The Friendly Beasts

Tonight was the semi-annual musical fireside for the Provo YSA 172nd ward. I'm not usually much of a performer, but since I'm part of the music council for my ward, I decided to force my friends to participate with me. This wasn't really a problem for Ryan (in the middle) and Derek (with the guitar) who are both in the BYU Men's Chorus, but as for Ed (on the uke), Jessi (far left) and I, it was quite a terrifying experience. We all love to sing, but usually keep it to more casual settings, like the car, or the shower. Ed and Ryan picked the song "The Friendly Beasts" because it is on Sufjan Stevens' Christmas album, and they both really liked it. The rest of us had never heard of it, and thought they were crazy when they suggested we sing a song called "The Friendly Beasts" at a religious musical fireside. But, it turned out to be a pretty sweet song, and because the boys are so talented, they arranged everything and it was a way fun experience!

I was dubbed the "cute instruments girl," because the first time we practiced I grabbed a can of oatmeal and used it as a shaker to give the song a little something extra. It started as a joke, but then we kind of liked the sound of it, so I decided to use it in our actual performance. My roommate, Jessi, was nice enough to give me a scarf to disguise it so I wasn't just shaking a tacky oatmeal can in front of everyone. Although that probably would be super cool and hipster of me if I HAD done that... We had so much fun preparing this song that our practice sessions kind of led into jam sessions (so cool right?? haha) where we sang "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and "Young Folks" and some other great hits. Basically we want to start a band for realzzz and the boys came up with the name Indian Paintbrush. Apparently the Indian Paintbrush is the state flower in Wyoming (where Ryan and Derek are from), but I'm pretty sure if you have the word Indian or the word Paintbrush in your band name, it makes it immediately cool, so I think we're set. Keep an eye out for our upcoming EP! Oh wait, just kidding. Mostly I think we will just keep it to casual apartment jam seshes, but if anything changes, I will most definitely let you guys know. Enjoy the video.