YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – With frontman James Harker bouncing back from the health issues that sidelined him for almost two years, Spirit of the Bear is looking forward to a return to full activity.
The band released a single, “Read My Mind,” in late August – its first new music in almost three years – and will play West Side Bowl on Sept. 6 on a bill headlined by Red Wanting Blue.
It will release a new album in early 2026.
The Columbus-based rockers with Youngstown roots had been in a holding pattern as Harker battled leukemia and, before that, an immune system disorder.
He was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2024 and has been undergoing treatment for almost a year.
“There were a few months of really intensive treatment, when I was in there all the time, getting [chemotherapy] and stuff,” Harker said. “Now it’s less frequent. My last biopsy came up negative, so no residual cancer cells, which is awesome. I have to finish out the next course of chemo, and then I’ll be on maintenance drugs for a number of years afterward. But basically they said I can start to get back into the things that I used to do.”
Spirit will return to West Side Bowl in Youngstown in late November to headline a Black Friday show. Spirit’s last Youngstown show was on that date last year at the same venue.
A full comeback is on track for next year after the release of the album.
“Once I’m done with the main part of my treatment, we’re hopefully going to be able to hit the road again in a more serious way,” Harker said.
The 27-year-old singer, guitarist and songwriter had been dealing with an autoimmune disorder before the leukemia diagnosis.
“My doctors think it ultimately led to the cancer,” Harker said. “My immune system was getting really messed up by this autoimmune disorder. It was really complicated. I’ve been told by my hematologist that my case was one of his more complicated ones, which is not what you really want to hear from a top leukemia doctor. But my team’s been really great, and I’ve been getting through it steadily.”
Taking a step back from the band has been hard on Harker. “I’m looking forward to the next phase, just because I’ve been so held back by my health for so long,” he said.
A late-August bout with Covid notwithstanding, Harker’s strength has returned.
“I went through a lot of ups and downs with my weight and everything, [because of] the treatment,” he said. “There are a lot of steroids you have to take that go along with it, and medication that does weird stuff to your body. But I’m at a really good point right now where I feel a lot healthier. I’ve been pretty much feeling back to normal, other than I still have to get chemo that will wipe me out for a couple days. I’m thinking that chemo might have had something to do with me catching Covid.”
Spirit of the Bear has kept the fires burning during Harker’s recovery.
The band – which also includes Youngstown natives Jamie Vitullo, Danny Svenson and Nate Gelfand, and Ethan Schwendeman – is picking up where it left off.
It wrote and produced the new song, “Read My Mind,” in 2022, and always intended for it to be the first single off its next album.
“It was written before my cancer diagnosis or any of that stuff,” Harker said. “It’s about trying to find mindfulness or peace in the everyday, trying to find something great out of what can really feel like an overbearing state of affairs, which has only gotten worse since we wrote it.”
The band played the song during its 2023 tour as the opening act for Australian rockers Crowded House.
“We wanted to perform it for their fans, because I think it kind of fits that style,” Harker said.
Spirit plans to release four or five more singles between now and the release of the album, which will have 11 songs and arrive some time after March.
“We’re trying to do a big vinyl release for the album,” Harker said. “[Drummer Jamie Vitullo] works at a record pressing plant in Cleveland, and we’re going to partner with them on a wax release for this, but they’re booked out until March. So we’re going to put out singles, right up until we can get those vinyls in the spring.”
The band crystalized its breezy but sophisticated sound on its last release, the 2022 EP “There’s No Such Thing as Fire.”
The upcoming album “will have a little more rock going on,” Harder said.
“It’s not heavy rock but there’s a lot more driving beats and really personal lyrics, because I’ve obviously had a lot going on with my health, and there’s a lot about that in there.”
Many of the songs are based around samples or audio manipulations, but also include the band’s live instrumentation.
“I really think it’s our most interesting work,” Harker said. “And it’s weird because the first song we’re putting out from it is the ballad of the album. That is something that we normally wouldn’t do, but this song (‘Read My Mind’) has been kicking around for so long, and we feel like it’s so strong that we had to put it out first. We’ll roll out the more upbeat ones a little later.”
The Sept. 6 show at West Side Bowl will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $32 in advance (plus fees), and $35 at the door. To purchase, click HERE.