Beans On Toast is the stage name of British folk songwriter Jay McAllister from Braintree, Essex, England, who rose to prominence out of the UK folk scene in 2005. Beans on Toast has released fifteen studio albums, traditionally releasing a new record each year on 1 December, McAllister's birthday.
Jay McAllister was born in Epping on 1 December 1980 and grew up in Braintree, Essex.[1] He has one older brother. McAllister attended the Notley High School where he formed the band Jellicoe in 1996. Jellicoe released one studio album before splitting up in 2001; around this time McAllister moved from Essex to North London.[2]
Career
McAllister started performing as Beans On Toast in London in 2005, primarily at the Holloway Road pub Nambucca, where he lived and worked at the time.
Along with Ian Grimble, Beans On Toast produced 2010 follow-up Writing on the Wall. Both albums were well-received and gained positive reviews in the Sunday Times and the Mirror, alongside airplay on 6Music, Xfm, and Radio 1 and 2. Later that year, Beans On Toast played in the Westway Round the UK Tour, the first national tour by Strummerville bands.[4]
Beans On Toast's third album, Trying to tell the Truth, was released in 2011 and produced by Frank Turner, with Beans On Toast going on to be the support act for Turner's sold out Wembley Arena show in April 2012.[3]
A fourth studio album, Fishing for a Thank You, was released in 2012 with production work by Lee Smith and Jamie Lockhart.[5] During this period, Beans On Toast also headlined a sold-out Scala show in Kings Cross, London, which was captured and released as the Live at Scala album in 2013. His fifth album, Giving Everything, was released on 1 December 2013, and made it into the top ten of the iTunes Singer-Songwriter Chart.[citation needed]
In 2014, Beans On Toast performed to a crowd of over 100,000 in one week while opening Frank Turner's UK stadium tour. In the same year, he embarked upon his first American tour, playing headline shows as well as several dates with Irish-American punk band Flogging Molly. A limited edition 10" was released in the UK entitled Best of Toast Pressed on a Vinyl for Record Store Day 2014 in April. This led to a sixth studio album, The Grand Scheme of Things, followed by a UK tour.
Throughout 2015, Beans On Toast toured the UK and US, as well as playing one-off shows in the Netherlands, Germany, and South America. He kicked off the year touring America before returning to the UK for an "Off the Road" tour, visiting smaller venues in the UK. Beans On Toast also toured during the festival season, appearing at YNOT Festival, Boomtown, and the Glastonbury Festival, amongst others. In mid-September, he followed long-time friend and producer Frank Turner on his headline tour of America. In December 2015, Beans On Toast released a seventh album, Rolling Up A Hill, recorded in Kansas with Truckstop Honeymoon.
In 2016, Beans On Toast again completed his usual touring schedule, including North America, two UK tours, and a number of other shows worldwide. On his main UK tour in November and December, he had two main support acts, SkySmeed, an American country singer and Tensheds, a piano bashing duo. On 1 December, he released his eighth album A Spanner in the Works which was recorded over one weekend on a laptop, straying away from a typical Beans On Toast album with no guitar being used, except on the track "2016", one of the singles from the album.
On 1 December 2017, Beans On Toast released his ninth studio album Cushty, followed in 2018 by his first book Drunk Folk Stories, a collection of ten, short, true-life stories about songwriting, travelling and drinking.
2018's A Bird in the Hand was Beans' tenth studio album, produced by Ben Lovett in London's Church Studios. The album focuses heavily on the birth of his newborn daughter, tackling family, love and the world on your front doorstep.
On 31 July 2019, Beans announced his 11th studio album, The Inevitable Train Wreck, along with a US tour starting 5 November, and a UK tour starting 4 December. The first two singles from the album, "World Gone Crazy" and "England, I Love You", were released on 10 and 31 October respectively.
In 2020 Beans released two albums: The Unforeseeable Future, an album about the Covid Pandemic, written and recorded at home during that time, and Knee Deep in Nostalgia which was produced by Frank Turner. Both albums were released on McAllister's 40th birthday.
2021 Saw the release of his second book Foolhardy Folk Tales which starts with a fictional story set in Braintree in the 1990s and continues with many true tales from the songwriter's life. The book also introduced the world to 'Everyone's a Critic', a car game that Beans had made up to play with friends on the road. The book features the full rules of the game.
2021's album was called Survival of the Friendliest and was focused on the beauty of the human spirit, an optimistic album about joy and hope produced by old friend Blaine Harrison of the Mystery Jets. The album was followed by a huge UK tour and a Summer that saw him play over 30 festivals.
The Fascinating Adventures of Little Bee, a collaboration project with Jaime & Lily Adamsfield, was released in 2022. 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 and releases a new album each year on 1 December.
Discography
Studio albums
Standing on a Chair (1 December 2009)
Writing on the Wall (1 December 2010)
Trying To Tell The Truth (1 December 2011)
Fishing for a Thank You (1 December 2012)
Giving Everything (1 December 2013)
The Grand Scheme Of Things (1 December 2014)
Rolling Up The Hill (1 December 2015)
A Spanner in the Works (1 December 2016)
Cushty (1 December 2017)
A Bird in the Hand (1 December 2018)
The Inevitable Train Wreck (1 December 2019)
Knee Deep in Nostalgia (1 December 2020)
The Unforeseeable Future (1 December 2020)
Survival of the Friendliest (1 December 2021)
The Fascinating Adventures of Little Bee (1 December 2022)
John Robert "Joe" Cocker was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles, such as "Feelin' Alright?" and "Unchain My Heart", were recordings of songs written by other song writers, though he composed a number of songs for most of his albums as well, often in conjunction with songwriting partner Chris Stainton.
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater. They started out influenced by American folk rock, with a set list dominated by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell songs and a sound that earned them the nickname "the British Jefferson Airplane". Vocalists Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews joined them before the recording of their self-titled debut in 1968; afterwards, Dyble was replaced by Sandy Denny, and Matthews later left during the recording of their third album.
Ralph McTell is an English singer-songwriter and guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song "Streets of London" (1969), which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world.
Levellers are an English folk rock and anarcho-punk band formed in Brighton, East Sussex, in 1988, consisting of Mark Chadwick, Jeremy Cunningham, Charlie Heather (drums), Jon Sevink (violin), Simon Friend, Matt Savage (keyboards) and Dan Donnelly. Taking their name from the Levellers political movement, the band released their first EP in 1989 and LP in 1990, with international success following upon signing to China Records and the release of their second album Levelling the Land. The band were among the most popular indie bands in Britain in the early 1990s, and performed at the Glastonbury Festival, first in 1992, then in 1994, where they performed as the headline act on The Pyramid Stage to a record crowd of 300,000 people. They continue to record and tour.
Nick Harper is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is the son of English folk musician Roy Harper.
Seth Bernard Lakeman is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who is most often associated with the fiddle and tenor guitar, but also plays the viola and banjo. Nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize, Lakeman has belonged to several musical ensembles, including one with his two brothers, fellow folk musicians Sam Lakeman and Sean Lakeman, but has most recently established himself as a solo act.
Francis Edward Turner is an English punk and folk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Hampshire. He began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. In the studio and during live performances, Turner is accompanied by his backing band, The Sleeping Souls, which consists of Ben Lloyd, Tarrant Anderson (bass), Matt Nasir and Callum Green (drums).
The Devil Makes Three is an Americana band from Santa Cruz, California, United States. The group blends americana, folk, bluegrass, old time, country, blues, jazz, punk and ragtime music. The group's members are guitarist Pete Bernhard, upright bassist MorganEve Swain, and guitarist and tenor banjo player Cooper McBean. The band has released seven full-length studio albums and three live recordings.
Sean Lakeman is an English folk musician and record producer.
Nigel Powell is an English multi-instrumental musician from Abingdon.
The Dead 60s were an English ska punk band from Liverpool. The band's sound is a mixture of punk rock, ska, dub and reggae. They have taken influences from artists such as King Tubby, Jackie Mittoo, Gang of Four and A Certain Ratio.
Benjamin John Howard is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. His self-released debut extended play (EP) Games in the Dark (2008) was followed by two more EPs, These Waters (2009) and Old Pine (2010). Signed to Island Records, his debut studio album came in 2011 titled Every Kingdom. The album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart and was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Howard later released two more EPs, Ben Howard Live (2011) and The Burgh Island E.P. (2012).
Skinny Lister are a British band formed in London in 2009. They were a five-piece band until October 2013 when a drummer was added. In August 2022 they returned to being a five piece after Sam Brace left and the decision was made not to replace him. They are signed to Xtra Mile Recordings, and were previously signed to Sunday Best Records in the UK, SideOneDummy Records in the US, and Uncle Owen Records in Japan.
Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun are an English rock band from Cheltenham, England.
Will Varley is an English singer-songwriter, musician and visual artist. He is one of the founding members of the arts collective Smugglers Records. Since self releasing his debut album Advert Soundtracks in 2011 he has toured extensively across the world as a headline act and opened for the likes of Billy Bragg, Valerie June, and The Proclaimers. He has headlined venues including Union Chapel and Shepherd's Bush Empire. Will’s songs have been covered by acts as diverse as The Pretty Things and Frank Turner. In recent years Will has co-written songs with numerous artists including Skin of Skunk Anansie and Shae Dupuy. His sixth studio album The Hole Around My Head was released in 2021.
Reverend and the Makers are an English rock band from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The band is fronted by Jon McClure, nicknamed "The Reverend". Their debut album, The State of Things (2007), helped them gain success in Britain and spawned the UK top 10 single "Heavyweight Champion of the World". The band released their second album, A French Kiss in the Chaos (2009), which led to them being invited to support Oasis on their final tour, of the first part of their career, playing venues such as Wembley Stadium. The band's third studio album, @Reverend_Makers, was released in 2012, their fourth studio album, ThirtyTwo, was released in 2014 which had more electronic and dance music influences. These were followed by Mirrors in 2015 and The Death of a King in 2017 which showcased a hard rock and folk influenced sound. Their seventh album, the soul and R&B inflected Heatwave in the Cold North was released in 2023 and became the band's first Top 10 album in the UK in 16 years.
Be More Kind is the seventh studio album by English singer-songwriter Frank Turner, released on 4 May 2018 by Xtra Mile Recordings. This is the final album to feature Nigel Powell on drums.
Jellicoe were an English alternative rock band formed in Essex in 1996.
As Brave as We Could Be is the only studio album by British band Jellicoe, issued by Do-Little Records in 2001. It is notable as the first album to feature Jay McAllister who later went on to have a successful career as a folk singer-songwriter under the stage name Beans On Toast.
FTHC is the ninth studio album by English singer-songwriter Frank Turner, released on 11 February 2022.
References
↑ "Beans on Toast releases sixth studio album". Daily Gazette. 30 December 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2016. Beans on Toast releases his 6th studio album as has been tradition on his 34th Birthday.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
