One Trick Grizzly is a hard hitting rock band from Harrisburg, PA with the mission to expand the reach of their music throughout the Pennsylvania area and outward.
John Bocian, Kyle Herb, and Jon Semborski formed the band in September of 2014. We pull our musical sound and inspirations from groups like The Rival Sons and The Black Keys as well as older influences such as Led Zeppelin and ACDC
With the release of the Bear Essentials EP, One Trick Grizzly brings a new feel to a classic genre. Lush with layered fuzz tones, addicting vocal melody, and an all around aggressive attitude, the record boasts the aesthetic of 90’s alternative rock anthems. Although songs are diverse from one another, there is a glue that holds the songs together much like a concept album. Most importantly, the EP never really loses track of the emotional platform great songs are built from.
The first single, “I Want You”, is a hard edged rock track that brings out the bands dark, but fun side. Complete with an ever catchy chorus, and indie rock guitar riffs, the song builds and breathes as new sounds come through right up to it’s high powered break downs.
“The name of the single "I Want You" pulls from the feeling we have towards someone we need and we tried to put that into a powerful, hard hitting song to show that. This song most clearly represents our immediate vision of what we wanted our band to sound like and is the first thing that we wanted our fans to hear when they first hear our music.” Explains the band of their single.
Although the single speaks volumes for the EP, to get a real understanding of where One Trick Grizzly is coming from, it should be heard in it’s entirety.
“This EP is earliest form of the sound we are try to achieve and has helped us move forward to created our first full length album. It has let us experiment in the studio and led us to find that powerful and catchy sound that we are looking for.” Says front man John Bocian of the release and evolution of the bands sound.
Bocian and bassist Jon Semborski started off playing open mics down in York PA during the summer of 2014. As a duo, they played with just an electric and acoustic and focused most live performances on cover songs. After inviting long time friend and drummer Kyle Herb to join them, things began to change. They grabbed a 4 hour long showcase spot at a local open mic and started rehersing more often while learning new covers for their set. Eventually, they honed into a sound all their own and began writing original material of their own. Out of 7 originals, they narrows it down to 3 and decided to record those to release as an EP. The Bear Essentials EP was recorded over a 4 day span with producer and engineer Michael Washkevich who helped shape the sound and feel of the songs with the band. Since then One Trick Grizzly has been back to focusing on live shows, working their on line presence, and writing new material. The band plans to go back to Washkevich to record a full length later this year.
The Bear Essentials EP is now available for streaming and download on most digital outlets and the and the band is consistently booking shows as will be a part of Gettysburg Rocks music festival in February which is a charity event for Four Diamonds Cancer Fund.
As the band themselves put it, “Being a three piece we wanted to be able to create a wall of sound with lots of power and emotion. We just want our fans to get lost in that power and emotion with us.