Interview: Beige Interior
Mankato has a fairly large music scene and community; one I’ve come to know and love in my years of living here. There’s a huge diversity of local bands and styles of music, including everything from rap to reggae. One band, I’ve grown particularly fond of, is Beige Interior. The up-and-coming group has its own unique sound that’s familiar enough to catch your attention but also new enough to keep you interested. I was fortunate enough to catch their first three shows and even got an interview with the upcoming group.
Beige Interior‘s first few shows were very successful, earning praise from each crowd they played. A particular favorite show of mine was the show they played at the Emy Frentz Gallery for the Palatable Creations event. The entertainment included aerial artists whose graceful movements blended nicely with the art scene along with the band’s music. I’d never heard of Emy Frentz Gallery despite living in Mankato for over five years now until Jacob Bases, the bassist of Beige Interior, invited me to catch their show there and I wasn’t disappointed. The event was produced by Lindsey Schaefer and the Twin Rivers Movers + Shakers, a group of Twin Rivers Affiliates and professionals collaborating to produce creative networking events. This event, in particular, was sponsored by Open Arts Poor Farm Studios and Visual Art inspired by food.
Food was provided by local, Greater Mankato businesses: Wooden Spoon, Fillin’ Station Coffeehouse, Schmidt’s Meat Market (Nicollet), The Cheese & Pie Mongers (St. Peter) and Lush Cakes (Janesville).
The show consisted of Lollipop Performances by Aerial Affinity, Kris Krause, Teresa Tebbe, Hannah Cesario, Kristi Campana.
Jacob, Willis, and Megan were kind enough to sit down and answer some questions about their band: how it came to be, why they do it, and what words of wisdom that might help other local aspiring artists and musicians.
Q: What would you like new listeners to know about your music?
Megan: Um it’s good. [laughs] It’s different; it’s not something that’s typically played in a Mankato band.
Me: That’s true I don’t know many other local bands that try to incorporate synth type music.
Q: How would you describe your music?
Willis: We try not to.
Q: You just kind of go with the flow?
Willis: Some downtempo … synth … pop music.
Jacob: Yeah, I’ve come to like the term downtempo more recently. I kind of like using the word pop because some people don’t like it [laughs] I feel like I don’t know, it’s like people should like music.
Willis: We just started making the kind of sounds we’ve always wanted to be making and like mashing them together with the sounds of everybody else’s stuff.
Megan: Something lucid and different.
Jacob: Yeah, I mean if we try to label it right now, what might the next five or ten songs be like. Were like freshmen album so who knows what the next ones will be.
Q: How did you all meet?
Megan: Well we [Megan and Jacob] were previously in a band that did cover music with Ocho (another local musician.) I performed my first on-stage show with him [Jacob] playing bass and Ocho doing the guitar and drums. Then Willis just-
Willis: I’m around
[All laugh]
Megan: I don’t know how I met you honestly.
Jacob: Willis and I kicked around this project forever when I was working on that cover band with you and Ocho. And I was like, “I think Megan would work and that she would fit well with where we were at,” [with Willis’ and Jacob’s music] and it just took off we had written a song like the day before and saying well let’s just have her freestyle over it and that became underwater.
Q: What’s the origin of your band’s name?
Megan: [ laughs] this one’s all Jacob.
Jacob: I just had like, a file in the back of my mind of cool band names, I guess. It might have something to do with like the interior of every car I’ve wanted own was beige. Maybe there’s a statement too, I don’t know. [Laughs]
Q: Who are your biggest influences?
Megan: Billie Eillish, honestly, because when I started doing this music it was different than what I was doing with the cover music. She isn’t very projected when she sings it’s kind of reserved and more of a breathy sound and so when I started doing this music it was like, “oh let’s try belting it,” and that sounded like crap. So, I kind of learned to get a little bit quieter but also do quality work.
Jacob: Before Megan came, we [Willis and Jacob] were modeling our playing style a little bit like a hybrid mash of you know two people just playing two different electronic instruments and some regular playing. We were listening to a lot of Bonobo, taiko-
Willis: Crong, that would be a good one.
Q: What’s your song-writing process?
Megan: they play the tunes and I just sing over it. Honestly, it’s probably one of the simplest things like structure doesn’t matter right away when we start. They usually have some sort of mashup beat put together and I come in and they play it for me. Then I just basically got at it completely like off-script nothing written and then from there write it down and then look at it and move things around.
Me: So, beat-wise, do you just find something you like and go with it?
Willis: Yeah, we’ve been playing together for a really long time, so we sort of have a repertoire of styles that we work with. We just kind of start somewhere, pick an arbitrary starting point and go from there — play with some sounds, move and scrub off a bassline.
Jacob: They’re [ the beats] really moody.
Megan: It’s kind of like whatever we’re feeling for the day. One day I might make a happy song into a sad song really quick if I’m feeling that type of way. [Laughs]
Q: What got you into singing/writing/playing music?
Jacob: Willis and I were working in the kitchen at a bar and restaurant and I think one day you [Willis] were talking about doing stuff with Ableton or something and then I was like, “I’m going to get a drum machine, were going to make some music.” I just got online and probably order just the worst drum machine and you know then it was just a lot of synth noodling. I picked up the bass later and we just had years of learning from each other. I finally got up on stage with Ocho and Megan and that was the time everything was coming together, and I was like, “we need to make a performance project” and that’s what came of this.
Megan: Mine’s a bit of a longer story. It goes back to when I was five years old. Just kidding. I honestly started wanting to do music when I saw American Idol and I was like, “oh I’m gonna go on American idol” but my path kind of took me a different direction. I moved here for college and then it was open mics and things available, so I reconnected with that previous desire to do music. Then I ended up meeting tons of amazing people that open so many opportunities. Now, I’m part of this band. It’s definitely not the type of music I would have previously expected myself to be interested in or performing but I feel like out of all the music I’ve done, it fits a lot better than anything that I was doing before.
Q: What inspires you the most about the type of music you make?
Megan: I guess you could say money. You’re getting paid for doing shows, or you could say fame, but honestly, at this point, it’s just something that I feel like we all genuinely like to do even if it doesn’t necessarily go anywhere. We’re doing something different and it’s something that we like doing the rest is just kind of applause.
Jacob: I feel like musicianship has pushed me a long way. Going on this path with this band has pushed me forward to making better music. It’s not a knock on the stuff we’re making now but it’s there you think about it and how you can make it better. I like having awesome support around me so it’s easy when they’re there — it’s easier than it would be doing it myself.
Q: Have you ever dealt with performance anxiety and how do you deal with it?
Megan: Oh god, [laughs] before a show we’d show up here [Willis’ house], were getting ready to go and I’m just like, “Hey guys I like totally threw up on the way here. I don’t know what I’m gonna do and I think I’m gonna forget my words.” We go out there just to find them like, “Hey it’s not so bad.”
Q: Is it just anxiety of being up in front of people and having eyes on you?
Megan: I don’t know if it’s necessarily a problem with that because open mics and stuff like that, I always get nervous when it comes to a new crowd and a new venue. You never know what kind of crowd you’re gonna get, you don’t know what to expect and if you’re performing something different than the norm you don’t know how people are going to respond to that.
Q: What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Megan: Know your options. I moved here and didn’t really know options. I know for a fact that Willis, all the time, is out there willing to show people how to use a patch and use the equipment. You just have to know that there are other people out there and were all extremely willing to help you as long as you know that that’s an option and you’re willing to speak up and ask for help to do that.
Willis: I think places like open mic are really cool and that’s partially where we’ve had some, I mean, at least better connections with people there and playing there it just other people trying to do some cool stuff. You kind of jam out or show what they’re working on. You can talk to them and connect that way with people in your area.
Jacob: Get on stage ASAP. It took me way too long like I went, and I took like a year of instruction and fiddling around with synths probably two years before that. If it’s your first time on stage and someone has something negative to say, then I have something negative to say about them you know. Ha-ha. Just get out there and perform. The most progress you’ll make is by playing with other musicians and networking ideas, so you know there’s no time like the present.
These guys are some of the nicest, most down to earth people you’ll meet. Unfortunately, the band is going on a hiatus this winter to look for a new singer. Megan will be moving to Las Vegas in the coming months. Take this opportunity to check out their music and go to a show!
The band will be at Starving Artists on September 20 and Moonfest on Sept 21.
Stream them here in the meantime.
Story by Frankie Kelly
Photos by Lindsey Schaefer
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