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Yarn Premiere the Animated Video for Their Carnivorous Single “Cocaine Bear”

Americana band Yarn, fronted by Blake Christiana, has resurfaced with an epic new single that has a pretty interesting and topical story behind it… behold, “Cocaine Bear!”

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Blake Christiana (YARN), photo by Eric Rayburn

Americana band Yarn has resurfaced with an epic new single that has a pretty interesting and topical story behind it.

If you pay any degree of (at least minimal) attention to the Hollywood media, you’ve probably at least heard of the movie Cocaine Bear. The film was just released at the end of February, a comedy-horror film loosely based on the story of a black bear that ingested millions of dollars of lost cocaine in 1985. The bear was found dead by a cargo plane that crashed near the border of Tennessee and Georgia.

You may assume that Yarn’s brand new single “Cocaine Bear” is associated with, or at least inspired by, the film, but such is not the case. Yarn frontman Blake Christiana actually penned the song in 2019, inspired by the same story that produced the feature film that originally was featured in a 1985 New York Times article.

Here to explain the backstory behind the song is Christiana, who says:

“A buddy from Virginia texted me a link to an article about the true story of the cocaine bear. I read the article and immediately started writing the song. It’s a tragic but funny story so I felt it needed to be a tragic but funny song.

“I wrote it very quickly, the mood of the song represents the tragedy and the lyrics are the humour. Together they definitely create a vibe. For the video, I worked with an animator, and I just wanted it to capture the mood and lyrical content of the song. I believe he did just that.”

Since he wrote it and first started performing it, “Cocaine Bear” has become one of Yarn’s most requested songs at their concerts. Roughly two years ago, when Christiana learned of the Cocaine Bear film being made from a fan sending him an article, he couldn’t believe the coincidence and felt what better time than now actually to release a studio version of it?

Yarn did offer up the song to be in the movie, but the producers decided to take a pass, which is no big deal, really, since it’s provided Christiana and the band with a jumping-off point to get writing and recording again. It’s a nice little diddy to tide you over while Christiana puts together two new Yarn records that will be released over the next year.

Tour Dates:

3/21 – Abilene Bar and Lounge, Rochester, NY
3/22 – Sportsmens Tavern, Buffalo, NY
3/23 – The Falcon, Marlboro, NY
3/24 – Roy’s Hall, Blairstown, NJ
3/25 – Unihog, Hoosick Falls, NY
3/26 – The 443 Social Club & Lounge, Syracuse, NY

Artwork for the single “Cocaine Bear” by YARN

Artwork for the single “Cocaine Bear” by YARN

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