10 QUESTIONS: The Magic Beans
Learn more about The Magic Beans of Colorado
By Eric Frank and The Magic Beans
May 22, 2015
1. How did The Magic Beans meet?
Scott Hachey (guitar), Hunter Welles (mandolin), and Josh Appelbaum (bass) met as mutual music enthusiasts in Boulder, CO while they were all attending the University of Colorado. Whether at shows or through mutual friends, they started jamming at Scott's house on 710 Marine St with a group of friends. Hachey and Welles discovered that they grew up a mere three minutes from one other in Minnesota but had never met.
Eventually, the jamming moved up to Scott and Hunter’s new house in Four Mile Canyon. It was here that the squad got specific due the distance from Boulder. Following some infamous house party "tests" in 4 Mile (one of which was attended by Casey Russell who performed with the group the entire night), the band grew confident and encouragement from friends pushed them to get gigs.
During Russell’s visit from Minnesota, he was within 10 minutes of Hachey and Welles — without knowing it. The coincidence and chemistry was undeniable, and Casey "the Love Muscle" Russell would move to Colorado and into the 4 mile house to start work with The Magic Beans. Will Trask on drums was the final piece of the puzzle for the band, and the lineup was considered complete.
2. The Beans have a wide and eclectic range in sound and style. Where does your sound come from?
We get this a lot, because we are all over the board, like you said. It honestly all comes from the eclectic tastes of each member. It's hard to commit to a genre.
The Beans' sound started in complete improvisation for the mutual enjoyment of those performing and those listening. So when it came time to form an actual band, it wasn't like we were sitting down and saying, "let's be a this-that thing with hint of whomever and a vintage but futuristic blah blah blah and we'll all wear vests, bowler hats, and whatever."
It was more about trying to include the songs that we had already personally written and the music we liked to play — which was varying — into one cohesive sound. And it's not really that different between all of us, it's just that we all love all types of music, which we feel is true for the modern music listener as well. Not that many people are straight ahead genre lovers anymore. You need some funk, rock, folk, untz, etc. Its cosmopolitan musical enjoyment.
3. Describe your music-making and song-writing process.
Hachey composes and arranges most of the songs personally and brings them to the band. They come from the head and heart. He has been writing songs for enjoyment and expression since he was young and has many originals for the band — and his own canon of songs as well.
Casey and Josh also have written some wonderful originals, many of which are crowd favorites. The rest of the sound comes from improvisation and musical chemistry. We talk about the music all the time. Some are really serious about what they want out of it and we try to accommodate everyone's needs and tastes.
We also play A LOT. We live together in Nederland and have a jam space that we can utilize. It's helped us culture our original sounds and progress as a musical unit.
4. What are your favorite towns and/or venues to play?
We love playing in Boulder obviously, because we are from here, but we gotta give shout outs to Denver and Fort Collins for being such supportive scenes for us. Also, we've been getting mad love from Minnesota, Montana, Indiana and even Wyoming. Can't forget about the mountain towns either.
We did a serious mountain run this year and had incredible fun at each stop. Crested (Butte), Breckenridge, Aspen, Winter Park, etc. always show us a very good time. When it comes down to it though, our serious fans know that the party is and always will be 9,000 feet up in the quiet little mountain town of Nederland where we live. [It’s] Truly magical up there.
5. The Magic Beans have grown in popularity quite rapidly. Aside from the music, what do you attribute that to?
Our super kick-ass team of fans is the whole reason we get to do any of this. Also, our management is the brass balls.
6. What is your favorite road story?
We were playing a late-night set at Trillium Music Festival in Wisconsin and at the peak of our 2nd set opener, a crazed drug-enthused demon-man catapulted himself onto the stage and grabbed ahold of our guitarist's hair and instrument. He was screaming "Don't kill me! Let me live!" at out guitarist, who was probably screaming the same thing.
Eventually, realizing that this man, dubbed "The Jeffery," and his drug-induced grip was not going to let go of his hair, Hachey ripped his locks and with a group of stage hands, Russell and some fans, managed to push "The Jeffery" off the stage. He then proceeded to get naked and attack some other people until the cops arrived. The show did not go on that night.
7. What is different about the way you connect with fans?
We love our fans. They are just so cool. We would like to meet all of them because they are usually really good folks. This whole new phenomenon of having people in the crowd we don't know in random towns is so amazing. We try to meet as many people who come out as possibl,e and maybe party down or meet up at later times.
It really has become sort of a family and we all care for each other and support one another. This includes other bands as well; TTF, Sunsquabi, Eminence Ensemble, Whiskey Tango, Jaden Carlson, Astronomix. Those guys are our family. Fans are family.
8. Do any members of The Beans have any side-projects we should know about?
The Magic Beans do not have side projects; mainly because we are focused on this project, believe in the band, and don't want to short our true potential by spreading ourselves thin, musically. This is a big reason for our eclectic sound too, because if this is your only musical outlet, performance-wise, then it needs to include all of the musical realms and feels that get you off.
Our drummer plays with the Jaden Carlson Trio sometimes. Also, we try to get out and jam with the musical community and other bands as much as possible to keep things fresh and gather influence.
9. What do you like best about Colorado's music scene?
We love the Colorado music scene because of how many enthusiasts there are everywhere in this great state. Folks manage to make it to the big shows without forgetting about their own musical community, which is one of the most kickass and fertile around, if you ask me.
That’s another huge part of the scene we love. We helped TTF, Sunsquabi, Eminence, Pamlico Sound, and a bunch of other really great acts get their first big Boulder [gigs] at the Fox [and] Boulder Theaters and since then, they have been killing it and are a constant source of inspiration for us. I mean, all those bands are so freaking awesome! I can't believe we get to have such great musical counterparts. It's humbling to see such great talent around you and it feeds the fire of inspiration and passion.
I just can't wait to see what's in store for CO's musical future. I think it has the potential to be really great. However, I think in order for that to happen, some folks still need to start investing in more worthwhile and permanent sources of music and not settle for disposable forms. If any place is to do that, it will be CO though!
10. What can we expect from The Magic Beans in 2013?
2013 will bring Wakarusa and some other great summer festivals, TBA, a spring tour through the Midwest, South East and Texas. Summer tour to the Pacific North West, a fall tour to the Northeast and Midwest and most of all, a new studio album. Most likely it will be a double-disc covering lots of the material we've been playing live and some we haven't. It's been a long time coming, but we are serious about our second studio effort and anxious to bring it to the fans!