Interview: lyricist, producer and solo artist Beans

Beans is a lyricist, producer and solo artist linked in one way or another to Radiohead, Clark, Missy Elliot, Alec Empire, Tobacco, and Arto Lindsay. Shelley Gaske finds him on road, and talking about his new album End It All.

Vintage Beans, Photo by Nicole Boyendorfer, 2001

Shelley Gaske for CultureMob (CM): You just wrapped up your European leg supporting End It All, how are things going?

Beans (B): Pretty good, pretty solid.

CM: The previous album was pretty heavy, how does this one compare?

B: With End It All, I needed to get out of my own head, you know? I didn’t want to do the same thing again. This album is all about the rhymes, heavily oriented on the rhymes because I just wanted to spit. There aren’t a lot choruses, I just wanted to spit on the microphone.

CM: Who worked with you on End It All?

B: We had lots of people, Tobacco (who’s on tour with me now), Fourtet, Tortise, Clark.

CM: Clark is a personal favorite of mine. How did you hook up with him?

B: I met him on the road when I toured with Plaid. Sonar sent me this beat Clark had laid down, and I went from there. You know, he was originally going to keep the beat for his album next year, so I got kind of an exclusive.

CM: After doing collaborations with so many different people, how does your creative process work? Do you start with the lyrics, the music, does it change?

B: The title comes first. Always the title comes first. After that, it changes up sometimes, but I’m not usually a wishy-washy kind of guy. Once I’ve got the title, it sticks.

CM: When it comes to working out the lyrics, what medium do you prefer? I’ve seen people write with everything from their phone to pen and paper.

B: Oh, you know, I hand write everything. Writing on your phone is shit. That isn’t hip hop. That’s a young hip hop thing.

CM: And not to call you old, but you’ve been around to see a lot change on the scene. How have things changed?

B: You know, I don’t really know. I really don’t know why I’m still in this. I’ve seen people come and go while I’m still doing what I did in the first place. It is like, I just keep showing up. I’m blessed to keep staying relevant. In my experiences, I’ve made some wise choices and been quite fortunate.

CM: Part of you making a name for yourself is all the touring. Do you feel like you’re rooted to the road?

B: To be honest with you, I never unpack my suitcase. I get restless when I’m not on the road. Even when I’m at home, I live out of my suitcase. When I do my laundry, I just fold it up and put it right back in the suitcase. I haven’t found somewhere I can unpack yet.

Catch Beans on the road in the US:

4/22/11 – Chop Suey; Seattle, WA
4/23/11 – Holocene; Portland, OR
4/25/11 – Urban Lounge; Salt Lake, UT
4/26/11 – Larimer Lounge; Denver, CO
4/29/11 – Siberia; NOLA
4/30/11 – Emos Austin; Austin, TX

For more info and full tour schedule, click here.

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