Why can't boys be trusted? Do cows really make holes in the ozone? Were the '70s cool or just dumb? And are we the last generation of rock and roll? The Bean Hoy band ponders dilemmas big and small to a cool and bluesy roots-funk groove.
Guitar-slingin' journalist Mike Starling started the Bean Hoy band as an outlet for his wry, topical tunes about subjects like road construction, farmer tans and the joys of beater cars and Wisconsin winters. Taking the stage in everything from an acoustic duo on up to an eight-piece rock band with a brass section called the Horns of Vengeance, Bean Hoy's spirited and unpredictable sound draws inspiration from such sundry sources as Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker, the Velvet Underground and Mad magazine. "Like Dave Barry backed by the Violent Femmes," said LAX Magazine in a review of the band's debut recording. "The songs are a laundry list of local and national maladies, often depicted with a dark sense of humor. And, as often as not, the music is as playful as the words. All in all, the album is a reflection of inane pop culture, where one no longer condemns the plastic world around us but instead videotapes it for later when there's nothing else on."
Fueled by well-crafted tongue-in-cheek tunes like "Road Construction," "Last Generation of Rock & Roll" and "A Little Bit Confused (The Politically Correct Song)," the band's first release was named Best Local Recording of the Year in the 1993 LAMMIES (La Crosse Area Music Awards). The best songs from that out-of-print cassette were remastered and re-released with six new tracks on the 1998 CD BOYS CAN'T BE TRUSTED. Starling is backed by two different core groups, one including guitarist Casey Virock and drummer Jim Vogt, and another featuring guitarist Hans Mayer and drummer David Purcell, along with other guest musicians.
A second CD, COOL MUSIC FOR A BIG DUMB WORLD, followed in 2006. Essentially a solo recording spawned during Starling's stint as a beer magazine editor in Boulder, Colorado, this album expanded on the mostly acoustic sound of the first CD with more electric guitars and bluesier material. Songs like "Groovy Town," "Oh! Sandfly!" and "Baby Boomer Blues", though, show he hadn't lost his knack for penning a droll and sharp-witted lyric.
After a move to Milwaukee, Mike started gigging with drummer Bob Mueller, guitarist Tom Plutshack and upright bassist Jared Drake under the Bean Hoy name. This version of the band is documented on the 2008 release GET LOST: THE STUDIO J SESSIONS, which contains songs by all four band members. Tunes like Mueller's "El Chupacabra," Plutshack's "Pyramid Stones" and Starling's "Get Lost (The Santo Domingo Song)" showcase this lineup's affinity for Latin and reggae grooves, while Drake's "The Planets" and the Mueller-Starling collaboration "California's Gonna Sink" hark back to their punkier roots.
Along with his work with Bean Hoy, bandleader Mike Starling composes instrumental music for the GUITAR MOODS and DIDJERIBLUE album series, both available from CD Baby. Photography from his travels has been featured in two books, "Live Without Dead Time: The Streets of Amsterdam" and "Blue & White: The Streets of Santorini," on tour now in his traveling STREETS exhibit. More details on all his artistic adventures can be found at mikestarling.com.
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