Bears in Trees

Bears in Trees are an English indie rock band from Croydon, South London, England,^[1] consisting of bassist and vocalist Iain Gillespie, drummer George Berry, vocalist Callum Litchfield and guitarist Nicholas "Nick" Peters. The band tends to reject genre labels, preferring to call themselves a 'dirtbag boyband.'^[2][3]

Bears in Trees
Background information
Origin	Croydon, South London, England
Genres	Indie rock, emo, pop rock
Years active	2014–present
Labels	Counter Intuitive Records (previous)
Members	Iain Gillespie Callum Litchfield Nicholas "Nick" Peters George Berry
Website	bearsintrees.com

In October 2020, Bears in Trees announced that they had been signed by Boston label Counter Intuitive Records.^[4][5] The band is no longer signed to this label, and released their fourth album How to Build an Ocean: Instructions independently after rejecting a "major record label deal."^[6]

History

Childhood friends Callum Litchfield and Iain Gillespie met in primary school. The two would later go on to meet and befriend Nick Peters in secondary school after Gillespie discovered that both they and Peters enjoyed listening to Fall Out Boy. The three of them attended an all-boys Catholic secondary school, which they have since described as "intolerant and outdated".^[7] They formed pop-punk band The November Criminals alongside another friend from school,^[8] recording EP Laughing Gas Smile with the help of George Berry, whom Litchfield had met after transferring elsewhere for college.

Following the dissolution of The November Criminals in late 2014, they decided to form a new band with Berry, naming it Bears in Trees.^[9] The newly-formed band wrote and released their first project in September 2015, a collection of ten songs entitled Let's Sleep on It.^[10] Their first shows were played in libraries and in car parks.^[11] Initially the band members switched instruments for each song, but they settled on Berry as the drummer and producer, Gillespie as the bassist and Peters as the guitarist. Litchfield would play most other instruments such as ukulele and keys, and both Gillespie and Litchfield would serve as lead vocalists. Both Gillespie and Peters contributed lyrics to songs, with the first song to feature Peters' lyrics being the now-Bandcamp exclusive 'Nick's Wild Night In'.^[12]

After the release of Let's Sleep On It, the members of the band relocated to different cities across England to attend university, and were only able to meet occasionally to perform shows and make music. Between 2016 and 2019 the band released album Just Five More Minutes, the collection of short interludes Bits n' Pieces, singles Fly Out To Alaska and Sitting Pretty, and EP I See Blue, before moving back to their hometown of Croydon.^[9]

In 2019 the band begun work on their next project, this being companion EPs I Want To Feel Chaotic and Keep Me Safe. These EPs would be released in 2020, releasing one song from the EP as a single each month over the COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK.^[9] Many of the songs in this project with lyrics by Gillespie were inspired by the death of their close friend, including lead single 'Ramblings of a Lunatic',^[13] which would go on to become the band's most listened-to song as of 2025.  

The band also began posting short videos to video sharing platform TikTok in 2020, partly to promote their own music. Jake Sulzer of independent record label Counter Intuitive Records watched one of these TikToks and decided to sign Bears in Trees as a result.^[4] The EP releases of I Want To Feel Chaotic and Keep Me Safe were their first releases under Counter Intuitive Records.^[14]

In July 2021, following the release of double-A side single Flower Through Concrete,^[15] the band embarked on their first UK headline tour.^[16] They would release their debut studio album and everybody else smiled back on 19 November 2021,^[17] preceded by singles 'Great Heights', 'I'm Doing Push Ups' and 'Little Cellist'. and everybody else smiled back has been described by the band as "a house party at the end of the world",^[18] and discusses the band's experiences through university and early adulthood. In 2022 the band played several tours and festivals, including their first US tour supporting Just Friends,^[19] and their first headline US tour, being supported by Chase Petra and Cry Baby.^[20]

In the summer of 2022, the band was contacted by a "major record label" looking to potentially make them an offer after seeing them play live.^[21] The band's final release under Counter Intuitive Records was EP Every Moonbeam Every Feverdream, in November 2022.^[22] Despite headlining several festivals and playing many different shows throughout 2022, the label never came to see the band play live. In mid-2023, the label made them an offer: the rights to their next album in perpetuity as well as 80% of its profits. On 7 June 2023 the band rejected this offer, deciding to release their next projects independently.^[21] In the remainder of 2023 the band released singles Cassiopeia, Apathy is Boring and Bart's Bike, referring to these three singles as an 'era' named How To Stay Shining,^[23] and released single 'No Point Pretending (Song For Tour) as a collaboration with artist NOAHFINNCE. They would later embark on a US tour alongside NOAHFINNCE and Action/Adventure,^[24] as well as joining You Me at Six's Truth Decay tour as a support act alongside The Maine and Waterparks.^[25] The tour alongside You Me At Six remains the largest tour they have played as of 2025.

The band began teasing their second studio album, How To Build an Ocean: Instructions, in January 2024, wiping their Instagram page and creating an alternate reality game (ARG) for fans to solve in order to find the name of the album.^[26] The lead single of this album, Things That Look Like Mistakes', was released the same month. The album was released on 26 April 2024,^[27] and reached a peak position of #1 in the UK Independent Album Breakers Chart.^[28] They played a headline tour in the UK and their first EU shows alongside The Happy Fits, with support from Lexie Carroll for the UK leg of the tour and Walking on Rivers for the EU leg.^[29]

At the beginning of 2025 the band began recording their next project, naming it Success is Unlikely. They described the new era as "everything to us. Nothing has felt as urgent or as cathartic or as needed as this."^[30]  Single 'Left, Right, Goodnight!' was the first to be released from this project on 1 May 2025, followed by singles 'No Love, No Heartbreak', 'Some Character Development' and 'Heard it in a Dream'^[31] later in the year. The band recorded a cover of Twenty One Pilots' We Don't Believe What's On TV, for UK music magazine Rock Sound's 10 year tribute album to Blurryface, Blurryface Reborn.^[32] They also released single 'Incredible Speed' for Counter Intuitive Records' 10 year anniversary collection.^[33]

Musical influences

The band cites Fall Out Boy, The Front Bottoms, Modern Baseball, The Wombats, Walk the Moon, The 1975,^[34] Dodie and Cavetown^[35] as their main influences, but have also referred to many others on their social media.^[36]

Band members

• George Berry – drums, percussion, producer
• Iain Gillespie – vocals, bass guitar, lyrics
• Callum Litchfield – vocals, ukulele, piano, keytar, triangle
• Nicholas "Nick" Peters – guitar, banjo, lyrics, backing vocals

Discography

Albums/EPs

Let's Sleep On It (2015)

Bears in Trees released their first collection of songs on 1 September 2015. The band has since removed Let's Sleep On It from all streaming services except Bandcamp and SoundCloud, because they say the album doesn't "accurately reflect [their] sound anymore".^[37] The final two songs on the album are listed on Bandcamp as bonus tracks.

Track listing:^[38]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Away with the Best of the Rest of the Year"	03:14
2.	"Less Than Hello"	03:03
3.	"Vampires"	03:01
4.	"Jumbo Jet"	02:22
5.	"Track 4+1"	04:04
6.	"Good Hustle, Kids"	03:55
7.	"Gravity"	02:21
8.	"Koalas"	03:44
9.	"We'll Get 'Em Next Time (Good Hustle Kids Cover)"	03:39
10.	"Always Falling (Gravity Cover)"	02:35
Total length:		30:30

Just Five More Minutes (2017)

Bears in Trees released their debut album, Just Five More Minutes, on 14 August 2017.^[39]

Bears in Trees call their fans "sandboxes", a reference to the song "The Sandbox One". This has also resulted in the Bears in Trees Discord server being named the Sandbox. "Good Rhymes for Bad Times" was the album's pre-release single.

Track listing:^[40]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The 411"	04:10
2.	"4AM"	03:41
3.	"Always Sunny in South London"	02:54
4.	"Flower Power! (The Leading Cause of Gum Disease)"	03:35
5.	"The Sandbox One"	04:18
6.	"Kent Has a Lot of Fields, Pt. 3"	02:28
7.	"Not Santa Monica"	03:51
8.	"Good Rhymes for Bad Times"	03:39
9.	"The Musical"	03:06
10.	"Better Days for Better Headaches (Musical Reprise)"	02:54
11.	"Give 'em One of These (411 Reprise)"	04:12
12.	"4AM (Absolex Remix)"	03:51
Total length:		42:39

Bits n' Pieces (2017)

This EP was released on 30 December 2017. Mikey Tree of deafpony provided the guitar on "Alone in the Basement".^[41] "Fyaaa" is only available on Bandcamp.

Track listing:

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Empty Space"	01:17
2.	"AlphaBeatical"	01:15
3.	"Inside Out"	00:51
4.	"I Don't Know"	00:39
5.	"I Have a Headache"	01:10
6.	"Fyaaa"	00:39
7.	"Alone in the Basement"	02:02
8.	"We're Just The Same"	00:19
9.	"Getting a Call From Alfred"	00:56
10.	"Push Ups (Two)"	01:48
Total length:		10:56

I See Blue (2019)

I See Blue was released on 23 August 2019. This EP once again reflects upon the band's time at university. The song 'I Am Cold' contains repeated references to Catch-22, Peters' favourite book.^[42]

Track listing:^[43]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Nights Like These"	02:58
2.	"Life's A Beach"	02:40
3.	"Don't Drink Coffee"	01:32
4.	"Starting Fires"	02:51
5.	"I Am Cold"	03:37
Total length:		13:38

I Want To Feel Chaotic (2020)

All the songs on the I Want To Feel Chaotic EP were released individually as singles before the EP's complete release on 5 June 2020. This EP is the band's first release under the Counter Intuitive label.^[44] The band refers to this period of single releases as the I Want To Feel Chaotic era.^[45] The band have said that this EP is about "coming to terms with the worst parts of your personality—with the things that scare you, with the things that keep you awake at night… with the deaths of your friends, and the slow acceptance that you are deserving of love."^[46] "Reverberate" also contains references to Catch-22.^[47]

Track listing:^[48]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ramblings of a Lunatic" (Single release 1 January 2020)	03:32
2.	"Permanence" (Single release 22 January 2020)	03:03
3.	"Rust" (Single release 5 March 2020)	02:45
4.	"Cobwebs" (Single release 17 April 2020)	03:13
5.	"Reverberate" (Single release 29 May 2020)	03:56
Total length:		16:29

Keep Me Safe (2020)

As with companion EP I Want To Feel Chaotic, the Keep Me Safe EP heralded a new era for Bears in Trees. Each song was released individually as a single before the EP's complete release on 11 December 2020 with Counter Intuitive.

Track listing:^[49]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"It Gets Better" (Single release 4 September 2020)	03:25
2.	"Seaside" (Single release 7 October 2020)	03:19
3.	"Ibuprofen" (Single release 6 November 2020)	03:20
4.	"Laugh / Cry" (Single release 11 December 2020)	03:32
Total length:		13:36

Flower Through Concrete (2021)

Flower Through Concrete was released on 14 May 2021 with Counter Intuitive. The band's first professionally produced music video, for "Fresh Concrete", was directed by Rakesh Jaitly and was released on 17 May 2021.^[50]

Track listing:^[51]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Fresh Concrete"	2:30
2.	"Evergreen"	2:53
Total length:		5:23

and everybody else smiled back (2021)

Bears in Trees announced their first studio album under Counter Intuitive Records, and everybody else smiled back, on 16 September 2021. The album was released on 19 November.^[52][53] The lead single, "Great Heights", was also released on 16 September. The next single, "I'm Doing Push Ups", was released on 8 October. The album's third and final single, "Little Cellist", was released on 5 November. Accompanying videos, also directed by Jaitly, were uploaded on 18 September and 9 October, respectively.^[54][55] The "Little Cellist" video was released on 6 November; unlike the band's previous videos, it was directed by Jamie Benyon. It is also their first video not to show the band.^[56]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Cut Corners on Short Walks"	3:35
2.	"I'm Doing Push Ups"	3:23
3.	"Baggy Hoodies"	3:55
4.	"Heaven Sent is a Coffee Cup"	2:52
5.	"Keep It Easy"	2:08
6.	"Array of Light"	3:34
7.	"Mossy Cobblestone"	1:47
8.	"Confidant"	2:58
9.	"Little Cellist"	3:30
10.	"Sun Machine"	3:28
11.	"Great Heights"	2:52
12.	"If I Just Ask Politely"	3:16
13.	"Klimt Painting"	2:43
Total length:		40:16

Every Moonbeam, Every Feverdream (2022)

Every Moonbeam, Every Feverdream is an EP that was released on 11 November 2022.^[57] The first single, "Kind Love", was released on 7 October 2022, accompanied by a video later that day.^[58][59] The second single, "Doing This Again!", was released on 28 October 2022,^[60] also with a video uploaded to YouTube that day.^[61] The description of the video mentions that the band opted to record and edit it themselves on a compact camera reminiscent of their earlier music videos, as opposed to the more professional music videos they've had since the release of Fresh Concrete. The song "Simply Won't Believe It" features a reference to the 2019 video game Outer Wilds.^{[citation needed]} The band frequently makes references to media their members enjoy. The EP was inspired by the film Tick, Tick... Boom!. The band described the EP as being about "walks under street lamps and goodbyes and nights spent quiet after days that won't end, moonlight, and those days where you wish you didn't have a body."^[62]

Track listing:^[63]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Feel So Empty"	2:59
2.	"Kind Love"	2:27
3.	"Simply Won't Believe It"	3:07
4.	"Doing This Again!"	3:02
Total length:		11:35

before you got here (2023)

before you got here was released on 27 June 2023 as an ep of "reworked songs from their adolescence".^[64] This is their only album to be required to be bought to listen to, excluding any Patreon-only songs. Purchasing the album also entered the buyer into a raffle for memorabilia from Bears in Trees past including lifetime tickets, an and everybody else smiled back tour backdrop, and signed lyric sheets among others.^[65]

Track listing:

No.	Title	Length
1.	"4am (reimagined)"	3:25
2.	"Vampires (reimagined)"	2:20
3.	"Jumbo Jet (reimagined)"	2:40
4.	"I Am Cold (reimagined)"	3:17
Total length:		11:42

How to Build an Ocean: Instructions (2024)

"Things That Look Like Mistakes" was released on January 24, 2024 and is the first single of the band's second studio album How to Build an Ocean: Instructions which was released on 26 April 2024.^[66] The final single "We Don't Speak Anymore" was released on 10 April 2024. The album was accompanied by a UK/EU tour with The Happy Fits.^[67] The album also marked the band's first appearance in the UK charts reaching a peak position of 20 in the album sales chart as well as a peak position of 6 in the independent albums chart.^[55]

The album title was inspired by the Flights (novel) by Olga Tokarczuk and deals with identity and mapping; mapping of the self and the future.^[68]

Track listing:^[69]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Your Favourite Coat"	2:30
2.	"Things That Look Like Mistakes"	2:28
3.	"Injured Crow"	3:32
4.	"I Can't See Anything I Don't Like About You"	3:24
5.	"All You Get is Confetti"	4:00
6.	"Tai Chi With My Dad"	2:32
7.	"I Wanna Feel Calm"	3:16
8.	"Henry Says"	3:42
9.	"Hot Chocolate"	2:33
10.	"Nothing Cures Melancholy Like Looking at Maps"	2:58
11.	"We Don't Speak Anymore"	2:55
12.	"I Don't Wanna Be Angry"	3:08
Total length:		37:02

Success is Unlikely (2025)

Success is Unlikely is an EP released on 20 November 2025. Much like 2020 EPs I Want To Feel Chaotic and Keep Me Safe, the band released the first three songs as singles between May and October. Initially, the tracks were planned to be released in a deluxe version of previous album How To Build An Ocean: Instructions, but the band ultimately decided that the songs felt too distinct in comparison to the cohesive narrative built up in the album.^[70] The band called Success is Unlikely "a project designed to remind [the band] that the world can end, and that they'd still wake up the next morning".^[71] Its first single "Left, Right, Goodnight" was released on 1 May 2025, and was written about "rebuilding yourself after finding out someone you held dear was happy to watch you suffer."^[72]

All tracks are written by Bears in Trees.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Left, Right, Goodnight!"	2:16
2.	"No Love, No Heartbreak"	3:34
3.	"Some Character Development"	2:16
4.	"Heard It in a Dream"	3:01
Total length:		11:07

Singles

"Fly Out To Alaska" (2018)

Bears in Trees recorded the song, released as a single on 8 November 2018, in the AudioHeart Studios in Vienna.^[73] The video was also filmed during the band's time in Vienna.^[74] Austrian slang is included in a call-and-response section of the song; Nah oida! Leiwand! roughly translates to "hey man! It's cool!"^[75]

"Sitting Pretty" (2019)

"Sitting Pretty" was released on 11 February 2019.^[76]

"Precipitation" (2022)

"Precipitation" was released on 2 June 2022.^[77]

"No Point Pretending (Song for Tour)" (2023)

"No Point Pretending" was released on 17 March 2023, as a collaboration with NOAHFINNCE.^[78]

"Cassiopeia" (2023)

“Cassiopeia" was released on 31 August 2023. Its name and album cover refer to the constellation of the same name, Cassiopeia.

"Apathy Is Boring" (2023)

"Apathy Is Boring" was released on September 29, 2023.^[79] Its album cover shows the floorplan of a small room, containing a sofa, and a table from above, upon a jagged blue circle. It is presented as a scientific diagram, similar to their previous song, "Cassiopeia". "Cassiopeia" and "Apathy Is Boring" were both released independently, as compared to their other songs, released under Counter Intuitive Records.^[80]

"Bart's Bike" (2023)

"Bart's Bike" was released on December 1, 2023.^[81] The songs release has been described as an end of an era by the band. This is reflected in the cover art; a collage of photos of the band, spanning across the past eight years. The Bart's Bike single also includes Apathy Is Boring and Cassiopeia, making it an EP of sorts.^[82]

We Don't Believe What's on TV (2025)

Bears in Trees covered "We Don't Believe What's on TV" by Twenty One Pilots, on the "Blurryface Reborn" tribute album, released on 20 June 2025. This coincided with and celebrated the 10th anniversary of the album Blurryface.^[83]

"Incredible Speed" (2025)

"Incredible Speed" was released on 15 October 2025, as a single for Counter Intuitive's 10th anniversary compilation, Cosmic Debris, Vol 2.^[84]

Tours

UK tours

2021

Bears in Trees had their debut UK tour in mid-2021. The tour was originally due to take place in December 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band also toured the UK supporting NOAHFINNCE^[85] in September 2021.

2022

Their second UK tour took place in February 2022 with support from Lucy Blue, who toured alongside them.^[86] Bears in Trees also played a number of festivals in summer 2022,^[87] headlining many. They embarked on their third UK tour, "The Moonbeam Tour", in November 2022, with support from Misery Kids and Me Rex. They played "the smallest UK shows [they'll] play in a long time."^[88]

2023

Bears in Trees opened for You Me at Six on their "Truth Decay Tour" in February 2023, alongside Waterparks and The Maine.^[89] On 28 September 2023, Bears in Trees appeared as a "super secret guest" at a headlining show by Good Kid.^[90]

2024

Bears in Trees went on a UK/EU tour co-headlining with The Happy Fits in April/May 2024, coinciding with the release of their album "How To Build An Ocean: Instructions". During this tour Bears In Trees headlined in Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and London on the UK leg. Lexie Carroll also supported at these UK dates as the opening act.^[91] The European leg of the tour, which was headlined by The Happy Fits, visited Rotterdam, Ultrecht, Berlin, Hamburg, Köln and Antwerp.

Bears in Trees went on the road again in August 2024 for The Seaside Tour,^[92] playing shows in Exeter, Southampton, Brighton, Blackpool, Hull and Cardiff, playing tracks from their most recent album "How To Build An Ocean: Instructions" as well as songs from throughout their discography that reference the seaside.

North American tours

Bears in Trees went on their first US tour in March 2022, when they supported Just Friends.^[93] Following the release of their EP "Every Moonbeam, Every Feverdream", they embarked on their first US headline tour, the Feverdream Tour, in November and December 2022, with support from Chase Petra and Cry Baby. They played shows in Toronto, Lakewood, Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, Philadelphia, Washington, Brooklyn and Boston. The band supported NOAHFINNCE on his second US tour in April 2023, alongside Action/Adventure.^[94]

Their second US headline tour in September and October 2024 followed the release of their album "How To Build An Ocean: Instructions" earlier in the year.^[95] They were supported by Mothé and Thank You, I'm Sorry.

European tours

The band supported The Happy Fits on their European tour from 24 April to 10 May 2024.^[96] This was the first time they have toured across Europe. Walking on Rivers also supported for the European tour.