The Beans

Locals bulk up the early hours of the Free Press Summer Festival, and punctual crowds were treated to a strong set from the Beans. The band is a bluesy, raw, raspy thing, effortless and intense at the same time. Sam Griffin has the vocal licks and easy charisma of a star.
The band had the benefit of playing a large stage that drew an increasing number of curious passers-by. They all stayed and shimmied.

A Sea Es is an Ozomatli-lite of sorts. The band’s sound is vibe-y and groovy and appropriately summery. But it also had an odd, smooth jazz thing happening. I didn’t hate it. Just unexpected. And they revved things up considerably as the set progressed, building a wall of guitars and drums. - The Houston Chronicle

It’s time to spill The Beans and tell the truth.

The naked truth

The best part of giving or receiving a gift isn’t the fancy wrapping paper. It’s what’s beneath the wrap that counts. Rip through all that glossy paper and you’re left with the truth.

Houston-based band The Beans (lead vocalist Sam Griffin, guitarist Christian Galatoire, bassist Daniel Taylor, and drummer Brendan Hall) are a real life example of delivering the unadorned truth when it comes to giving the gift of music. There’s no shimmering pretense to distract from what lies beneath, just straight ahead blues rock, from way down inside and you need it - music mined from the depths of the soul and scarred by the emotional complexity that life can inflict, spilled out on the stage for all to experience.

The Beans recently brought this gritty honesty to Fitzgerald’s in support of their debut self titled CD where they opened for the Robert Randolph Family Band and whipped the audience into blues rock infused frenzy.

The songs remain untamed

The Beans kicked off their set with "What You’ve Always Wanted" with its jazzy upbeat guitar contrasted with the lyrical biting observation of a lost soul stumbling through life in an unsuccessful search for happiness and who incorrectly believes they have found it on more than one occasion, only to come up empty each time. The Beans followed this exercise in musical and lyrical discrepancy with "Child of God," a two minute rock and roll train ride through the macabre fringes of society into a world of mental illness, sexual deviation, murder, and isolation. There’s no shiny wrapping paper here and everyone is better for it.

The Beans ripped into "Devil Woman" next, a modern day reworking of the Charles Mingus song of the same name. It’s a blues rock examination of the difficulty of even the soundest of relationships, the pain people go through when relationships end, and an unconventional remedy to prevent this pain from happening again.

They lightened up on the mood a little bit with "Blind Willard" next, a silly tune inspired by a thrift shop figurine which has unofficially become the band's mascot. The Beans then walked the figurative and literal tightrope between light and heavy mood with their next tune "Carnies" (a song not included on the CD). With its upbeat carnival like guitar riff and percussion, "Carnies" explores what it might be like to gain some perspective or meaning in life by living among the carnival people. While in "Child of God" you are a detached observer of society’s fringe, in "Carnies" you're living, mingling, and at one with the outcasts of society. As you watch The Beans perform this song with so much intensity, you can’t help but draw comparisons between the life of a rock and roll band and the life of a carnie, where life consists of constantly being on the road and on display, entertaining the public with what makes you unique and different from them.

The Beans dove back into the real with a remarkable performance of the universally relevant "Carnal Constant," a musical recollection of the awkward rite of passage of losing your virginity and all of its related emotions - vulnerability, fear, yearning, and the embarrassment due to your inexperience and lack of preparation. True to the best rock and roll tunes, "Carnal Constant" elicits a visceral response, working you into passionate fury and leaves you wanting more. Click here to see a video of the Fitzgerald's performance of "Carnal Constant."

The Beans transitioned to a another level of the romance and relationship equation next with "Wanting You," a rocking tune pulsing with frustration, about the complexity of relationships, specifically the scenario of meeting someone else who seems perfect for you when you're already in a "happy" long-term relationship. From there, The Beans crept into the dark and mesmerizing "Wabasha." On one level, "Wabasha" is an intricate tribute to Bob Dylan, named after a street mentioned in Dylan’s "Meet Me in the Morning" and referencing many Dylan lyrics throughout (Blood on the Tracks, Don’t Think Twice, Criticize What You Don’t Understand). On a deeper, darker level, "Wabasha" is a modern day Oedipus story about a young man who loves his mother and kills his stepdad out of jealousy. Can you see Bieber pulling a song like this off? It’s not very likely.

The Beans, closed their phenomenal show with the full tilt blues rocker "Whiskey Headed Woman," a reinterpretation of the Tommy McClennan song of the same name. Both versions of the tune warn of the dangers of a woman drinking too much whiskey from different perspectives, but The Beans version leaves you thirsty for more unadulterated rock and roll.

It would be tempting to compare The Beans to other rock and rollers.

- Examiner.com

"The Beans have noticed a pretty insane trend lately: The Houston band has found itself compared to the likes of Texas rock legend Janis Joplin and Brittany Howard, vocal impresaria for the Alabama Shakes.

The only problem in this equation? It's a band chock full o' dudes.

They're cool with it, though. I mean, it's freakin' Joplin. Girl comparisons be damned -- they'll take it.

Throwing caution to the wind, the Beans have also done the unthinkable and released their debut album sans Autotune. (Somewhere, Flo Rida's mind has been blown by the mere thought.)

Focusing on musical ability from the jump, the Houston natives have put an emphasis on incorporating psych-soul and raw vocals into a frenzied sound that hovers on the line between engulfing the audience and simply falling apart. It can be a fine line, as you can imagine, but the band takes pride in their lack of sugar-coating, and folks are beginning to notice. " - Houston Press

Cool Beans!

by Tara Seetharam | Houston magazine | February 27, 2012
Today on the patio of the Heights’ Antidote café, the four members of new band The Beans are boys being boys. They’re throwing back beers as they complain about their hangovers—and picking on one another.

“They wouldn’t even consider us,” says drummer Brendan Hall when the subject of America’s Got Talent comes up improbably. He nods to bassist Daniel Taylor. “You think they’d let this guy on live television?” (For his part, Taylor takes the slight in stride, points to himself, and adds, “No one wants to see this in high definition.”)

The dude-bro ’tudes of the 20-something pals, all recent college grads or finishing up, are almost enough to belie their building buzz. Just months after the bluesy, psych-tinged rockers got together, they were nominated in three categories at the 2011 Houston Press Music Awards. And this year The Beans—vocalist Sam Griffin, guitarist Christian Galatoire, Taylor and Hall—are poised to pop. Besides playing shows such as their March 4 gig at AvantGarden (411 Westheimer Rd., 832.519.1429), the band is set to record its first full-length album this spring at H-Town’s vaunted SugarHill Studios.

Texas-stylish Hall—Ray-Bans, cowboy boots—cooked up the idea for the band while playing in a college jazz ensemble with Taylor. Partly as a means of avoiding “the inevitable” for himself as a psychology major and philosophy minor: law school. “I really didn’t want to go,” says Hall. “I said, ‘Guess I’ll do the stupid thing and try to do music.’”

The others have also waved off suit-and-tie pursuits, focusing on their craft. (Former Houston Boys Choir member Griffin goes as far as practicing Mariah Carey songs to nail his octave-spanning range.) The Beans rehearse their music, which recalls the blues-rock of The Black Keys, in a warehouse Griffin nabbed from his dad’s air-conditioning biz.

Song lyrics on the upcoming album put a fun spin on topics of interest to the young bachelors: whiskey, “nitty gritty sex” and Houston life, says Hall. For example, the hazy, catchy song “Carnies” cheekily describes a girly girl gone tough, inspired by an affectionate lesbian couple spotted during a writing session at Montrose’s Menil Park.

The Beans’ live shows are similarly whimsical, with raw energy, freewheeling jams, and guitarist Galatoire’s new thing: incense. “He lights incense... then goes around the stage area,” Taylor explains, “clinging chimes to get rid of any latent negativity that might be in the area.

“Or because he thinks it looks cool,” he adds, returning to the boys-will-be-boys ribbing. “I’m not sure which.” - Houston Modern Luxury

?We've attended every Houston Press Music Awards showcase since moving to Houston in 2003, and while each has varied slightly from year to year in location, bands and venues -- the core of the event remains the same. Every year we get turned on to at least one band we've never see before, and every year we see an act that makes us wonder how in hell they were nominated in the first place.
Yet Saturday's event was notably different in that it marked the first time in nine years we didn't find ourselves drenched in sweat and dying of heat exhaustion, thanks to a date change from mid-summer to late fall. And while the same may not be true in other parts of the country, November in Houston is downright temperate. But we enjoyed a lot more than just the weather. A blow-by-blow recap of our 2011 HPMA experience, listed below.

4:00 p.m., Sideshow Tramps at Homeplate Bar & Grill
Decided to start with an old favorite to remind us how where the bar is set for live music in Houston. After nearly an hour of fine, harmonica-laden, bluesy Americana that included a wailing Kam Franklin/Craig Kinsey duet -- we overheard Franklin's goosebump-inducing vocals described as "the kind of voice that overwhelms the capabilities of microphones" -- that left our expectations for the acts that followed sufficiently off the charts.

5:00 p.m., Little Joe talk on the shuttle
Our shuttlemates had just come from Little Joe Washington's blues set and after unanimously agreeing that the performance was "amazing", began inquiring amongst themselves about his age. This lead to a barrage of "Little Joe is so old"-prompted reponses with punchlines ranging from "His birth certificate was written on papyrus" to "He gave God the recipe for dirt."

5:05 p.m., Folk Family Revival at House of Blues (Foundation Room)
Impressed by the old-school, bare-bones quality of the sound (how old are these kids?) and Mason Langford's sturdy vocals, but distracted and annoyed by the sizable and overly-chatty crowd that made it hard to focus on the performance.
5:15 p.m., Diunna Greenleaf at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar
We arrived to find the gospel-inflected blues siren singing about freedom with the accompaniment of John Richardsonn's lone guitar. And HA-LE-LU-JAH, praise the lord, for a silent, reverent crowd that was positively transfixed.

5:30 p.m., Beetle at The Dirt
Overheard in the crowd: "There's something wrong with a Beatles cover band that only has three members."

6:00 p.m., The Beans at Ben's Beans
Having been drawn to the show solely based on the novelty of a band and a venue both named for "the musical fruit" (yes, we're really that dorky), we were shocked when The Beans turned out what would be our undisputed favorite performance of the day. We love rock bands with a dirty, unpredictable, slightly reckless quality, especially when paired with distinct and unusual vocals, and these guys certainly delivered the goods. They closed with a full-on psychedelic freakout that had the guitar player literally banging the strings of his instrument, laid flat on the ground. When a friend texted us asking if we'd seen anything good, we replied, "The Beans are the shit. Period".

7:00 p.m., Castle Lights at The Dirt
A wicked Ting Tings cover lured us in from off the street, and stayed for a couple more songs. Our notes for this set simply read, "very Cold Play".

7:25 p.m., More Little Joe shuttle talk
When asked if anything unusual/interesting/hilarious had occurred during the day, the shuttle driver confessed he had denied access to a man he'd assumed was homeless who turned out to be "some sort of famous blues musician" en route to his own performance at Homeplate. Sigh.

8:00 p.m., Roky Moon & BOLT! at Warehouse Live Studio
Great stage performers, solid sound. Roky Moon and co. drew a larger crowd than many national acts we've seen in the same venue. - Houston Press

?We've attended every Houston Press Music Awards showcase since moving to Houston in 2003, and while each has varied slightly from year to year in location, bands and venues -- the core of the event remains the same. Every year we get turned on to at least one band we've never see before, and every year we see an act that makes us wonder how in hell they were nominated in the first place.
Yet Saturday's event was notably different in that it marked the first time in nine years we didn't find ourselves drenched in sweat and dying of heat exhaustion, thanks to a date change from mid-summer to late fall. And while the same may not be true in other parts of the country, November in Houston is downright temperate. But we enjoyed a lot more than just the weather. A blow-by-blow recap of our 2011 HPMA experience, listed below.

4:00 p.m., Sideshow Tramps at Homeplate Bar & Grill
Decided to start with an old favorite to remind us how where the bar is set for live music in Houston. After nearly an hour of fine, harmonica-laden, bluesy Americana that included a wailing Kam Franklin/Craig Kinsey duet -- we overheard Franklin's goosebump-inducing vocals described as "the kind of voice that overwhelms the capabilities of microphones" -- that left our expectations for the acts that followed sufficiently off the charts.

5:00 p.m., Little Joe talk on the shuttle
Our shuttlemates had just come from Little Joe Washington's blues set and after unanimously agreeing that the performance was "amazing", began inquiring amongst themselves about his age. This lead to a barrage of "Little Joe is so old"-prompted reponses with punchlines ranging from "His birth certificate was written on papyrus" to "He gave God the recipe for dirt."

5:05 p.m., Folk Family Revival at House of Blues (Foundation Room)
Impressed by the old-school, bare-bones quality of the sound (how old are these kids?) and Mason Langford's sturdy vocals, but distracted and annoyed by the sizable and overly-chatty crowd that made it hard to focus on the performance.
5:15 p.m., Diunna Greenleaf at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar
We arrived to find the gospel-inflected blues siren singing about freedom with the accompaniment of John Richardsonn's lone guitar. And HA-LE-LU-JAH, praise the lord, for a silent, reverent crowd that was positively transfixed.

5:30 p.m., Beetle at The Dirt
Overheard in the crowd: "There's something wrong with a Beatles cover band that only has three members."

6:00 p.m., The Beans at Ben's Beans
Having been drawn to the show solely based on the novelty of a band and a venue both named for "the musical fruit" (yes, we're really that dorky), we were shocked when The Beans turned out what would be our undisputed favorite performance of the day. We love rock bands with a dirty, unpredictable, slightly reckless quality, especially when paired with distinct and unusual vocals, and these guys certainly delivered the goods. They closed with a full-on psychedelic freakout that had the guitar player literally banging the strings of his instrument, laid flat on the ground. When a friend texted us asking if we'd seen anything good, we replied, "The Beans are the shit. Period".

7:00 p.m., Castle Lights at The Dirt
A wicked Ting Tings cover lured us in from off the street, and stayed for a couple more songs. Our notes for this set simply read, "very Cold Play".

7:25 p.m., More Little Joe shuttle talk
When asked if anything unusual/interesting/hilarious had occurred during the day, the shuttle driver confessed he had denied access to a man he'd assumed was homeless who turned out to be "some sort of famous blues musician" en route to his own performance at Homeplate. Sigh.

8:00 p.m., Roky Moon & BOLT! at Warehouse Live Studio
Great stage performers, solid sound. Roky Moon and co. drew a larger crowd than many national acts we've seen in the same venue. - Houston Press