Living the musician’s dream, roaming around the world, performing in dingy bars and huge festivals, constantly writing, working, and meeting people, Beans on Toast has been a tenacious force for over a decade. During this interview with Cameron Wright, Beans (Jay McAllister) was making his way around America and had just released the first single from his upcoming album, ‘Wild Goose Chaser’.
Where in the world are you?
I’m currently in a stranger’s house in Colorado, but I’ve got to get myself up and ready for a gig in Denver. It’s a fascinating, terrifying time to be in America at the moment.
Feeling in the belly of the beast?
It’s a strange one. I always prefer America up close. From the outside, you can believe the nonsense on Twitter and buy into all these horrible stories about gun crime and hatred, but when I’m here, it’s full of hospitality and love. It’s good, honest people living their best lives.
How is gigging around America? Your style feels very English…
When I first started gigging in America, I’d really ham up the English-ometer. I’d lean into it and sing about Prince Harry or whatever, but I’ve been lucky to have spent a lot of time here. The experiences impact the songs, so there are a lot of songs about America now. Between ‘The Great American Novel’ and ‘Fuck You Nashville’, there’s enough material there. As much as you may not tell by the singing, a lot of the music is essentially a country song. It’ll all inevitably sound like me by the end because it’s my voice, but there’s a lot of John Prine influence in what I’m writing. Plus, I’m always writing; there’s always new stuff. I found myself in a bar the other night after a gig, and a group of Hells Angels came in, showing me their bikes. You can bet that’s coming up on a future album.
Are you constantly writing and playing with new ideas?
I think I’ve written two or three songs while on this American leg of the tour, so I’m playing and workshopping them every night. When I write topical stuff, it has a really short shelf life; if a politician I slag off goes out of office, the song becomes redundant. So you’ve got to be constantly churning stuff out. The touring puts me in strange situations, and that writes the songs. I’m living the honky-tonk dream, so it makes writing pretty fluid.
Does that help with pushing out an album a year?
For sure. It started off as a gimmick, but now it’s kind of put my life on an annual clock. I know when all the deadlines are, when I’ll be in the studio, when I’ll be in America. I’ll be able to tell you where I’ll be on this day in three years. I mean, if I didn’t have an album to put out, I wouldn’t. If I run out of things to say, I’ll stop saying them. But I always find the current album influences and changes what the next one will be.
How’s that been the case for the new album?
So the 2023 album ‘The Toothpaste and the Tube’ was hyper-focused on the now. It was about all the things happening to me right in that moment – my situation, my surroundings. The new album is a deliberate step away from that; it’s more existential, asking those bigger questions that aren’t so rooted in the day-to-day. When the songs came out, it was obvious that musically it would be best to have just me and a piano. It’s really stripped back and kind of mythical. We recorded it under a full moon, all in one take. The whole thing was like a magic spell.
Beans on Toast heads to The Studio, Hartlepool on Thursday 21st November as part of PinDrop’s 14th celebrations.
Tickets, priced at £16.50 in advance, are available from seetickets.com.
