A local band called “Bryce n’ Beans” has been taking Blake High School by storm. Comprised of four high school students from two different schools in the area, Elijah on the keyboard, Maxwell on guitar and vocals, Justin on the bass guitar and saxophone, and Alex on drums, who’s from Newsome High School. The band has rapidly gained a following for their catchy tunes and impressive live performances such as the one in the cafeteria at Blake a few weeks ago.

The posse of music artists originally got together as a joke. Their debut song is called “Doing Your Mom” which is soon to be released on Spotify. 

The original two members, Max and Elijah, played the song in Blake’s black box room last year for a small audience, including a couple of teachers. The outcome was amusing.

“We got a little bit in trouble.” – Maxwell Haman, Bryce n Beans

Fast forward to this year, the two had been wanting to pursue music outside of school for a while and recently met Justin, their bassist and saxist Max and Elijah were mutual friends with Justin – and even shared some classes with him. After learning of his skills with the bass guitar and other instruments, along with the involvement of their current drummer, Alex, Max and Elijah decided to pursue their band again, adding two new members this time.

Since then, the band has been practicing at a family friend’s studio and slowly working on their skills, as solo musicians, and as a group. A common theme within the band is that the majority of them play for the jazz band at Blake High School, where they were able to practice the current Bryce n’ Beans sound.

As for the name, the name Bryce n’ Beans came into existence, according to the band themselves, when the group was all hanging out at Max’s house and they randomly thought “We need to make a name!” and they put it off for the night. In the morning, one of their dad’s called them wondering about the name. Somehow, the conversation led to their manager, Bryce, a sophomore at Blake. The dad randomly thought of the name “Bryce and Beans”, and it stuck with them.

The overall feedback on the band’s music has been nothing but positive. Of course, some people wondered about the name, even though I wasn’t sure where it came from.

The band’s popularity skyrocketed after the group performed for all three lunches some Fridays ago, then followed up with a small concert at a park that same weekend. Students across all three lunch blocks posted about the band’s performance on social media platforms like Instagram and Tiktok.

“This is serious stuff, it’s like a marriage.” – Elijah Berrios Bryce n’ Beans

With their catchy tunes and imposing live performances, Bryce n’ Beans is a band to watch out for in the Tampa music scene. EP coming out soon on most platforms.