We Will Survive says X Factor star Sean Smith with new band Beware The Bear as they release debut EP

The band came together when former Same Difference singer Sean Smith met the other guys in the recording studio a couple of years ago.

At the time the x Factor star was recording his debut solo album. Tired of continual trips to London to record, he looked for somewhere closer to home, and decided on The Old Blacksmiths Studios in Hilsea.

The studio is run by Neil Elliott and Ben Whyntie, who along with Tom Cattermole and Russell Edmonds complete the band’s line-up.

‘Because I was in there so much recording,’ Sean recalls, ‘we just ended up becoming friends. I was sat there one day in the studio and they said: “Listen to this demo that we've got, we were thinking you might want to do a vocal on it”.

‘I listened to it and thought it was brilliant – they're obviously really talented guys, but I was also thinking, the style that they do doesn't suit the direction I was doing at the time.’

‘But I went in one day and recorded a vocal for them for the fun of it, really. When the track came back I thought it was so good.

‘I showed a few folks, a few friends, and they all said: “This is the direction you should be going. But I knew in my heart, it wasn't a seller for me. The Same Difference fans who had crossed over with me, it wasn't really for them, so we kind of shelved it.’

However, the track, Show Me Love, found its way to the BBC and was used in an episode of the Richard Gere-starring drama MotherFatherSon, which aired in spring 2019.

‘I knew there was something in this, and I thought, we've got to get this out now. If the BBC is picking up on it, it's clearly a great record – let's just see what happens with it.’

The track has since racked up hundreds of thousands of plays on Spotify.

‘It kind of blew my mind that it streamed so well,’ adds Sean, ‘so we thought there must be something in this.’

However, as the band started to come together, lockdown hit. Main songwriter Russell took full advantage of the time on his hands.

‘It seemed like every day I was getting a demo from him asking: “What do you think of that?”’

The resulting EP features polished indie-pop, packed with soaring choruses designed to be sung en masse.

‘We landed on five really solid records. In with the band it's so chilled – they're such pros. All of them have been in bands over the years, some of them have played V Festival and that sort of things.

‘It felt like doing music just for the love of it.’

Although Sean and sister Sarah finished third in The X Factor in 2007, and he was in a boyband as a teenager, he had never been in a regular ‘band.’ But Sean says that fronting Beware The Bear represents the fulfilment of a longheld dream.

‘Obviously I was in Same Difference and we were a cheesy pop group, but I remember when I was a young kid, sitting on my dad's shoulders watching Deacon Blue at Portsmouth Guildhall. That was my first ever concert I went to.

‘I remember thinking: “I want to be a frontman like that”, and seeing how people got behind it – it was something I wanted to be involved in.

‘Even when I was younger, it always seemed cool. I would always hang out in the music room at school with all of these guys trying to learn a bit of guitar, and it feels a bit like I'm doing what I did as a kid, but with real-life, high-class musicians.’

And they’re champing at the bit to show what they can do live.

‘Once we're out of this pandemic, we can play and people will realise the quality of these guys and the musicianship. Hopefully we can get a real cult following and build from there.

‘All it takes is a little spark to get it to take-off and we'll be away...’

The five-track EP is out now and available here.

Sean is also starring in the title role of the ‘Pompey panto’, Dick Whittington at The Kings Theatre, Southsea from December 8-January 3. Go to kingsportsmouth.co.uk.