Cory Murchy was a young teenager when he had the “aha!” moment in life. He heard Nirvana for the first time.
That spark caused Murchy to pursue a career as a musician, now playing bass in a band from Seattle called Minus The Bear.
Minus The Bear plays Sunday at the Florida Theater with opening acts Cursive and Girl In a Coma. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Tickets are available for $18 on TicketWeb.com.
Murchy said it has been a couple of years since the band played in Gainesville, and it looks forward to returning.
“Florida has always been a fun place to play, and Gainesville is no different,” he said.
Murchy considers Minus The Bear’s genre as rock ‘n’ roll.
“We haven’t allowed ourselves to be pigeonholed into one genre, which is what lead to us being a band for so long,” he said.
Formed in 2001, Minus The Bear has released five albums and four EPs. The most recent album from the group, which came out on Aug. 28, is called “Infinity Overhead.”
Murchy described the album as “soon-to-be classics” and said the entire band feels really comfortable and excited about it.
He said the name for the band came from a “late-night drunken goof ball thing,” which refers to the 1970s television show “B.J. and The Bear.”
A friend of the band went on a date, and they asked him how it went. He replied that it went pretty well, a lot like “B.J. and The Bear” minus The Bear.
“We thought that was pretty funny at the time, and it just stuck,” Murchy said.
When it comes to guilty pleasure songs that the band likes to listen to while on tour, he said they’re into Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.”
“That song is pretty damn good,” Murchy said, laughing. “I wouldn’t even say it’s a guilty pleasure. It’s just a pleasure.”
The upcoming stop in Gainesville will include a mix of old Minus The Bear classics and songs off the new album.
“We’re classic rock for the future,” he said. “We plan to be around for awhile.”
