Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention. We would like to welcome you to the organ-driven garage-psych sound of Baked Beans…
Comprised of Matt Blach (The Murlocs, The Rusties), Jack Kong (Gonzo, Traffik Island), Lachlan McKiernan (The Rusties, The Grunes), Vincent Clemenston and Mitch Rice, the band officially formed in 2016 after jamming together since they were 16 and playing under a lot of different monikers.
Now, following the release of 2018’s Babble and their most recent single ‘Avalon Speedway’, the band are gearing up for their appearance at Loch Hart Music Festival, the regional festival returning to the small scenic town of Princetown this Summer for its second edition, where the vibe will be chill, the music will be infectious and the scenery will inspire.
“We’re pretty excited,” says frontman Matt Blach. “I’ve been camping down there a lot. I hired an AirBnB once down in Princeton which was really nice but I haven’t spent as much time as I would like to down there. It’s beautiful and amazing, we’re pretty fortunate to live so close to something so good.”
With a recent string of shows along the east coast and past festival performances at the likes of Kennedys Creek, Baked Beans are keen to get back on the stage and share some of the tracks from their sophomore record, due out soon through Flightless Records.
“We will be playing a fair few new songs, they’re all in the middle of being mixed at the moment so we’ll play a lot of them, and a few old songs as well, and might throw in a cover or something,” he says, before touching on what a ‘festival performance’ entails. “We have a few more improvised parts [in a festival set], and a few more jam-out sections, more so in the boogie parts. We just really try to get people tapping their toes.”
If their charging anthemic belter ‘Avalon Speedway’ is anything to go by, we can expect that their upcoming album will be fuelled with heavy rock and ear ringing hammond/guitar hooks with all the trimmings that Beans fans can’t get enough of.
“There album will be pretty similar,” Blach says, referring to the recent single. “There’s a couple of nicer songs in there, but the majority of it is pretty heavy. There’s a few ‘put a smile on your dial’ songs and then the rest are kind of teeth-gritty rock.”
Gearing up for the festival that committed to making your music festival experience not only a memorable one but also thrifty with the privilege of bringing your own booze (with Blach nodding towards a thermos filled with espresso martini), Baked Beans are cementing themselves as the freshest, hottest, sauciest band goin’ around.
“We’re just really concentrating on Loch Hart Music Festival and finishing this album, but I think once the album’s done we’ll be going pretty full HAM,” Blach says, before finishing with one very important piece of advice.
“Drive Safe festival-goers! It’s a long, windy, dangerous drive… and party your little Loch Harts out.”
Loch Hart Music Festival will return from 15 – 17 November 2019! Tickets are on sale now via www.lochhart.com