Fortress of the Bear

Fortress of the Bear is a Seattle based rock band, featuring riff heavy arrangements, soulful vocals, and a pounding rhythm section. The band consists of Matthew Doohan on lead vocals, Greg Hagstrom and Josh Tvrdy on guitar, Tom Stegeman on bass guitar and backup vocals, and Skeeter McClellan on drums. The band boasts a wide range of influences, taking cues from blues acts like Howlin’ Wolf reaching into classic rock through the likes of Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, and employing lyrical flourishes that evoke Paul Simon or James Taylor.

Fortress Of the Bear was first conceived while Greg and Josh were working together at a music store in Seattle. Their collaboration grew out of a shared love of rock music and a mutual feeling that the genre was under represented in the world of modern pop music. They started looking for other likeminded musicians to fill out the band, discovering Matt and Tom on craigslist. Over the next year and a half, Fortress released a self titled EP, recorded an acoustic live session, and played a large number of excellent shows at venues such as Seattle Folklife Festival, The Sunset, and the High Dive. After taking a brief hiatus to solidify their lineup, Fortress released their second EP in January of 2020 titled “Concrete Drive”

The band is currently working on recording more of their existing songs while expanding their fan base outside of the PNW. They hope to create a community of good bands with whom they can collaborate to create excellent bills in a variety of cities and venues. The individual musicians in the band are also constantly writing and collaborating on new music.

Matthew Doohan grew up performing in musicals in Southern California. He moved to Seattle in 2016 with the intent of joining a rock and roll band. After finding Fortress of The Bear on Craigslist (and successfully auditioning to be their singer) he began writing the lyrics and melody for the bands music. As a solo musician, Matthew has opened for Michael McDonald, and sung backup alongside his touring band. He regularly plays acoustic covers and originals at Pikes Place market.

Josh Tvrdy began playing guitar and writing songs at thirteen and basically never stopped. He has been gigging and recording consistently with various bands in the Seattle area since 2007. In addition to playing guitar in FOTB, he is currently a member of Xolie Morra & The Strange Kind. He is reported to have had a hand in building Stonehenge, and is without a doubt, a monument onto himself. 

Tom Stegeman has played in number of bands in the Seattle area over the last 20 years. He opened for David Yow as a member of the Hopscotch Boys and has played numerous sold out shows at the Tractor Tavern. If you live in Seattle there is a very small chance he built some part of your house.

Greg Hagstrom has been playing in bands since the 7th grade. He began his music career in earnest playing guitar with First Flight Out. Together they went on to win the Global Battle of the Bands which led them to LA to play a sold out Key Club. They recorded with Grammy winning engineers and played historic venues such as the Whiskey A Go Go. Greg pays the bills by teaching guitar lessons and working as an audio engineer. He has some money in a jar on top of his fridge...He hopes to put more in that jar.

Skeeter McClellan started out playing jazz and orchestral percussion at the beginning of the 90’s. He played in local Symphonies and orchestra pits around the Northwest. A few years later Skeeter was fortunate enough to cut his teeth during the early 90’s Seattle scene. Opening for iconic acts like Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, & Gas Huffer all around the west coast. As the late 90’s came rolling in he played the ska circuit in various Ska/punk bands The Skacepticons and Skasmopolitan where he was able to help pave the Seattle 3rd wave Ska scene. In the early 2000’s McClellan helped to form the pop punk band Poorsport with whom he opened for household names such as Lagwagon, Less Than Jake, and Blink 182. He played the Vans Warped Tour from 2001 through 2003 as a member of Poorsport. In 2005 Skeeter found his love and gift for teaching and was teaching at a local music store where he met Hagstrom. In the Spring of 2007 Skeeter became a member of the Seattle Seahawks Blue Thunder Drum line in which he played for thousands of screaming Seahawks fans every week.