m writing lyrics, I try not to overthink the meaning and try to pick lyrics (in Chinese and English) that are not only fun to listen to but also fun to pronounce, a nice “mouth feel” if you will haha.
Q) You’ve just signed to Moshi Moshi and had “No No Yeah Yeah” picked up by The Needle Drop and Brooklyn Vegan—did that validation change how you’re feeling about this next chapter, or did it just confirm what you already knew?
Bryce: Validation feels good! It’s good and, you know, we need to grow as a band. I’ve definitely been a little more anxious about this album because there’s always pressure for it to do better than the last. And the last album exceeded our expectations. But I’m good at assuaging those anxieties and just remembering life moves on, it’s not that big of a deal. We’ll write more albums – some will find an audience, some won’t. As long as I’m proud of what we’re making, we’ll have fulfillment.
Q) “No No Yeah Yeah” started as a joke—writing a song with only “no” and “yeah.” At what point did you realize it was actually working?
Bryce: I think it was the “bridge” where all the “Yeah” layers build and stack and come to a head. I was like, “Oh, this is working and feels really good!”
Anne: This song was all Bryce’s idea. I immediately loved it when he told me about the concept and showed me the initial demo. It ended up being incredibly hard to avoid any other words, so I added a few Chinese phrases but most of the song is definitely either “yeah” or “no” lyrics.
Q) The song feels incredibly busy melodically but still spacious in its arrangement. How intentional was that balance and how do you know when a song has “too many ideas?”
Bryce: Great question, that’s something I’m always thinking about and editing as we go. Arrangement is so important to me. I remember after I had written the main verse melody, over the drums and bass synth, it was already working. That, to me, is a sign of a good arrangement. If it works at that minimal level (drums, bass, top melody), then anything else you add are nice-to-haves. Sometimes an arrangement isn’t working at that foundational level and then you go ahead and try and fix it by adding more, but really the foundation is an issue. This all sounds really clinical – in the moment of writing, it’s much more of a feeling. But overall, “No No Yeah Yeah” has a good foundation and then some glitter on top that doesn’t get in the way.
Q) Bryce, your production background really shapes the band’s sound. How has producing Chinese American Bear changed the way you think about songwriting compared to your earlier bands?
Bryce: It’s so totally different now! I think Chinese American Bear is like an outlet for me to make/produce/mix music the way I like, and want, without reservation. In earlier bands there were a lot of moments where someone would be playing something in some way and I’d have this feeling of like “that’s too much.” Or, “those drums are too complicated for this section where the guitar is already taking up so much space.” But I didn’t often speak my mind because that’s the beauty of collaboration and different minds at work. Maybe that overcrowded instrumental section works well. But I’ve found that I have strong opinions/taste about production and arrangement and Chinese American Bear has given me a place to make it the way I hear it. There are a few people that I’ve worked with where our tastes are so similar that it works. I worked with Sam Cohen (Produced Kevin Morby, Curtis Harding, Danger Mouse) and everything he does sounds so good to me. At the end of the day, it’s just a matter of taste.
Q) Anne, you’ve spoken about once feeling hesitant to speak or sing Chinese publicly. How does it feel now seeing listeners say your music makes them feel proud of their language and heritage?
Anne: It feels amazing! Similar to many other immigrant kids, I grew up often feeling embarrassed about being Chinese or speaking Chinese with my parents in public because all I wanted to do was be like “everyone else.” I started writing Chinese lyrics for this band mostly to teach Bryce the Chinese language and for fun. We never intended for this music project to be what it is today. So, when I started hearing from fans about how hearing me perform songs in Chinese on stage made them feel very connected and seen, it made me feel incredibly emotional and made me want to continue sharing our music with the world. It never gets old to hear how our songs have made other Chinese Americans like myself feel more proud of our culture.
Q) Chinese American Bear walks a really interesting line between joy and nostalgia—playful lyrics about food alongside deeply emotional responses from fans. Why do you think that combination resonates so strongly?
Anne: I don’t have a right answer for this, I can only guess. I wonder if it’s because our music reminds people to have fun like they’re kids again. And that the greatest joys are very simple, like eating a delicious bowl of noodles. Nostalgia comes when we think back to our childhood. I wonder if our music evokes a bitter sweet feeling of not being kids anymore but at the same time being reminded of our childhood and perhaps a more simple time.
“All The People,” the next single, is coming alongside the LP announcement—how does it expand or contrast the world you introduced with “No No Yeah Yeah”?
Bryce: “All The People” feels real “core CAB” sounding, but I think the production expands on what we’ve done – the playful, almost Beach Boys-esqe keyboard sounds, classical violin and more rockin’ ending. The ending is maybe the most rockin’ we’ve gotten since our song “Goodbye.” [laughs] This fuzzed out bass slides in at the end and kinda wails.
Q) “All The People (所有人)” leans into fantasy both lyrically and visually, especially with the handmade puppet video. Why was it important for this song—and this moment—to feel so tactile, DIY and a little weird?
Bryce: I think this song and video is just a reminder that we haven’t lost ourselves and our essence. Despite this band becoming a bit more “serious,” in that we’re working with more people now, stakes and pressure feel higher…We’re still making what we want. It’s DIY, so we’re pushing the production to new and weird heights, and hand making our videos still. And in an age of AI, it feels even better to be hand crafting our music, our videos, etc.
Q) Dim Sum & Then Some feels like a collage of your life together—food, love, small joys, and now fairy tales. What does this album capture about where you are right now that your previous records didn’t?
Bryce: Honestly, for me at least, we wrote this record in a similar state to “Wah!!!” The biggest difference is it was more on and off between tours. But this album really feels like a continuation of Wah!!! – which I hope doesn’t diminish it. [laughs] But the headspace felt similar.
Anne: Same for me. This album feels like a continuation of Wah!!! But with bigger, more pop-y and some more exploratory sounds. It’s a collage of our life together!
Q) Sonically, this album feels denser and more exploratory while also being your poppiest yet. How did you balance experimentation with keeping the playful heart of Chinese American Bear intact?
Bryce: Experimentation and playfulness are both at the heart of what we do. So, it feels natural and easy to balance them. Or not balance them. Sometimes we go a little overboard on the playfulness, like in “Yummy Yummy Yummy.” It’s basically a kids song. Which we love.
Q) You’ve toured China, the UK, the US and played festivals around the world. Do different audiences respond differently to the bilingual aspect of your music?
Anne: Yes they do! I’ve noticed they generally fall into three buckets: fully westernized Asian immigrants who grew up overseas, Chinese internationals who live overseas or live in China and everyone else. Asian immigrants who were born and raised overseas (similar to myself) connect with the music because they feel connected to my own experiences. They love hearing Chinese representation on a music venue stage and can relate to the Asian American experiences that are in the themes of some of our songs. Chinese internationals from China (either they live in China or recently moved overseas) have a more polarized reaction to our music because Chinese music from China is very different from western indie music. They either love our music because it’s incredibly refreshing, they’ve never heard sounds like ours and they’re intrigued and charmed by the “odd-sounding” Chinese grammar in our lyrics. Or they’re confused and put off by it because it sounds so different from what they’re used to. And then everyone else who’s either not Chinese or can’t speak the Chinese language gravitates towards our music because they love our sounds, music production and vibes. They love the childlike, silly nature of our music, the fun danceable quality to it and it perhaps makes them feel nostalgic for their childhood.
Q) What artists would you most like to collaborate with on music in the future?
Bryce: Jay Watson from GUM / Pond would be really cool. He followed us on Instagram one day and I freaked out. Haha. A collaboration with the MGMT guys, The Flaming Lips, King Gizz or Dave Fridmann would be really cool. There are also a few Taiwanese bands like Sunset Rollercoaster, The Chairs, etc. Damon Albarn from the Gorillaz would be a dream collab.
Q) What would you like to say to fans and supporters of the music that you make?
Anne: We hope it brings you as much joy, love and happiness as it does for us.Bryce: Thanks for coming to our shows, buying merch, buying records, sending us kind messages. It means so much. We hope to see you on our upcoming tours for Dim Sum & Then Some <3