2012 - The Year of Change

Life is, for the most part, pretty unpredictable.  As much as you're sure you have a grasp on the future, the unexpected is to be expected at any moment.  You could meet the love of your life on the train tomorrow.  You could lose the best friend you ever had today.  You might win a trip to Disney World the next time you look under a Pepsi bottle cap (does Pepsi even give away Disney World vacations?).  You might fall and break your leg the next time you head to the bathroom (which would be pretty embarrassing).  Circumstances are unpredictable.  People are even more unpredictable.  Such a complex species...humans...

2012 demonstrated itself to be a year of change.  Some experienced incredibly positive change in their lives while others went through some very dark times.  You can decide whether or not this had anything to do with the energy shift on our planet.  According to the Mayans, it wasn't the world that was ending in 2012; rather, a major change was happening in the collective human spirit.  Is there a truth to this?  I don't know, but what I CAN say with certainty is that I witnessed more people go through major life changes in 2012 than I've ever seen before.  It was pretty crazy.

Speaking of change...where has Pinto and the Bean been?  The last show we played as P&B was back in July of 2012.  If you're on our mailing list, you received our newsletter regularly.  We were pretty hip to the happenings of facebook and twitter.  You could find us hanging out regularly at various local venues checking out different bands.  Then bam...we were just gone...why?

Shit happens.  Life's a roller coaster ride and that's pretty much the best answer we can give.  You could say we took a break from our music and from ourselves, and to be honest, there was no telling whether or not we'd be coming back.  Ultimately, battles were won, and here we are because we still care tremendously about the music we create and the people who support what we do.  Many of you have become close friends; you know who you are.

So, it's 2013; as we slowly emerge from a twilight zone that closed out 2012, we're excited to say that we're writing and recording new music...not to sound cheesy or anything, but having disconnected from the music scene for so long, we feel like a new band...not really like 'Pinto and the Bean' - but more like...'Peanut and the Butter'....yep, there goes the nerdiness...it had to come out at some point.  But seriously, something feels different in everything we do now, and we don't know whether or not you'll like it; we don't even know what the future holds for us.  But, for the first time, we're completely on our own as musicians; we have no producer or engineer holding our hands during the creative process or influencing our decision making...we've just got ourselves, our home studio, and about 20 new song ideas which we're working with.  Many of them have been turned into raw demos, which we're super excited to share with you soon.  In fact, head on over to the 'enter' page of our site to listen to a quick minute long snippet of an untitled new song.  When my dad took a listen to some of the demos, he said "now you're writing music for people over 30.  Hmm...okay...well, why don't you decide for yourself?

We're taking the stage for the first time since July
next month.  Our good friends Radiant Devices (a post punk band whose live performance is unlike any other we've ever seen) have invited us to perform with them at our favorite venue Empty Bottle on Tuesday, February 12.  It's a birthday party for their singer Mojdeh and also the band's new single release   It's the first time in a LOOOONG time that we're gonna get loud, so mark your calendars.  We're hoping to have a few of our new song ideas polished enough to perform at this show.  As always, contact us with any questions or visit www.pintoandthebean.com for details.