Chinese American Bear is playful… and they want you to be too
It’s hard to deny the chemistry between Anne Tong and Bryce Barsten. It was there when they first started dating in high school after meeting in jazz band. It’s there during our interview, when Barsten makes a joke and Tong lets out a hiccup-y laugh, or when Barsten lovingly picks something out of Tong’s teeth (it’s cute, I swear!). And it’s especially present when the married couple performs on stage as Chinese American Bear, with Tong on lead vocals and Barsten on guitar.
Even the name of their indie rock band, Chinese American Bear, is a reflection of their relationship. “Early on, the name [came from] us being Chinese American, and then ‘Bear’ was a pet name we had for each other in high school,” Tong said.
Barsten clarifies: “Not just in high school. Still.”
Growing up, both musicians first started out playing classical piano. Barsten begged his parents for lessons after his older sister got to learn, found out his piano teacher was also a jazz teacher, then learned songwriting from his teacher before learning how to play the guitar and joining bands. Tong had “much more of an Asian childhood,” she said, and learned piano for years as a kid before minoring in Piano Performance in college.
“After graduating, that’s when I actually didn’t play anymore for a while. I never thought I would be in a rock band. This is my first time being in one,” she said.
We chatted with Tong and Barsten about how learning Chinese during the pandemic led to them creating the band and going on worldwide tours, and how Chinese American Bear has allowed them to be unapologetically themselves.
Growing up, what were your music influences?
Bryce Barsten: Mine were kind of all over the place and constantly changing. I think that I just wanted to ingest as much music as I could, from emo music to heavy metal to soft rock. I was listening to a lot of 70s music growing up because that’s what both my parents were often listening to.
When I got into high school and college, I stopped listening to that because I wanted to forge my own taste, so I was listening to more modern music. But then as my mid-20s to late-20s approached, I came back to 70s music and have been obsessed with it for the past seven, eight years.
Anne Tong: I had a total opposite childhood. Because my parents were immigrants, I wasn’t exposed to — he grew up with his parents playing 60s and 70s music in the house, but I didn’t listen to The Beatles. Growing up, I was listening to Teresa Teng and Mozart. I played classical music my entire life, so I didn’t really have any influences outside of older music.
It’s been interesting as an adult. I’m still hearing new music for the first time that Bryce is like, “How do you not know that artist?”
I think a few years ago, I went up to Bryce and was like, “Have you heard of this artist called David Bowie?”
B: I feel like I failed as a husband, as a partner.
A: I was extremely sheltered, so as an adult, I’ve gravitated towards Top 40 mainstream pop because it’s so approachable. I’m slowly developing a taste for more cerebral, modern music, like things with weirder chords.
You both met each other in your high school jazz band. What were your first impressions of each other?
A: I remember that Bryce had a really big afro in high school and I thought, “What a weirdo. Why would he have hair like that? Ugh, what a strange guy.”
B: I thought Anne was obviously really cute, but also kind of scary.
A: I was very socially awkward in high school and shy. I had a lot of social anxiety.
B: There was an intensity about her. I was very intimidated by her, but also really intrigued because she was different than any other girl I had a crush on.
A: We dated for several years and I couldn’t tell my parents. I knew my parents wouldn’t approve because they wanted an Ivy League, pre-med person who works in investment banking. Bryce went to art school as a musician and is not Chinese. It was a while before I let my parents know. It took many, many years before they accepted him and now we’ve been together for almost two decades. My parents love him like a son.
Bryce, you were in many bands before Chinese American Bear, and Anne, you were never in one before. How did you make the jump to writing music together?
A: This band started out of quarantine. At the time, it was a combination of, we had just left New York, Bryce left a band that he was in for many years, and he was searching for a new project. Around that time, I was teaching him Mandarin and he was starting to take Mandarin classes because we wanted to raise our kids bilingual.
He loved the sounds of Chinese words and thought the tones and some of the mouthfeel of certain Chinese words were really fun. He was like, “That’d be really fun to sing and have music with it,” so in the beginning, he just wanted me to write some lyrics to help him, never thinking that I would sing them. But that turned into, “Well, why don’t I record you singing the lyrics because you pronounce them better?”
How did the idea of officially creating a band come together?
B: It was right after we finished our song “小熊 (Little Bear).” That was the song I started to write Chinese for and I told Anne, “You should try singing.” We both ended up singing on that song a bit. But I remember when we finished, we were playing it on the speakers and dancing, and were like, “Oh, this is so funny and silly! We should shoot a music video!” And then all of a sudden, we were like, “We should release this!” We didn’t even talk about a band name.
A: It wasn’t even like, “Now that we wrote a song, let’s start a band.” None of it felt intentional in the beginning. It was like, “Let’s put out this song. That was kind of fun, let’s write another song.” It was never planned out, “now we’re a band, now we should write an album.” After two or three songs, it was like, “This is really fun. Let’s write a whole album.”
A: In the beginning, I was very much on a corporate path. I worked in corporate marketing for most of my career. Bryce would always want to do another song, and I’d say, “Fine, I’ll give you another song.” And then all of a sudden, one day, he said, “So I booked us a show…” And I was like, “What do you mean?”
B: Yeah, that was my bad.
A: The first show was in Seattle in 2022 and we were opening for another band that reached out to us because they found our music online. It was a terrifying experience, but very exhilarating too.
Three years later, we’ve done so many shows and toured. I have adopted Bryce’s dream. I definitely caught the bug. I understand why he’s been pursuing this since he was 12. It was never on my radar. I was trying to climb the corporate ladder and now, I just want to be a rock star.
One thing that draws me to your music is that you both lean into your Chinese Americanness. Why did you choose to be bilingual in your music?
A: In the beginning, because Bryce was just experimenting with adding Mandarin lyrics, it seemed to be too much for an entire song to be in Mandarin. My Chinese vocabulary didn’t feel deep enough to write an entire narrative arc in a song. It felt easier to write Chinese phrases. We also wanted it to still be approachable for a Western audience, so if it was part English, part Chinese, a Western audience could still listen to it.
B: At first, there weren’t many reasons for anything. I think after the first album, it became more of a platform for Anne to think about her Asian American experience, but not heavy-handedly inserting it. We still want to keep it light, but I do feel like you started to think about these things more and have fun with it. Like your mom yelling at you — let’s put that in a song.
A: In the very beginning, too, I didn’t have the intention of, “I’m trying to reach an Asian American audience and this is going to be an Asian American project.” It really was just me trying to help Bryce out.
As we put out more music and I would read the comments on our socials or YouTube and we started playing shows, I would meet fans in real life who would say, “Thank you for writing music in this way” or “It’s my first time feeling proud that I speak Chinese.”
I thought, “Oh my God, that is so sweet and so heart-tugging” because I know exactly how those people feel.
I grew up feeling embarrassed if my mom spoke Chinese to me in public. And I even remember the first time we performed and here I am, singing Chinese on a stage. I still remember a slight cringe, like “Ugh, I’m about to sing Chinese in public.” This band has made me feel so much more proud to sing in Chinese out loud and proud of that part of my culture. The fans are responding to it too.
When it comes to your sound, you’ve found this specific avenue of writing within the indie genre, but with your Chinese Americanness. It’s a departure from your classical backgrounds. How did you develop that sound?
B: At least compared to all of the other bands I was in previously, this was the first band that I started to approach with a much more open mindset and a much more experimental mindset. Before, I was trying to sound like XYZ band.
A: I feel like he was writing like, this is how a band should sound. Putting these roles on himself.
B: This was the first project that I approached with no walls, no boundaries, no parameters. With a real experimental mindset of, almost like “How can I fuck this up purposefully?” That’s kind of the basis for where maybe our more unique sound comes from. Obviously, the Chinese Americanness of it helps a lot. But in terms of the music, it’s just that mentality of not boxing ourselves in.
A: You were writing a lot of soft indie rock, indie folk before. But a lot of it was derivative.
B: A lot of it comes back to fear. Fear of taking risks, taking chances to be really experimental and to put yourself out there, which is putting the music out there. Putting yourself out there for criticism or people’s judgment. It’s very scary to push boundaries. I feel very fearless with this project.
Let’s talk about the wigs you wear! Why is it important for you to wear them, and did you have to try on a few different ones before you picked the perfect one?
B: We spent the summer at my parents’ place in Spokane, and we were talking about shooting the music video for “好吗 (Hao Ma).” We just thought, “We should put wigs on!” And my dad said, “Oh, I have some wigs from Halloween.” He brought two wigs and it's the one that I wear, and then this insane, tattered blonde wig that Anne does not wear.
A: It’s in some really old photos.
B: It’s the worst wig ever made. That’s when we adopted the wig idea.
A: It was just to be silly. And then later, when we started performing, we kept it because it was easier to have this other persona on stage while we were performing. It was more for fun, although in recent months, we have been experimenting with not wearing the wigs because of a couple of reasons.
B: It started in Austin because it was hot.
A: That’s true. Also one of the founders of our label (we signed with a label a little over a year ago), I think he didn’t look at our press photos. He saw us performing with wigs on Instagram and was like, “Why are you guys wearing wigs? You look better without them.”
B: We’re not not wearing wigs because of that.
A: True, true. Because we’ve been touring so much and traveling so much, some of it is just comfort. It’s just a little more comfortable and less of a hassle.
When you’re on stage, you bang gongs, you’re teaching the audience Chinese, and there are dumpling hats involved. How did you come up with these interactive concepts?
A: I’ve been to plenty of shows where I’m not really feeling the artist, I’m waiting for the set to be over, or I’m just feeling a little bored. I never want my audience to feel that way. I was trying to think of fun ways to keep them engaged. Wacky, kind of quirky, unexpected.
I thought it would be fun to teach Chinese, so they know what the lyrics are, especially ones who didn’t know. I just thought the gong was a fun prop and it happens to be in one of the songs. And then we also throw plushies into the audience mid-songs too. It’s so fun to give to the audience and say “Thank you for coming.” I’m constantly ordering batches of plushies from Amazon.
Because our music is really upbeat, I always want my audience to dance. Sometimes in the beginning of a show, people are still kind of warming up to you and they might feel a little self-conscious. As soon as we can be silly and talk to the audience, engage with them, their walls come down a little bit. They’re more willing to be silly with us.
You’ve talked about touring in China in past interviews. How did it feel to represent Chinese American culture, since Chinese American culture is so different from Chinese culture?
A: It’s interesting you asked specifically about that. One thing that we learned, that I hadn’t really considered, is that the Chinese American concept is very foreign to Chinese people who live in China. In fact, it’s nonexistent. They have no idea what Chinese American culture is. They don’t know what that experience is like, what that immigrant experience is like.
We toured with a band there and we traveled with the local band’s label. They were explaining to us that even our name, Chinese American Bear, to Chinese people sounds really odd because the concept of “Chinese American” doesn’t exist. It never occurred to me that that was a culture that needed to be explained, but it makes total sense that if you haven’t grown up overseas, you wouldn’t know.
As a result, when we would play music, it would be really surprising to the locals because the way Chinese people listen to music is so different. They’re very lyric-first. When they’re listening to music, they’re more listening to the music than the vibe and sound itself, so lyrics are very important. They’re very serious, poetic.
The majority of people still listen to mainstream pop, but Chinese mainstream pop is dramatic ballads. They’re very emotional, indulgent ballads. The people who are music lovers in China, the ones who are musicians themselves, listen to metal or punk, like hardcore rock. They have not had exposure to indie folk or indie pop, the in-between. Indie music that’s brighter and happier, that’s just not a thing they’ve been exposed to. I think our music was just really different.
What was the response to that when you were touring?
A: For most people, it would take them a few songs. You can see them starting to slowly enjoy it. There were definitely some people who were like, “What is this?” And on top of that, because Asian culture tends to be a little more reserved, people were not dancing as much as we’re used to. It was hard not to feel self-conscious on stage.
But most people, after our performances, would tell us, “That’s the happiest I’ve ever felt at a concert before. I’ve never wanted to dance at a show before and you guys were so happy.”
B: There was one guy who was getting really deep with me after the show, telling me, “That was the most honest performance I’ve ever seen in China.” He had broken English and it was kind of hard to understand exactly what he was saying, but I think he was getting at how often [in the] music industry, you’re putting on a facade. It’s less raw. Our drummer talked about how his bands in China don’t ever want to make a mistake. They need to be perfect.
I think that illustrates this point where we’re a little more wild. We’re very approachable because we’re also embarrassing ourselves on stage often.
A: That reminds me of a point he said that in mainland Chinese culture, you’re discouraged from acting silly after you’ve become an adult. It’s kind of looked down upon. They don’t see displays of playfulness or silliness from grown adults.
After chatting with you both, it seems like this band has made both of you more you. With every decision you make, even if you’re just rolling with things, you end up becoming the truer version of yourself.
B: I think there’s a real playfulness with our relationship when we’re behind closed doors…
A: …and that’s always been there since high school.
B: This project allows us to be that outside of our private space. It’s imbued in the project and it’s the foundation of it. It’s become very special in that way.
. . .
Here are Anne Tong and Bryce Barsten’s 12 songs.
This song came out in 2008 and kicked off my now 17-year obsession with Taylor Swift. This song was the beginning of my life as a Swiftie.
This song was my first introduction to “indie music.” Bryce showed it to me in his car when he was driving me home from high school one day. He also took me to see Death Cab for Cutie live in concert and that show was my first non-classical music concert.
My friend group in NYC during our 20s was obsessed with Big Thief. We went to their album release show for their very first album Masterpiece at Mercury Lounge. It’s so crazy to think they played venues like Mercury Lounge, given how big they are now. I eventually walked down the aisle to “Mary” when I married Bryce in 2018.
In addition to being a Swiftie, I’ve also always been a Belieber. I actually first fell in love with Justin with his single “One Less Lonely Girl,” but “Baby” is just so iconic. Everything from the lyrics, to the Ludacris feature, to the music video — I’m obsessed with it all.
It’s really hard for me to pick my favorite Taylor Swift song, but this one is definitely a top 3. I loved the original “All Too Well” version and instantly became obsessed with the 10-minute version when it came out and it never feels like 10 minutes to me when I listen to it. This song epitomizes her mastery over storytelling and I just feel so much when I listen to it.
Noble Kids was Bryce’s main music project/band prior to starting Chinese American Bear with me. He started the band in 2014 with his college friends and they released two full-length albums before breaking up in 2019. Noble Kids was a big part of our lives in our 20s in NYC and “Fawn” was my favorite song from that band.
This song is one of my all-time favorites. I remember when my parents first played it for me — it was during the summer, and I remember immediately having this feeling of pure joy and optimism. It’s the perfect driving song too. Turn it on first thing after you start your car and pull out. It feels like you’re headed out on a long road trip on a perfect summer day or going to a friend’s party.
Good vibes, amazing songwriting, amazing production. The violins couldn’t be more perfect. It’s all gold!
This song feels related to “Everyday People” in that it has a real immediate, optimistic quality to it that is very raw and real. It’s hypnotic and simple. I think I first heard Richard Swift in 2019 and he definitely blew open some part of my brain. He’s so unconventional in a lot of ways, which is something I’m often looking for, but a total master at building a song, arrangement, etc.
This song is so fun, weird and poppy. It’s definitely an inspiration for CAB. It feels fun and joyful, and is very quirky.
I don’t remember when I first heard “Dancing Queen.” It feels like everyone is born knowing this song. It’s a part of so many memories being out at a club, at a friend’s wedding, at a friend’s house. I love pop music that has soul and “Dancing Queen” has all of it!
This is the song me and Anne walked down the aisle to. ❤️
Listen to Anne Tong and Bryce Barsten’s curated 12 Songs playlist below.