Jake Robuck and Kobe Miyake are a Nashville based duo, releasing music under the name BEAN. Their first single, “patmos”, landed them on playlists curated by Fashionably Early, Cage Riot, and more. With their dreamy, easygoing sound, their music can slot easily into any chill playlist, the perfect soundtrack for long drives. With a few live shows under their belt, BEAN. has been making a name for themselves in the Nashville area, and are definitely a group to watch.
I got a chance to chat with Jake and Kobe via email to talk about their new single “convictions”, as well as their vision for the future of BEAN.
Brigid: To start, could you both introduce yourselves, and your role in the group?
Jake: My name is Jake, and I play guitar, sing backing vocals, and write songs for
BEAN.
Kobe: My name is Kobe and I’m the lead singer in BEAN.
B: How did you two meet and start making music together?
J: We met on the first day of college in late 2020, and Kobe was essentially my only
friend that first semester. We lived down the hall from each other and wrote
songs together occasionally, but after the first semester, both of our roommates
moved out for various reasons, so we decided to move in together. Once we
lived together, we wrote and played a lot more music and have been going ever
since.
B: Who are some of your musical influences?
J: From a songwriting and production standpoint, I love Dijon, mk.gee, The Beatles,
and The 1975, along with some really inspiring artists from Nashville like nickname jos and Casper Sage. From a guitar playing standpoint I’d say Jimi Hendrix and John Frusciante are my biggest heroes.
K: I feel like my main influences in my music are probably Dijon, Mac Ayres, D’Angelo, and Bruno Mars. Dudes with vocal pipes beyond comprehension.
B: Your newest single, “convictions”, is out. Can you tell me a bit about the creative process behind the track?
K: The lyrics in the track happened because I was in a toxic headspace of letting certain people’s perceptions of me control the way I perceived myself. The situation sorta made me reassess my values and I think that’s reflected in the hook. In terms of the instrumentals, we were trying to make something energetic with a groove that people could bop to. We used a lot of synths and guitar layers to make the sound fuller, as well.
B: What are the major differences between this new track and your most recent single, “patmos”?
J: Despite having some sonic and stylistic similarities, “convictions” to us feels a lot darker and broodier, hence the single art, which is a stark contrast from the bright and vibrant “patmos” cover. “patmos” is a love song at its core, but “convictions” has a wide range of emotions bundled up inside of it—anger at yourself or the world, a sense of not belonging, not having a firm sense of who you are, just to name a few.
B: What do you want listeners to take away from your music?
J: We always want to convey how much love and effort we put into our music through our songs. It all comes from a place of joy and gratitude for getting to play music with our best friends and be surrounded by such creative, inspiring, and good-hearted people. We hope people find comfort in and relate to our music, and the outpouring of support we’ve gotten so far means the world to us. Not a bad way to start at all.
K: I think music has shaped us into who we are as people so we just want others to be inspired by the things we have to offer as artists. Whether it’s something fun to bop to or something that helps them get through what’s going on for them. I just want people to feel something when they listen.
B: You’ve played several live shows and have another one upcoming, can you tell me a bit about what those shows look like? What’s your favorite part of performing live?
J: Our live shows are one of the most exciting and enjoyable parts of being musicians together. It’s a constant interaction between all of us on stage as well as the audience; we want everyone to feel involved and included. We add a lot of musical moments to the live show that are usually dreamed up in rehearsals beforehand. Having fun with the live show is paramount. Additionally, curating the order of the setlist is very fun for me personally, with our current setlist being an entire narrative beginning with “patmos” and ending with an unreleased tune called “what will i do”.
K: My favorite part is definitely the energy that it draws out from us and the crowd. I’m surrounded by such amazing band members and as much as we rehearse our songs in practice, the performance will still always feels like a jam session for me. It’s just a time to let loose and share the stuff we made and with people.
B: Where do you see BEAN. in 5 years?
J: In 5 years, we want to be touring and making records while still having the spirit of excitement and the energy that is propelling us right now. We want to share our music with as many people as are willing to listen and grow this community.
K: I see BEAN. continuing to release music and playing larger venues so we can get our songs to the widest audience possible. This is all of our passions and I can’t imagine our drive to do it is gonna slow up any time soon. As much as I wanna speculate about what type of success we could be enjoying in 5 years, I’m mostly excited for the dope things I know we’re going to make.
B: Following the single release, what’s next for BEAN? Any more new music on the way, or future shows?
J: As far as shows go, we are playing Fools Fest in Nashville April 1st, and The East Room on the 5th. We are in the process of recording several new songs to be distributed on streaming platforms along with the others in the coming months, and are also in the post-production stage of a short film of our entire live set, shot at BEAN. keyboardist Harrison Finks’ lake house out in west Tennessee several weeks ago. The live version of “convictions” from that live session will be out within the week, and a full visualizer for “convictions” will be available within the next two weeks. Credit for a vast majority of our visual content goes to Nick Jackson, who not only has shot shows and the short film for us, but has done both our single covers and Spotify canvases as well. A large portion of our online aesthetic is his creative vision and collaborating with us to tell the story we want to tell in the best way possible. We’re excited to continue our relationship with him going forward and are excited to see how the visuals evolve over time.
Listen to “convictions” here!
