Here is the long-promised Q&A interview with Phil Usher in regards to the end of Beanbag.
[PHOTO ABOVE IS PHIL'S BAND, TONJIP]
-Why is Beanbag breaking up?
Well, it's been a long time coming. There are a lot of factors but the short answer is that it was just time. The band has been going since late 1995 and spent about 4 years just playing around Australia before putting out an album in the States and touring here. I guess we got thrust into the Christian market here; which was a foreign entity to us, especially considering where we came from. Beanbag mostly played club shows in Australia and wrote music for people who had no knowledge of God or Christ. Artistically speaking, both musically and lyrically, we did our best to write music that was different, groundbreaking and original? and that also came from our hearts naturally. We have found from experience that if we wanted to be successful in this industry, (whatever "success" means anyway), we would have to make some compromises which we weren't prepared to make. I guess the other side of it is that living in a foreign country with the financial pressures that brings with it, coupled with the need to live and work together constantly, took its toll after a while. Adding to this the fact that we wrecked our van, trailer and musical gear whilst avoiding a deer on the interstate, and that we are all unable to play at the moment due to injuries from the accident, we felt the writing was on the wall.
How long have you and Hunz been doing your other bands/projects for?
Well, Hunz was writing his own music before he joined Beanbag, since his teens, and I formed Tonjip (pronounced Tun-jip) in 1995 back in Brisbane. I wasn?t asked to join Beanbag until 1997 when their original drummer left the band. I guess you could say that Beanbag was a kind of side project for me, that took off and went further than I had anticipated. For Hunz, it was about 50/50 with his own music.
-Why was everyone willing to give up the name, contract, and reputation of
Beanbag?
Our first American release (Free Signal) went really well here and everyone was happy with it except for us. There were certain issues with lyrics, artwork and presentation of the band that we weren?t too happy about, but we all felt as if we are servants, so we should put the people first who will be getting the album. When we released Welladjusted, we all felt it was more "us" and took a natural progression for the band which was much needed considering we had been together for so long. We felt it was a much more mature album and were pretty proud of it, however it didn?t sell as well as Free signal for a variety of reasons, which was disappointing to us. The past year since Welladusted came out has been difficult both personally and financially, and because of these factors and the fact that Welladjusted didn't do as well as we had hoped, the band's progress suffered dramatically. It got to the point that I felt in my heart earlier in the year that I needed to leave to pursue Tonjip and when we sat down to talk recently, it became clear that Hunz and Steve wanted to call it a day. I think if you had been in our situation this past six months, you would have been able to see it coming from a long way back.
-Perhaps everyone (in the band) wasn't willing to split. If there were some dissenting opinions, what did they say? How did they feel?
The feeling was fairly mutual. We lost our original bass player Hirvy in January and I guess that wasn't a good sign. Michael (guitar) started the band, and I guess it will be saddest for him as he has worked very hard to get the band to where we got. He even managed the band for about a year and a half in the States, in addition to managing it back home in Australia. When you put 7 years of your life into something, you would kind of wish for it to end on a high note, but unfortunately Beanbag isn't in that position. So it is a bit disappointing for all of us. I guess we take comfort in the fact that we know in our hearts that it is time for it to end, and also that we have a lot of great memories and have met so many fantastic people along the way.
-What style of music will you and Hunz be doing now?
Well, Hunz will be pursuing his electronic music which he writes, records and performs himself. He is putting together a live band to perform his music. It is completely different to what we were doing with Beanbag.
Tonjip could be described as Nostalgic, Indie-guitar-pop and again couldn't be more different from Beanbag. Because I am not playing drums in the band and have a large part in the writing process it has always been easy for me to separate it from Beanbag. Everyone can check it out at wwwtonjip.com
-When will an album come out?
Tonjip has an album out on an independent Australian label named Toupee records. The album is self titled and came out in 2000. We are working on a follow up next year, which I am hoping will be released in the States. Hunz will be also working towards releasing an album next year. We both feel called to focus on the general market rather than the Christian industry.
-Why the relocation back to Australia?
Well, most of you probably don't know how hard or expensive it is for us to be in America. In fact, this is something that contributed to our financial difficulties as a band. Our visas run out in January and we will have to go back to work on getting others if we want to return. The music industry in general is much smaller in Australia than here, so to make ends meet, artists have to either target the US market or the European one, or both. Hunz and I both plan to return with our own projects, so we will have to see. Obviously all our family and friends are back home.. and Tonjip is based in Brisbane at the moment which is our home town. All this and the recent accident kind of left us with no choice.
-How did this time in America go for (all) you guys?
I have learned so much in the last 3 years which I plan to take into my future. It really was the adventure of a lifetime and I have told quite a few people that it has been the greatest and the most difficult time of my entire life. I have really felt like I was being shaped and molded and passing through a refining fire. We have met so many fantastic people and contacts, and have so many adventures and stories to take with us. For me, the main difficulty has been putting my own music with Tonjip on the backburners, but I guess we are all free to pursue our own thing now.
-Anything else you'd like to add?
I guess we would like to thank everyone who has supported us by buying our music, coming to our shows, talking with us, encouraging us, blessing us with food, money or friendship. Thanks also to the bands we have toured with and played with, especially Philmore, Bleach, Seventh Day Slumber, Battered Fish, Dependent, the Frugals, Shrug, hangnail, Harmony Thrash, Luna Halo, Spoken, Earthsuit, Rod Laver, Mercury Switch, Pax 217, Jonah and the Whalers, Echocast, TFK and anyone else we might have forgotten. You will always be in our hearts and minds. America has been so amazing to us in so many ways. For all those of you who we have met and formed friendships, we would also like to say goodbye for now and we hope to see you again sometime out on the road in the future. Thanks to Wes Campbell and Peter Furler for giving us a go on their label. Thanks to 3rd Coast for booking for us over the years. Thanks also to Christ who is always with us and sustains us through everything.
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Thanks for being so honest dude. I'm an Aussie who's been a Beanbag fan for quite a while (I know Hunz, and also Nerida) and have come to believe that who you are as people is a lot more important that your music - even though i love the music a lot.
I got to see you last year at Cornerstone and it was a highlight of my life to support an Aussie band at such a big festival. But, as i said, your honesty and desire for integrity in following Christ, even in the midst of difficulties, has inspired me more. I wish more musicians would focus on that.
Best of luck in all you do - and enjoy coming home!!
Posted by:
dave cook on April 23, 2003 07:45 PM
It is good to see that after 6 months of your breaking up, you guys were finally mentioned as being 'dead.' It's unfortunate the death of beanbag took as long to get to the main public as the life of beanbag. We will miss you all big time, I leave the beanbag fansite up as a tribute @ http://beanbagfans.cjb.net Let the fans reminisce the good old days of beanbag and pray all the better for your new projects and lives.
Posted by:
Sally AKA hunzygurl on April 24, 2003 09:16 PM
yea im a big bean bag fan and ive gotten to become friends with hanz and all the guys they are a unblieveable group of guys to be around. if i could carry on the beanbag tridition i would. as a matter of fact i might do that right now.
Posted by:
Bryce on April 27, 2003 04:56 PM
Maybe Beanbag decided to call it quits due to the fact that rap-metal happens to be in rapid decline, which hurts a band like this especially when they are little more than viewed by the industry as in the vein of POD,Project 86, Blindside, or Spoken. They never were a relevant band to begin with and now they have finally become exposed, they made a very wise decision. Hey, somebody from Australia had to try rap-metal, right?
Posted by:
Noah Millheim on May 1, 2003 06:39 PM
I feel like i should point out, gently, that Beanbag were doing their thing in Australia long before the rise of POD, Project 86, Korn and the like - and one thing they always said is that they didn't listen to bands like Rage Against the Machine or other contemporaries.
What they came up with, they did themselves - and it was very relevant in the Australian context. It may not have fit or worked in the American context as there were already the aforementioned bands there. But down here they mattered - a lot.
And they weren't part of the "rap-metal" formula. They were just Beanbag.
Posted by:
dave cook on May 1, 2003 07:30 PM
i feel terrible about beanbag leaving, although if they felt in their hearts that the timing was best then i know that they made the right decision. to noah millheim, you obviously have no idea how idiotic the comment you've made is. saying that beanbag was not a relevant band is insane and very much akin to the words of the poser that you listen to over and over daily talk about how much you know about music and how "hardcore" your favorite bands are.
Posted by:
happynappy on May 10, 2003 07:33 PM
I was very saddened to hear that Beanbag called it quits. I was even more saddened to hear that "welladjusted" did not do well here. What a beautiful album! I have rarely seen a band play with such passion and not only on one occasion, but every time. They were not performing, but worshiping in the truest sense of the word. To think they were just another "rap-rock" band is to miss the point of their music entirely. God Speed, my brothers!
Posted by:
Seth Dunham on May 13, 2003 01:16 PM
I got Beanbag's Welladjusted first and thought it was amazing. Powerful, original, and NOT just another "rap-rock" band. Whoever calls them that obviously haven't paid a lick of attention to their extemely dynamic music. Hunz had a really cool voice, and the whole band just rocked in a totally fresh, new way that I have never heard before. They aren't even close to POD or Project 86 (and comparing them to Blindside is crazy... Blindside is not even close to any kind of "rap-rock"). Each of these bands are great in their own right are different then Beanbag. Beanbag had their own thing, their own groove. And after getting Freesignal, it just cemented them as one of my favorite bands. I'll miss them, but I'll also be looking for Tonjip and Hunz's stuff.
Rock on and God bless!
Posted by:
C.A. on May 21, 2003 07:57 PM
There is a reason Beanbag did not survive the fall of rap-metal, and the fact that they did not survive speaks for itself. So don't take your anger out on me because it is not my fault that your favorite band suffers from an obvious lack of talent. If you read my post you will see that I described the views of the industry, not the views that I hold on Beanbag as an individual. Don't talk to me about being a poser, you wouldn't know the first thing about all the bands I have been down with pre-major label corruption. So you can have your Australian carbon copy of POD because as long as they re-locate to Australia they are back where they belong, which is out of the United States. Over here we listen to real music, American music.
Posted by:
Noah Millheim on May 31, 2003 05:21 PM
noah,
It's really a shame that you have to act like such a jerk! Even if you feel like this, there is no need to say the things you are saying.
You may not want to hear this, but I would suggest you have a good long talk with God... it surely hurts him that you would talk this way about one of his own.
Jimmy
Posted by:
jimmy on June 2, 2003 10:41 PM
Hey Jimmy,
Wow, why don't you pull the plank out of your eye before you look at the speck in someone else's eye? Noah was talking about music, and he has a right to make his views known about music. I think you should check yourself before you start saying that someone is acting like a jerk and that they should have a good long talk with God. I hope you don't talk to people like that in the future.
Nate
Posted by:
Nate on February 7, 2004 06:54 PM
