RomerDome Familia Interview: Beaman and Friends
Beaman and Friends is what happens when a group of friends from a variety of musical backgrounds come together and create a diverse yet common ground. The five man band comprises Jeremy Beaman, John Holt, Matthew Palmquist, and brothers Gabe Antestenis and Luke Antestenis. The project started about a year ago and has gone through some member changes and may go through more, but this lineup looks promising.
Jeremy Beaman is a Minneapolis based: singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Although he currently plays the violin for The Northern Medicine, starting his own project has allowed him to explore new sounds as well as showcase a much broader extent of his talent and creativity. With a little help from his friends, of course.
“It’s nice having a collective of people around you that all have different skills. Being surrounded by talent is imperative to growth within yourself,” said Beaman.
The five have been collaborating in various ways for some time now. Holt and Beaman used to jam after hours at Twin Cities Drum Collective, the drum shop Holt works at. Beaman and Palmquist, both living in St. Louis Park, jam frequently. The Antestenis brothers were both a part of Beaman’s now broken up project he started last year.
“We all started consistently jamming together in our free time, and now we’re here,” said Palmquist.
“I found a group of individuals who are passionate about what they do. They want to play music,” Beaman added.
The band’s sound is currently oriented around Beaman’s folky solo style, but it has plans to integrate as many genres and styles as possible. With backgrounds in music ranging from Antestenis’ punk rock and metal history to Palmquist’s jazz origins, the individuals have no shortage of variety to contribute to the group.
“I ultimately want to get to the point where we can do jam style and broken down hip-hop style stuff, and basically put on a set of any style of music,” said Beaman.
Holt, Palmquist, and recently recruited Beaman are all also members of Goop City Music – a high energy, horn-infused hip-hop group that now includes Beaman and his violin. Unexpected change-ups of band members along with recruitments that simply made sense have left both projects very integrated with one another. This Beaman and Friends/Goop City collective will only help drive Beaman and Friends to the diversity of sound the band wishes to achieve.
When fans will be able to obtain this new sound for themselves is to be decided. Aside from live shows and a few small releases to keep people aware, Beaman, who is currently funding the project himself, may save most of his funds to invest in the future. In the meantime, the Cross Examination EP can be found on Spotify.
“It’s expensive to record, so I’m thinking about building my own recording studio. I plan to play music for the rest of my life, so I want to be able to record my own s**t, you know?” said Beaman.
Regardless of the future of its music releases, each member of the band is dedicated to his individual craft as well as working towards its sound as a whole.
“It’s so cool that everyone is down to work, like, every day after work. What are we gonna do? Just relax and watch Netflix, or are we gonna make some music? We’re gonna make some music,” said Palmquist.
Just shy of 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 1 at Shangri-La, Beaman and Friends took the Om Dome stage and did exactly that. From folk to reggae and back, the smooth, chill, jazzy, groovy hour and a half long set seamlessly took the audience and passersby alike from one mood to the next.
If this is just the early stages of the band’s sound progression, then the future is looking bright indeed.
Photos by Shane Adams
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