Beans On Toast is the stage name of British folk singer Jay McAllister from Braintree, Essex, England, who rose to prominence out of the UK folk scene in 2005. His songs often centre around the topics of politics, drugs and love. Beans On Toast has released fifteen studio albums, traditionally releasing a new record each year on 1 December, McAllister's birthday. Career Jay McAllister was born on 1 December 1980. He began his career as the vocalist of alternative rock band Jellicoe, embarking on a solo career in 2005 following the band's split. Beans On Toast has performed at the Glastonbury Festival every year since 2007. He supported Kate Nash at London's Hammersmith Apollo in 2008, before releasing his debut 50-track double album Standing On A Chair in 2009. Produced by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons, it featured guest vocals by Emmy The Great, Frank Turner and members of The Holloways, amongst others. Along with Ian Grimble, Beans On Toast produced 2010 follow-up Writing on the Wall. Both albums were well-received and gained positive reviews in the Sunday Times and the Mirror, alongside airplay on 6Music, Xfm, and Radio 1 and 2. Later in the year, Beans On Toast played in the Westway Round the UK Tour, the first national tour by Strummerville bands. Beans On Toast's third album, Trying to tell the Truth, was released in 2011 and produced by Frank Turner, with Beans On Toast going on to be the support act for Turner's sold out Wembley Arena show in April 2012. A fourth studio album, Fishing for a Thank You, was released in 2012 with production work by Lee Smith and Jamie Lockhart. During this period, Beans On Toast also headlined a sold-out Scala show in Kings Cross, London, which was captured and released as the Live at Scala album in 2013. His fifth album, Giving Everything, was released on 1 December 2013, and made it into the top ten of the iTunes Singer-Songwriter Chart. In 2014, Beans On Toast performed to a crowd of over 100,000 in one week while opening Frank Turner's UK stadium tour. In the same year, he embarked upon his first American tour, playing headline shows as well as several dates with Irish-American punk band Flogging Molly. A limited edition 10" was released in the UK entitled Best of Toast Pressed on a Vinyl for Record Store Day 2014 in April.