Exit: pursued by a bear are like a stubborn old couple; why not call them herself and himself. Himself has just settled into his armchair for yet another night of uninterrupted staring at herself. The...

Exit: pursued by a bear are like a stubborn old couple; why not call them herself and himself. Himself has just settled into his armchair for yet another night of uninterrupted staring at herself. There is no radio or television to break the tension. The atmosphere is heavy, their thought processes, unwholesome. They sit brooding at each other suspended between a rancorous past and a future that has nothing to offer but the promise of an elusive end point. All that binds them together is a shared desire to not be the one to give in. They are the unlucky recipients of a malevolent board game that appears to be inherently irresolvable. No winners, no losers. They are destined to play on indefinitely in the volatile silence, faces blank, eyes locked.

Yes, exit: pursued by a bear unnervingly resemble this unsavoury old couple. And yet they were not always this way. There was a time when a keen wind blew through their practice room, the bright eyed and bushy tailed early days of pure potentiality, when promoters spoke of “amazing” gigs, would be producers commented on “astonishing” recordings, journalists claimed their live shows had launched them into “hyperspace.”

They lost the run of themselves. They were under the impression they would “make it”, though they struggled with the very meaning of the term. Their path, it seemed, was set out for them. Their fame-crazy vocalist would at last bask in the warmth of chart success. In July 2006 something changed. A light went out. They somehow came to the painful realisation that they would, in fact, never be top of the pops.

It had all been a sham, a fad, a tall tale. They had been fooling themselves. The merchandising deals, the radio plays, the TV slots, the festivals: they were nothing but pernicious signposts slyly scattered in a circular formation, perennially leading them back to where they started. They were on a (less than) merry-go-round, and found themselves becoming sicker with every passing revolution. A contemplative animosity set in, a loathing for the system but primarily for themselves. The phone stopped ringing; the empty promises became more infrequent. The carrousel’s theme tune had ceased, but for the band the wheel keeps turning

And so now, they rise above the false dawns, the poisonous pipe dreams, the unanswered phone calls and emails, not because they just “wanna play music, man”. God no. It is acrimony that motivates them, not artistic integrity. There is no valiant, heart-warming final flourish to this particular fulmination. They rise above in order to merely keep playing, the indefinite “game” that is. They simply do not want to be “the ones to give in”

The exit: pursued by a bear, “Back out of Spite” tour begins with a show in the Pavillion, Cork, Friday April 23rd 2010.

Important exit: pursued by a bear related quotes

An exit: pursued by a bear member: “I can’t do this anymore”

Another member: “You can, and you will”