Mostly Bears

Voted Tucson Weekly's "Best New Band" in 2007, Mostly Bears have steadily been working their way up the list — a very, very short list — of innovative Arizona bands. Of course, they are from Tucson and not Phoenix, so they fit in nicely with the other bands emerging from that sleepy college town. Maybe it's the delicious Eegee's or maybe it's the asinine highway construction, but Tucson has been representing Arizona pretty well on a national scale. I know there's no official competition between Phoenix and Tucson to see who can produce the better indie-rock bands. It would be nice to formally decree something like that, though, because competition will breed stellar results. Mostly Bears have to be in consideration, especially after the release of their debut album, The Ed Mitchell Clinic, in 2008. That album solidified what the UofA kids and other Tucson denizens already knew about the band: They play a unique live show that focuses on their inspired brand of indie rock, centered on the Arcade Fire-tinged vocals of Brian Lopez. It's not a difficult formula to crack, but Mostly Bears have done it with great success.