Friendly Bears is an avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 musical quintet based in Brooklyn, New York. The band is known for their complex compositions, drawing on styles in free jazz

Free jazz

Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...

, modern classical

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

, punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

, and metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

. Currently, the line up includes Tim Byrnes

Tim Byrnes

Tim Byrnes is a New York City trumpeter and composer. More recently, he has added synthesizer to his repertoire. He recently started a music project called Hazel-Rah . Byrnes is also a graduate of New York University...

 on trumpet, Rich Bennett on guitar, Matt Filler on baritone guitar

Baritone guitar

The baritone guitar is a variation on the standard guitar, with a longer scale length that allows it to be tuned to a lower range. It first appeared in the classical music realm...

, and Andrew Greenwald on drums.

History

The band formed in the fall of 2000 under the name Osos Amistosos (Spanish for Friendly Bears) and have been frequently referred to as The Friendly Bears

Under the lineup of Byrne, Greenwald, Bennett on baritone guitar, and Mary Halvorson on guitar, Friendly Bears released the 2003 12" split with Infidel?/Castro. They contributed four tracks of "Gritty dissonant analog math rock with a cool, calm and collected trumpet by Candiria

Candiria

Candiria are an American band from Brooklyn, New York. They blend various styles of music, including heavy metal, hardcore, jazz, hip hop and ambient. Candiria have often dubbed their sound "urban fusion".- History :...

's Tim Byrnes."

The summer of 2005 saw the release of "On Oceans, Light, and Sleep," a full-length CD from Pralaya Records.

Current

• Tim Byrnes
  Tim Byrnes
  Tim Byrnes is a New York City trumpeter and composer. More recently, he has added synthesizer to his repertoire. He recently started a music project called Hazel-Rah . Byrnes is also a graduate of New York University...
  
   - Trumpet
• Rich Bennett - Guitar
• Matt Filler - Baritone Guitar
• Andrew Greenwald - Drums