BEAN MAGAZINE

ballpointpressbne
Mar 21, 2024
5 min read

Updated: Mar 22, 2024

Words: Keeley Thompson

Image: Bean Magazine

The smell of chlorine clings to their warm skin and wet hair. The heavy thump of a body diving into the water synchronises with the meeting of willow and felt. The cricket ball elegantly fishtails over the weathered fence, momentarily replacing conversations with unrestrained laughter.

The sun shows its midsummer, middle of the day strength, giving reddened shoulders a promise for a burn. A low breeze gently carries the sound of familiar guitar through every corner and conversation of the popular backyard.

This is Bean Magazine.

Best enjoyed with friends, Meanjin’s Bean Magazine epitomise the soundtrack of a summer party where salt and vinegar chips go soggy from swimmers’ fingers reaching in, esky's are used in lieu of chairs and a communal playlist grows infinite.

Comprised of Henry Creamer (Vocals, Guitar), Seb Barren (Bass) and Gabrielle Beiers (Drums), Bean Magazine create music that tastes like the cherry in tinned fruit salad, smells like the smoky tang of a barbecue and feels like refrigerated aloe vera gel on hot, sunburnt shoulders.

KEELEY: We'll just dive right in, how did you guys start? Tell me the story!

GABBY: Henry and I met through some mutual friends and had started by playing downstairs at my parents house. We really wanted to start actually making music and playing gigs. At the time, we had a different bass player but he moved to the Gold Coast for work so Seb stepped in.

HENRY: I met Seb at a party (classic) but we actually didn’t talk for a whole year after that party. Seb was the first person we had in mind and asked to play after our first bass player left. I’m not sure if he knows that.

SEB: I didn’t know that! I’d never played bass before, which is funny but Henry put his trust in me and we haven’t looked back.

GABBY: Yeah I think after we’d lost our first bass player we were a bit lost but we didn’t want to stop given the progress we had made so it was really serendipitous that we found Seb when we did.

KEELEY: And how do you all approach songwriting?

HENRY: It’s a bit of a mix I’d say. I enjoy writing so I come up with the main idea, but the arrangement is 100% a group effort. That being said, I think some of our best songs are the ones that come out of nowhere.

We’ve recently written a song that came from Seb mucking around with bass lines late at night but we actually ended up using it and it’s one of the favourites in our new set.

SEB: I was just trying to do some Kiss Chasey shit

HENRY: It’s funny though, I think the way we write songs really depends on the song itself.

Image: Liav Ricu Shalev (@soggybreadissad)

KEELEY: You’ve got the new song ‘3’ out! How’s that been?

HENRY: So good! It’s very exciting and we’ve gotten a lot of love for the song, which is always nice to see.

SEB: It’s been well received for sure. The song got played on Triple J and it’s actually our first time on there, so we’re super stoked.

KEELEY: Do you have any highlights as a band?

SEB: Supporting Ball Park Music last May was an absolute dream. That’s a big highlight for me.

HENRY: Oh yeah that was huge. The Mountain Goat Valley Crawl gig was also a highlight for us. I really enjoyed that gig. Outside of gigging, I’d say recording days. They’re always so fun.

GABBY: We played at The Outpost for Mountain Goat and it was great. It’s such an awesome venue.

KEELEY: If someone asked you where they should go in Meanjin, where would you take them?

SEB: Suncorp Stadium. I’ll take them to look at the statues of my icons.

HENRY: Holland Park is pretty cool…

GABBY: We’re all into running so maybe I’d show them some running tracks.

HENRY: Oh wait! I’ve been driving past a pub that sits on the water and it looks really nice!

KEELEY: Do you mean The Breakfast Creek Hotel?

HENRY: Is it?

SEB: Mate, you’re telling the story.

HENRY: Well I don't know what it’s called, I've never been there but it looks cool.

Also Tugun.

KEELEY: I'm pretty sure that’s not in Brisbane!

HENRY: Nah it’s not but that’s also a Hotel we want to go to.

SEB: So for context, we played a show in Coolangatta and for some reason, we were all just having a shit day. We were driving there and saw the sign for Tugun and thought it was pronounced “Tuggin” and that really brought the mood back up.

KEELEY: Do you have any stories or tales from your gigs?

SEB: Oh man, so we played this gig and made a bit of a night of it. It’s probably about 3am and Henry comes into the lounge room in these red shorts that he’d bought the day before and was like “I’m going for a run” and ran 15 km on no sleep.

GABBY: It was a long night and I was worried about him going on a run at like 2am in a place he wasn’t familiar with!

HENRY: It wasn’t 2am it was closer to 4am!

GABBY: Well, it interrupted my sleep, so.

KEELEY: What music/artists have you been listening to lately?

HENRY: I’ve been going through a Car Seat Headrest phase at the moment, I’ve been rinsing Destroyed by Hippie Powers. I’ve also been enjoying Petite League, they’ve got this really free style of playing, almost kind of messy? It’s really cool.

Oh and I’ve been getting into Modest Mouse. We’ve been watching The OC and they’re on it so that’s kind of what started it.

SEB: Don’t tell the people we’re watching The OC!

HENRY: Nah The OC is sick!

GABBY: I get a lot of my music from the boys so I think a lot of my music taste is from that. Outside of that, I’ve been listening to a lot of Slowdive and Mac Miller recently. I really love Mac Miller's drum tracks.

SEB: I’m a bit all over the shop. On the way here I listened to Limp Bizkit and Lisa Mitchell if that gives you an indication.

KEELEY: Which Limp Bizkit song?

SEB: Break Stuff, of course.

KEELEY: I thought it might’ve been Behind Blue Eyes because that’s probably the most Lisa Mitchell sounding song in Limp Bizkit’s discography.

KEELEY: If you could go back in time, is there something you would tell yourselves when you were starting out?

HENRY: Maybe to not stress so much about playing a ‘perfect’ gig. I really got stuck in the mindset of playing a perfect set, but it’s pretty much guaranteed that something is going to go wrong. When you’re up there, any tiny mistake can feel like the end of the world, but generally no one watching even notices.

SEB: Yeah I think we hold the mantra that every gig is a bit of a slog. Not in a bad way, but more so that it takes a lot of focus and energy, mentally and physically.

KEELEY: Do you think the more focused you are on not making mistakes, the more likely you are to make a mistake?

SEB: Oh shit yeah.

GABBY: Absolutely. If I know I have a part coming up that I hate, or a fill that I find particularly tricky, I can’t overthink it or I’ll make a mistake.

HENRY: Sometimes it can go the other way too though. Today at practice we were playing a song we’ve played so many times and I made a mistake so I tried to relax into it and actually ended up playing the bridge for too long. It’s a tricky balance.