A week before their new album met the world, The Fresh Bears graced Milwaukee for the very first time, wowing fans new and old with their talent, drive and clear brotherhood and love for each other on and off the stage.
The Fresh Bears — composed of Hudson Felsman (vocals/guitar), Jude Felsman (guitar/vocals), Everett Felsman (drums) and Grant Baker (bass) — charmed Turner Hall Ballroom as part of their current tour across parts of the U.S. supporting rock band Bleach. While Baker was out for the night, friend-of-the-band Graydon Clarkbrath filled in, shredding on bass the entire set. The night was filled with great performances from both artists; it felt like there was never a foot on the floor from all the jumping.
When The Fresh Bears took the stage, they played songs off their energetic discography, including songs off their new album VERY AMERICAN, out Sept. 25. The Chicago-based band wowed the crowd with high energy, playing originals like Hope and Another Day, and pumping up the audience with a cover of the Ramones ‘ Blitzkrieg Bop. The Fresh Bears promised to give the audience 10-fold the energy they gave, and more than delivered on their promise by jumping, dancing, and Jude playing the guitar behind his head.
This magical night of music was made even sweeter with a pre-show interview with The Fresh Bears, getting an inside scoop on their fall tour and what they are excited for.
Read the full interview below:
CRAVE: Amazing. Alright, so this is very exciting. It’s the first night of your fall tour. So I’m curious, what stop of this tour are you most excited for, and why?
EVERETT: Oh, man. For me, it’d be Nashville. Nashville, music city. See all our buddies. It’ll be a fun time. Great night.
HUDSON: There’s a couple. I was really looking forward to Milwaukee. We’ve been on; this is our second show with Bleach, so we were super, you know, blessed to be able to jump to work with these guys. They’re the best. Shout out to Bleach. I was really looking forward to this one because we’ve never been to Milwaukee, and Turner Hall is gorgeous. It’s beautiful. I’m stoked for Milwaukee. I would second Nashville for sure.
JUDE: I think for me, my favorite, the one I’m looking forward to the most, is New York. Personally, I’m super stoked.
CRAVE: Very exciting. Your new album, VERY AMERICAN, is coming out Sept. 25. What do you want your fans to know about this record and what songs mean the most to you guys?
JUDE: Yeah, absolutely. Like, what do we want them to get from it?
CRAVE: Yeah, what about the record is the most special to you and that you think the fans will really resonate with?
JUDE: This one started off kind of random. It’s just kind of a smorgasbord of songs. But then as we started writing and putting them together, it kind of clicked; that they all fit together and they all mean something together. I think I’m most excited for “HOPE.” I think it’s kind of our anthem of the entire album. It’ll be the last track. It’s just about, you know, the hope that we all have the chance to carry if we want to carry it. And that’s what will get us through this life into the next.
CRAVE: One hundred percent.
HUDSON: This process was a little bit more refined than last time. I think for us, it just felt… It just kind of all came together really beautifully. We trusted each other, and I think it’s the best work we’ve done. I think these songs, they’ve got enough legs to stand with any other songs coming out of the genre right now. So, yeah, great songs. Great album. I’m really excited for them to hear. This one’s fun. It’s eclectic.
CRAVE: Great. What songs are you most excited to play live on this tour? Are they from the new album, or are they old ones?
HUDSON: New ones rip, I think for me. Oh, man! I think “HILLS” is my favorite to play live. I’m super stoked about “HILLS.” That’ll be our first track. But we’re playing it tonight for, I guess, the second time. We played it last night, but first time officially.
EVERETT: Yeah, I just love playing “HOPE.” I love it. I’m so excited to play “HOPE” — it’s a jam. It’s not the craziest, I don’t think, but it’s just all together; it’s like, all-around, I think, the best tune. It gives it that much more of an exciting feeling when we play it. For me, at least.
CRAVE: Amazing! Favorites over here?
CARL: Oh, it’s got to be “ANOTHER DAY.” “ANOTHER DAY” is a banger. It’s got the dueling guitars in the intro. It’s just so much fun to play.
CRAVE: When you guys are writing music, what inspires you the most? What’s your creative process? I think you kind of already touched on this a little bit, that this has just kind of been, like you said, “a smorgasbord of songs.” But, what’s that like making it come to life on a recording?
JUDE: Yeah, I think this album, we learned with our first album, POVERTY SOUL, how to trust each other with our creative decisions and how we play music together, and how we all are fighting for the best in the song. That being said, with this album, the creative process has been great. We’ve all been working a lot smoother, I think. We’ve been quicker and firm with decisions and stuff. It’s been great to write all these songs, and the album comes together, and it is this… I think it is a great look into the day-to-day life for a lot of us and the underlying themes that we all deal with. And it matters because I think it all ties together at the end. No matter what we go through and what we experience through our day-to-day life, we all have the option to make it better.
HUDSON: I think we hope for something greater. This album, it’s a bit more like blissfully ignorant and kind of fun, and it leans into just the hopeful side of what it means to walk in day-to-day and grapple with issues like identity and insecurities. Like searching in everything that you can experience in this life for hope and for purpose and not finding it and then, like, the answer of, like, well, where do you look? You know, like, personally, like, for us, like, we think hope is a person in Jesus, or we believe in Jesus. But whatever it looks like for everyone, I think we can all agree that this world’s a better place when we can walk out and love people well and actually act out of joy and act out of passion and find the marginalized — find those who don’t quite fit in — and give them the space. I think we’re excited to play this one live because we just want to cultivate that space in every room we play in. No matter where you come from, what you’re dealing with, bring it into the room and let’s just sing about it and love each other well and deal with it together.
CRAVE: I think that’s really special. Especially when things in the world right now are kind of looking down sometimes. So it’s nice to give people a place to go and just let it all out. That’s really, really great. This is my fun question. If you could play any venue in the world right now, where would it be? And also, who’s your dream opener or your dream band to open for? You’re headlining; you get to pick everything. What are you doing?
HUDSON: What’s up, Graydon? What’s your dream, dream venue?
GRAYDON: Dream venue? Gosh. I think growing up near Chicago and always being near there, I think we’ve all kind of idolized the Salt Shed. At least me, anyway.
ALL: Yes.
GRAYDON: I’ve seen so many great artists there, and every time the sound is phenomenal. Phenomenal. The people are amazing. The workers are super friendly. Yeah, it’s just a dialed venue, so I’ll definitely say the Salt Shed.
EVERETT: Like, open for Colony House right now. We would love to open. I mean, or just to be with them. I mean, like you could say any huge band, right? But they’ve meant the most for us, for sure. Probably been our biggest inspiration.
HUDSON: For sure. We discovered them when we were super young. So it’s just like they’re the reason for a lot of the ways that we write, or the way that we play.
JUDE: Realistically right now, I think if someone’s to open for us, I think I feel like this is realistic. Bruno Mars, like, he would open. Come on.
CRAVE: He would be so lucky.
JUDE: If he got the chance.
CRAVE: My final question is: after wrapping up tour and closing out the year, if you set a goal for yourself to accomplish in 2027, what would that be? What do you want to accomplish in the new year?
HUDSON: I’ll tell you what. I think a big goal, I think that I would love to see us do, for us would be to sell out a hometown club in Chicago. Sell out a hometown show in our hometown. I think that’d be pretty sweet.
CRAVE: Do you have a specific one in mind?
HUDSON: Oh, Shubas. Wait. Subterranean. If we could sell out Subterranean… We played there a couple times with our boys, Jetty and Little Image, and Bleach last night. We love you, Subterranean. Shout out.
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