Chic Chick : Grizzly Bear Galore's Lauren Rearick

 

Last year when I was searching for some information on Grizzly Bear's upcoming tour I stumbled upon Grizzly Bear Galore  a fan page on Tumblr written by Lauren and Kerry. I lost myself in this website I saw articles , videos , interviews and pictures I had never seen from Grizzly Bear . I of course began to follow them on Twitter so I would be up to date on everything Grizzly Bear. After a few retweets and conversations via Twitter Lauren and I became social media friends. We not only shared a love for music but we also share the same birthday- instant BFF's. For the past year Lauren and I would have conversations about bands, fashion and of course Grizzly Bear. We even collaborated together on a playlist for her blog seen here. So it was a no brainer who I would meet up with when we bought our tickets to go see Grizzly Bear in Pittsburgh.  

 

 

Lauren and I began to make plans to meet up before the show since we both were obviously going. We decided to meet up at the famous Primanti Brother's sandwich shop. We walked up the stairs and I spotted this petite frame gal wearing polka dot shorts, black and white peter pan top, black tights with black leather booties and leather bomber jacket  - that was Lauren alright. Lauren and I chatted about music, shows, fashion, blog world, her writing among other things. After eating one of the most yummiest sandwiches we all walked down the street to Carnegie Hall chatting away like old friends. After the show Lauren and her brother Cory were gracious enough to give us a ride back to our hotel and on the ride over there we all just chatted up like we have known each other for years.

 

Lauren is a very quick gal her humor is on point which is one of the things I loved about her. I instantly knew I wanted to make her my Chic Chick for April. A Chic Chick is someone who inspires me whether it's through fashion, music and in Lauren - her writing. Lauren is an amazing writer you can see her work on her music blog The Grey Estates or her "leftover blog" Lauren's Notebook where she shares her thoughts on fashion, entertainment or anything that she's craving at that moment. Like I said this girl is not afraid of putting herself out there. One minute we are talking about blogs and finding your niche the next day boom she starts her music blog. Where I am more reserved and cautious this gal just goes for it. Here's my quick Q&A with Lauren.

 

 

How did you and Kerry start Grizzly Bear Galore? What is GBG about ?

Lauren : At the time tumblr was really just getting popular and we both had started using it as a means for personal blogging. There was a lot of those FYeah blogs and we both had noticed there wasn't one for Grizzly Bear. We also kinda hated using FYEAHGrizzlyBEAR! Lame. We decided that combining Kerry's intense Grizzly Bear knowledge with my middle school award winning google skills would make a pretty unstoppable team. So, we started Grizzly Bear Galore, a blog about the Brooklyn band, Grizzly Bear.

What was it like to receive recognition from the band ?

Lauren:  I think it's everyone's like secret Almost Famous fantasy for their favorite band to know and want to party backstage with them or whatever. Thom Yorke still hasn't called me back, so I've moved on. It has been and is still super surreal. When we started there was like 30 followers and we just had fun making stupid blingees and posting old photographs, so to go from that to a much wider audience has been so weird, but cool. For us it's awesome knowing we're doing a service and in our really small way helping them.

What inspires you?

Lauren : Spencer Krug. Really great writers who are funny, but still the best, like Chuck Klosterman and David Sedaris. Female writers in general also inspire me because I feel like at times it's really hard to prove yourself as a female, especially in this field. My family and friends who are really determined and proactive.

What are you currently listening to?

Lauren : Young Man, Gap Dream, Bleached, Cat Power and Somethings.

How do you split up your time from GBG and your personal blog along with your new music blog?

Lauren : I have way too much free time. Grizzly Bear Galore is nice and has gotten easier because Kerry and I operate on different schedules. She's a night owl and I'm a morning person, so our posting is really easy and doesn't conflict. We've also changed what we post and sort of focus solely on the band and not on Jimmy's watercolor drawing of Ed's nose. Seeing other bloggers and writers, yourself included Myrna, who are really good about posting and creating original content it was my goal this year to do that. Mainly it's just the free time life of freelancing.

 If you could give someone a piece of advice about starting a music blog what would it be?

Lauren : You don't have to be an expert or a degreed professional to start a blog. Just be passionate about what you're writing and be prepared to work to get an audience. Things aren’t  going to happen overnight, but if you're having fun and you enjoy it then it shouldn't matter how many hits or followers you get.