Monster Truck's Jeremy Widerman launches ferocious side project Beartaker

Monster Truck guitarist Jeremy Widerman has launched a brand-new side project called Beartaker alongside fellow rock musician and kindred spirit Theodore Mckibbon.

Featuring Widerman on guitar, bass and vocal duties and Mckibbon on drums and vocals, the duo formed via email earlier this year with the aim of being an “efficient and relentless recording machine.”

Influenced by early Metallica, Comeback Kid and “the sounds of erupting volcanos”, the fast and heavy two-piece are a studio only project and they have no plans to perform live.

Their debut release is a four-track EP entitled ‘Total Disgrace’ and comes with fetching artwork of a grizzly bear chasing Donald Trump.

Behold the music video for ‘Get Out’ here:

Widerman laid down the guitars for the EP while on tour with Monster Truck, while Mckibbon recorded the drums from his home studio.

Once they were both home in Hamilton, Ontario, the fledging ideas became a fully formed EP in less than a month.

Blurb promoting the EP reads: “The purposefully cynical and pointed lyrics foreshadowed a dismal economic and political landscape that has quickly lived up to their critique. Now the EP’s release bears down on the middle of a mishandled pandemic…”

Widerman and Mckibbon are continuing to work on future recordings separately over the internet during the coronavirus pandemic.

The delinquent duo have vowed that the “riffs will get heavier and you can also be certain the lyrical content won’t be getting any rosier.”

Crucially, Widerman has confirmed that Beartaker is definitely a side project “just for fun” and it won’t impact on his day job with Monster Truck. The Canadian rock juggernauts have a new album in the pipeline.

• Monster Truck
• beartaker