We’re two guys from Chicago who started this little band back in 2010. We’re very passionate about the music we write, and we really don’t know what we’d be doing with our lives if music didn’t fuel our hearts.
OUR STORY
Ivan and I knew each other for a few years before actually meeting up and jamming one day. I was working on my solo music here in Chicago and Ivan had just moved to the United States from Mexico. He was actually in a successful touring band who was signed to Sony records, but he left it behind to find a new music scene in the states. He moved to Chicago and that’s where our story sort of begins.
I had an ad up on Craigslist in search of a drummer for my solo project, and Ivan responded to my ad, saying he loved my song “Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll” and that he’d love to drum for me. We exchanged emails back and forth, but never met up, because I did find another drummer right around the same time, and things clicked with him, so we were together for about a year. Then, a year LATER, I was searching for a drummer again, and Ivan saw my ad, and contacted me once again. Same story – I found another drummer almost at the same time Ivan responded…it was nothing personal, just found someone else. What’s funny is I’ve still got the original emails saved of Ivan’s excitement to try out, and it’s really cute because he was so incredibly excited to be in a new country pursuing music and everything seemed like an amusement park to him.
Anyway, a year later, I was looking for a drummer again…not sure if that says anything bad about me, or that I’m just really picky as a musician, but he saw my ad again, and this time we DID meet up. I remember thinking to myself – oh it’s that guy from Mexico again who doesn’t speak great English, but he’s so excited! I told my other band mates he was coming by to jam. I sent him some songs to practice too.
Now – amazing drummers are VERY hard to find… I mean, drummers who are not only technically and musically talented because they’re trained musicians, but those who truly FEEL the music in their hearts and in their souls. When Ivan showed up, and sat on the drums, and we started jamming, I was blown away by his attention to detail and how incredibly talented he was – but most importantly how he threw his entire soul into the music…this guy was more than just a drummer. He’s an artist, and you could tell right away by his passion.
Anyway, that was the beginning of it all. I’ve been a solo artist all my life, up until Ivan came into the picture. One day, after we’d been jamming quite some time, and become close friends, he says, ‘Why don’t we start a band? Just the two of us? I’ll sit on drums and sing, and you just play the guitar and sing”. And what’s interesting is, that’s exactly how this band began. And if you look at pictures, you’ll see how our instrument setup has changed tremendously over the years. Take a listen to our tunes, and you’ll hear that we’ve gone through major transformations as songwriters as well.
I could spend days writing here, but you can find a ton of info on our site. There’s a wealth of information here, from videos, music, and articles where you can learn more. If you dig what you’ve read so far, please join our mailing list here; you’ll actually get the low down of some very personal stories we don’t share with the public, and get unreleased tracks and video footage that you can’t find online.
WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO US
It’s important for us to make music that can actually resonate with other people. That’s what it’s always been about, and that’s what it will ALWAYS be about. The reason Ivan and I work so well as musicians is because when we sit down to write, there comes a moment sometimes that completely throws us off, and we realize, holy potato pancakes! That’s awesome! Let’s keep working on it and see where it goes.
Some of those songs become nothing, while others become music we are so incredibly proud of – and that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone has to love it. As long as we’re happy with what we created, that’s important. Then of course, people decide – and we’ve been thrown off by the songs people really connected with that we weren’t expecting…and then had some songs we thought people would love, that didn’t turn out that way. I guess that’s the beauty of creating music straight from your heart – just let it come out naturally, and that’s all that really maters. We would got too many songs to even know what to do with, many of which we’ve never released, and we save some very special ones for our mailing list members.
WHAT’S OUR END DESTINATION?
Well, we’d love to meet cool people. We are a couple of weirdos from a distant planet. We’e never fit in to any kind of music scene, or human scene for that matter, but we keep doing what we do, cause we know that most important thing to do is follow what your heart tells you to do…and we’ve met some incredibly awesome people along the way. We would met fans who drove many miles to see us, who became great friends, who to this day, we are close with.
We’d love to be making music and traveling different corners of the world for a living. We’d love to meet more awesome people. You know, in a way, that’s one of the beautiful things about creating and releasing music. We DO meet amazing people who are outcasts, dreamers, and weirdos who don’t fit in…like us. It always warms our hearts, as cheesy as it sounds…it just feels good to meet other like-minded folks who are just trying to be themselves in a world where that’s not always appreciated or admired. So, if this resonates with you at all, we hope we can be friends and enjoy a fun journey ahead together.
All the best,
Paul & Ivan
Pinto and the Bean
PintoandtheBean.net
