"little band with a not so little sound"

93 Band Name Ideas We Had Before Choosing 'Pinto and the Bean'

*scroll to the bottom of this blog post to read the 93 different band name ideas we had before finally setting on 'Pinto and the Bean'

In June of 2010, we decided this little rock & roll project of ours needed a band name. We had already written half a dozen songs since January of that year and the band certainly couldn't perform concerts without a name. Soon, the thought occurred to us to ask people for their favorite band name ideas and to eventually settle on the one we liked best among all the choices. We headed out to concerts, parties, and festivals and also sent out emails to friends. When there were 100 band name suggestions, we decided to narrow down the list to a handful we liked. 'Pinto and the Bean' was obviously one of the choices. It was sort of funny and it was definitely memorable. It also wasn't such an over the top idea that people wouldn't take us seriously if we did choose it as our name. Whenever people heard 'Pinto and the Bean', they either smiled or laughed, and almost everyone was amused by it. It sort of had a Foo Fighters ring to it. 'Foo Fighters' sounds silly at first, but when you take a listen to any of their songs, you know right away they take their music seriously. Well, our band name may be silly, but we certainly care about the music we put into the world; more importantly, we hope it makes a difference in other people's lives.

So, in the end, it definitely was a tough decision to choose 'Pinto and the Bean' as our band name - for the same reason it's difficult to make any major decision life. Once you do, it's not easy to go back and change it. Yes, there have been moments we've been self conscious about it, and we wondered if people pigeonhole our music into a certain category. What kind of picture does our band name paint in a stranger's mind when hearing it for the first time? Well, we chose 'Pinto and the Bean', be it awkward, silly, memorable or all of those things and more. Popeye the sailor man said 'I am what I am and that's what I am'. For better or worse, our band name is here to stay - and we hope it's not what's on the surface that rocks you, but the energy that lives within the music that does. So, that's our story, and we hope you've enjoyed it.

Scroll to the bottom of this blog post to check out 93 band name ideas people came up with for us. Also, below are the 4 names we were debating upon before choosing 'Pinto and the Bean'

-Coke Babies

-Blue

-No Names

-Paul & Ivan

The following is a list of the band name ideas people came up with. There are more that we can't locate, but here are 93 that we DID find:

93 Band Name Ideas We Had Before
Choosing 'Pinto and the Bean'

-Sound Travels
-Galactic Shamanic Paragdigm
-Brown Town Thank You Ma'am!
-Dumbass Blonde
-Mario Bros.
-2 Raw
-Life Alert
-The Shades
-Cool Water
-The Glacactic Shamanic
-Cheap Beans
-I've Fallen & I Can't Get Up
-Angry Monkeys
-Tampon Lollypop
-Club &
-The Kidney & The Bean
-The Paulivanizers
-We Are Giving You Gold!
-Intergalatic Shamanic
-Strange No Names
-The Crazies
-Fist
-Ignorance Is Bliss
-Pyvan
-Mary Gold
-Organic Fiber Fools
-Chick & The Pea
-The Shadows
-Prison Bitch
-Mighty Lightning
-Double Fist
-Quiet Breath
-Stinky Boys
-Pauly and the Finkleman Doodle Bops
-Pinto and the Bean
-Paulapoluza
-Baby Of 9
-Shamanic Paradigm
-Whereabouts
-Organic Iceberg
-Amy’s Breakheart
-Blueprint
-Looks Better at Dusk
-Glory Hole
-Incases
-Future Mouth
-Punctuation From Mars
-Mario & Luigi
-Neutral 2
-Navy Beans
-Ivan and the Oily Spit Widgets featuring Paul and the Short Stack Sensations
-Flying Fading
-Natural Windblowers
-Banging Against Rusty Rails
-Cuddly Stranger
-Slutty Dumpster
-Galaxy
-Brand New Dawns
-What's Your Middle Name?
-Vergon
-Enigma
-The Argument
-Klutzy Winos
-Thing 1 & Thing 2
-Steamworks
-Paul & Ivan
-Bob's Your Uncle
-Dusty Sanchez and the Teather Speds
-Symbiosis
-Toxic Gasbag
-Dirty Rice
-By, You
-Ivan and the Sappy Japs
-Dust Cloud
-Palvin and the Chipmunks
-Waiting for Melanie
-Coke Babies
-Filfthy Boys
-Annoying Chilean
-Two Beats Off
-The Wet Umbrellas
-The Flaming Hars
-No Names
-Poppy Peterson
-Exit
-A Violet Mind
-The Believers
-Blue
-Life and Limb
-The Watermelon Monsters
-Shoot The Moon
-I Think I Dreamed About You Last Night

Feb 9, 2012 3 comments Share

93 Band Name Ideas We Had Before Choosing 'Pinto and the Bean'

In June of 2010, we decided this little rock & roll project of ours needed a band name. We had already written half a dozen songs since January of that year and the band certainly couldn't perform concerts without a name. Soon, the thought occurred to us to ask people for their favorite band name ideas and to eventually settle on the one we liked best among all the choices. We headed out to concerts, parties, and festivals and also sent out emails to friends. When there were 100 band name suggestions, we decided to narrow down the list to a handful we liked. 'Pinto and the Bean' was obviously one of the choices. It was sort of funny and it was definitely memorable. It also wasn't such an over the top idea that people wouldn't take us seriously if we did choose it as our name. Whenever people heard 'Pinto and the Bean', they either smiled or laughed, and almost everyone was amused by it. It sort of had a Foo Fighters ring to it. 'Foo Fighters' sounds silly at first, but when you take a listen to any of their songs, you know right away they take their music seriously. Well, our band name may be silly, but we certainly care about the music we put into the world; more importantly, we hope it makes a difference in other people's lives.

So, in the end, it definitely was a tough decision to choose 'Pinto and the Bean' as our band name - for the same reason it's difficult to make any major decision life. Once you do, it's not easy to go back and change it. Yes, there have been moments we've been self conscious about it, and we wondered if people pigeonhole our music into a certain category. What kind of picture does our band name paint in a stranger's mind when hearing it for the first time? Well, we chose 'Pinto and the Bean', be it awkward, silly, memorable or all of those things and more. Popeye the sailor man said 'I am what I am and that's what I am'. For better or worse, our band name is here to stay - and we hope it's not what's on the surface that rocks you, but the energy that lives within the music that does. So, that's our story, and we hope you've enjoyed it.

Scroll to the bottom of this blog post to check out 93 band name ideas people came up with for our band. Also, below are the 4 names we were debating upon before choosing 'Pinto and the Bean'

-Coke Babies

-Blue

-No Names

-Paul & Ivan

The following is a list of the band name ideas people came up with. There are more that we can't locate, but here are 93 that we DID find:

Read the full post

Feb 8, 2012 Add comment Share

The Making of 'Let's Make Noise' Music Video

Exactly a month ago today, we headed out to Michigan to begin filming our third music video for the song 'Let's Make Noise'. If you aren't familiar with our two official music videos for 'Midnight Monsters' and 'Robot Wars', check them out because we're total music video nerds and we get all giddy when we're about to make a new one.

Before we tell you how it all went down, we realize you may just want to jump straight to the video...if that's the case, then you can check out the video footage below. It's pretty raw and random - we probably haven't shown this side of ourselves to P&B fans before...yep, it's a dorkier side of us and that's just fine and dandy. So, click on the video below to see the 'Making of Let's Make Noise' video.

Paul's family has a cottage in Lakeside, Michigan and it was sort of a last minute decision to ask his mom if we could stay there for a week to film this video. We just needed a room that was large enough to hold a giant black backdrop/curtain that we bought from a fabric store...we couldn't find a place here in Chicago that was within our budget to rent out for a few days. So the three of us (Paul, Ivan, and Nick) headed out to the cottage and stayed there for the week. If you've ever been to the ginormous Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo about an hour outside of Chicago, we weren't far from that.

So, the way it all went down - we first had to build a structure to hold up the backdrop before we could really do anything else. There was quite a bit of hammering and sawing going on in order to build the giant frame that would eventually hold up the backdrop. Then there was the covering up of every single window in the living room where the video was to be shot. We used dark blankets for this - which is essential for vampires - you may or may not know this, but we are vampires...we need darkness at all times....we didn't wake up until late afternoon each day when the sun had already gone down so the blankets turned out not even being needed....you know what - let's just make a bullet point list below of some of the highlights of making the video:

Animated pieces. We built a ship, a heart, and a clock - all using Christmas lights - so they turned out looking like a Lite Brite...that toy from the 80's that we've never actually seen in person, but heard is pretty cool. The challenge was to animate these Lite Brite objects in the video.
The buildings for the city scene were made from broken down cardboard boxes we got from Walmart. We then covered them in bed sheets and finally painted windows on them to make them into buildings.
The actual filming of the making of the video. We came to realize that although we may not be funny...we think we're pretty funny when we're holding a camera...sometimes
The clothes we're wearing...not really a highlight and not sure why we wore what we wore, but whatever...
The actual structure and backdrop - mentioned in the paragraph above. Without that, the video would never be capable of existing.
Lights - this is really the motif of this third music video of ours. It all revolves around lights...Christmas lights.

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Jan 19, 2012 2 comments Share

Empty Bottle show

We want to thank those of you who came out to our show on New Years Eve at Horseshoe. We really couldn't ask for anything more - surrounded by our favorite people on the last day of 2011, while making balloon animals, drinking champagne, and playing music.

Our next show is in a few weeks - January 23, a free Monday night at Empty Bottle with some other really great bands...Otter Petter, Mutts, and Wally Dogger. Otter Petter and Mutts have both had their albums on several top 10 lists in 2011...come to think of it, we did too. Our album The Waiting Place is one of Windy City Rock's Frank Krolicki's favorite albums of 2011. Check it out here.

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Jan 7, 2012 Add comment Share

New Years Eve party at Horseshoe

Boys and girls - the holidays are among us and we want to close out the year by inviting you to a New Year's Eve party! We'll be spending the evening at Horseshoe (4115 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL) celebrating the last moments of 2011 in a night that includes a buffet, champagne, and of course music. All of this for $20!

Joining us in the fun will be our sweet friends PoundCake from Kankakee and fine felines Bad Bad Meow from Chicago.

So, mark your calendars to party with us at Horseshoe on New Years Eve; it's gonna be a grand feast, a drunken blast and a perfect way to say goodbye to 2011!

Contact us for any questions or details - band@pintoandthebean.com

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Dec 27, 2011 Add comment Share

Old Christmas Song

So we were just looking through an old hard drive and found a Christmas song we wrote almost two years ago. This was well before Pinto and the Bean even existed. Listening to it... awkward...is that the right way to describe this song? It's called "Christmas Hug". We're thinking about sending it out in our next newsletter. If you aren't already on our mailing list, sign up in the box above. Thanks folks! Happy Holidays! Here's the flyer to our next show at Cole's on Friday, December 16.

BTW - here's a very recent review/interview with Bad Ass Bands Blog. Thanks so much to Jo Scott for the interview!

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Dec 6, 2011 Add comment Share

Streetside show next Saturday night

Lovelies, we're sorry we've been away hibernating. It happens during these cold wintery times. We'd love to see your pretty faces next Saturday night at Streetside. Our very good friends Bad Bad Meow will also be performing. Check out their music if you haven't yet. They're a pretty rocking' acoustic country punk duo. It'll be a grand ole time. It's a free show and they've got delicious drinks and food. See you then!

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Nov 12, 2011 Add comment Share

The Waiting Place now available on Bandcamp

Our debut album 'The Waiting Place' is now available where all the cool kids hang out! That's right, it's on bandcamp. Click here to check it out. T-shirts and posters available soon...We'll keep you posted with happenings...and there are LOTS of happenings coming. Talk soon!

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Oct 4, 2011 Add comment Share

Write Up in the Red Eye

our new stickers

Hey there friends! Our CD release party is only 1 day away! We can't wait to see you there tomorrow. All the details are at THIS LINK - we just got written up in the Red Eye today too which is pretty sweet. Check it out here!

Check out the pics of all that has arrived at the Pinto Bean practice space this week!

cds and posters

and of course t-shirts

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Sep 23, 2011 Add comment Share

Ivan's Light Up Drums

Yep, another little video of our new light up instruments. It's been a journey this past week learning how to practice with all these lights. We can't wait to see you at our CD release party this Saturday night! If you don't already know the details, click below.

CD RELEASE PARTY DETAILS