And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder.
"The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash

We didn't know what it was going to sound like. More than four years later, I'm still not sure what kind of band it was (although I'd usually say it was loud and obnoxious rock). But it was Old Beans. And there was thunder in that sound.

Old Beans has come to the end of the rainbow, but it was a journey to get there. Like all good journeys, we all started out missing something. No one goes on a journey if they don't need to find anything. And we needed this. Putting the band together, writing songs, learning how to play our instruments and sing, and, eventually, performing for others--it was all part of saving our lives. Finding missing pieces and having the courage to snap them into place.

We talked about it like Fight Club, which was the defining film of the end of the century for us. You don't have to actually be dying to need your life saved. We did, over the last four years, save and change our lives. And, because we actually accomplished this (in different ways for each member of the band), the catalyst for change became the establishment.

So we had to destroy the thing that saved us all.

Back at the beginning (in February, 2003), the three of us (Aaron, Willy and me) just wanted to be in a band that played a gig or two. We thought, at best, we'd last two years. Of course, it took about eight months for us to feel like we were good enough to play for other people (and longer than that for others to think we were ready to play out). It was like starting from scratch. None of us had ever been in a band that played more than a party or two. Aaron never played bass before. I hadn't played drums in almost ten years. Willy was a drummer by training, and hadn't played guitar much. None of us were the kind of singers anyone really wanted to hear.

And yet we persevered. We found we could write songs. We found we could play in front of others without puking (although, especially at the beginning, a few drinks really helped). We found ways to use our voices to sing. We found that, yes, we were a band.

And about two years in, we also found we needed help. And so Levi, who had played guitar for other bands in the past, was added to our line up. We were suddenly muscular where we had been squirrelly before. And this was good, too. An evolution of sorts.

We did our only professional recording just a few months after Levi joined the band. "Republican Girls" was our contribution to a double CD of local bands. And the experience was good. We all thought we should record more. This, however, would not come to be. But we did accomplish quite a bit:

58 gigs. 19 original songs. 9 Johnny Cash covers (and performances at three Johnny Cash Tribute nights). 6 covers of local bands (Jason Daniello & the Argonauts and the Hollis Wake for two April Fools shows). 3 Hip hop covers (for a Hip Hop Tribute night). And a couple more covers we threw into the mix from time to time. We played at eight different venues and a couple of parties. We played with at least 75 other bands. We even had a real practice space for the last year or so (after terrorizing Willy's neighbors at a couple of different houses). And there are videos of a few shows (find 'em on YouTube freaks).

Every time we played there were people in the audience who had never seen or heard us before.

Last night (Saturday, July 14th) was the end for Old Beans. We rocked through ten songs, and it was good. It was the best gig in months, if not the best this year. If there was a way to end on a high note, last night's performance was it.

Levi is now in the Rum Fits and on a West Coast tour for a month. Willy is going to graduate from college, hopefully in a year. Aaron is immersed in theatre, directing a play for September. And I'm, well, I'm not actually sure. But I'm sure I'll think of something. There has been an epidemic of bands losing their drummers recently.

Old Beans might not have been the best band ever. And we didn't have a huge fan base. But we had some good songs. And we had lots of good times, both on and off stage. We were a good late night, downtown, drunken Albuquerque rock band.

We were Old Beans. And now we are legend.

We can quit whenever we, quit whenever we, quit whenever we want.
"Problem" by Old Beans

Matt Bean is the former drummer of Old Beans.