Alan Dearling was there, and shares some pics and words too
‘Beans On Toast’ is becoming a one-person musical phenomena. A major set at Glasto in 2023 garnered him a new swathe of friends and fans. He is literally what you see and hear on the ‘tin’ (of beans). He’s got there the very hard way. Hard work, talent in oodles and almost constant gigging around the UK and world. Beans On toast is the stage name of Jay McAllister from Braintree in Essex. He’s a troubadour, a performer, a showman, an old-style trooper. A singer-songwriter with absolutely no home-place-space for a pigeon-hole. So far, I think, he’s released 16 studio albums. He’s established his own tradition by releasing a new record each year on 1 December, Jay’s birthday.
He was also one of the stars of the Fairport Convention annual festi at Cropredy in 2023. ‘Mythical Creatures’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H4STAoZnEA
‘The Golden Lion’: A song about a boozer and live music and arts events venue in Yorkshire, and UFOs and Happy Valley. It’s a centrepiece from the new Beans On Toast album which was triumphantly launched into the ecosphere at the Golden Lion on 1st December 2023 in Todmorden. An absolute sell-out, rammed event. The album is titled, ‘The Toothpaste & the Tube’. Really rather fab, with clever lyrics, lots of songs with powerful, evocative stories and themes. Nice mixture of styles and material.
Video: ‘Golden Lion’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcqlKbe1D6w
Video: ‘Send me a Bird’ live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuYIVaTIvMY
Bassie Gracie and Lord Tensheds have joined Beans On Toast on this latest UK Tour. As Beans told us: “Gracie is telling her brilliant, funny, moving poems, and Tensheds brings his rock n’ roll rollercoaster. On top of that, both are joining me onstage to form a new Beans on Toast three-piece band, which is very exciting indeed!”
Website: http://www.beansontoastmusic.com/
As Beans proclaimed to the World:
“ ‘Toothpaste and The Tube’ was recorded with the amazing @ferrisandsylvestermusic in their beautiful Wilsthrie home studio. I know them from @spiritualrecords in Camden and our paths often cross while out on the road. They had worked on the @jfrancissongs album, which was a huge favourite of mine, so I wrote them a letter asking if they’d like to make an album and left it in a festival dressing room knowing they’d be there the following day. They thought that was a great idea and a plan was put in place.
I took a collection of simple songs to the table and I asked Archie where he’d like to take them musically. To me this is a varied album, both on subject matter, style and sound. But at its core, it’s a folk album, and it’s about the world in which we live, for better or worse, it’s ours. So let’s live it.
The magnificent @rosskgordon played drums and keys on the album, it’s heavy on the Hammond, which I think gives this album its personality. Ross is a bloody legend.”
And in support at the launch of the new album and on the tour: Lord Tensheds and Bassie Gracie
Lord Tensheds: album: ‘The Days of my Confinement’:
A beautiful pianist and a darkly contorted soul. A punkier, younger, UK Tom Waits with equally gravel-fuelled songs, words and sentiments. Stark and deeply heartfelt, ‘The Bridge Song’ in particular kept the packed audience spell-bound. From Tensheds time living in West Yorkshire and witnessing heartbreak, suicides and more at first-hand…
‘The Bridge Song’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDs2e00PG20
Bassie Gracie:
‘The Sound belongs Here’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFm_5ASm-hA
“I’m Grace, I play the bass, people take photos of my face, I do poetry but I struggle with rhymes.”
She doesn’t…it’s her greatest attribute as a poet. Lots of rhymes… Charismatic, playful, joyful and FUN. But, challenging and thought-provoking too.
Last year in 2022, Beans On Toast produced ‘The Fascinating Adventures of Little Bee’, which was a collaboration project with Jaime and Lily Adamsfield. It was a collection of 10 children’s stories and songs in a box set. Beautifully illustrated by Lily, these ten adventures see Little Bee learn important lessons about the world.
Beans On Toast continues to tour constantly, he’s heading over to Australia in January 2024, and will presumably continue to release a new album each year on 1 December. Definitely one of music’s living legends…