By Andy McFerren
I had the opportunity of attending Velour’s Slumber Party last Saturday featuring Cayson Renshaw, Garon Brett, Jordan Moyes, and Book On Tape Worm. This, however, isn’t your average slumber party. I don’t know about you, but my slumber parties growing up were filled with Mountain Dew and video games. This one featured neither.
For those of you unfamiliar with this annual event, not only is this not your average slumber party, it’s also a little different from your average Velour show. For one, everyone is invited to bring blankets and pillows and sit on the floor. Families; groups of friends; couples on their first date or their fiftieth, cuddling and canoodling to the docile tunes of the many gifted musicians invited to perform. It’s a little more intimate and a little more heartfelt. Despite the intimacy and pillows, there was no pillow talk that followed. It wasn’t that kind of intimate.
Jordan Moyes, Cayson Renshaw, and Garon Brett got the night started. Though each of these fine gentlemen usually perform solo or with their respective bands, they took the stage together, each playing three songs from their respective catalogues. Vocally, each one of these artists is impressive, and the harmonies produced were, in a word, angelic: the effect a reverent hush as if the audience had just witnessed a chorus of angels.
One of the things that makes the Slumber Party unique is the almost informality of the show. It feels like you’re gathered around a fire or in someone’s living room. Between each song, the artists share a little bit about the next one. While this is normal practice for most musicians, the nature of these stories seem to differ from your typical show, just like we might tell the same story differently to a stranger compared to a close friend. Whether it was about Garon falling in love with an actress in a movie theater; the long pause we take in our cars upon arriving home but before we embark on the immense journey between our car and the front door; or how we deal with grief and tragedy in our lives, these stories amplified the already cozy setting.
If someone held me at gunpoint and forced me to compare the night to eating at a restaurant, the opening act was the antithesis of filling up on bread or eating too much chips and salsa. Jordan, Cayson, and Garon were the perfect appetizer to prepare the audience for the main course: Book On Tape Worm.
Whether you’re religious or not, seeing Book On Tape Worm is a religious experience – much like how some people describe watching James Cameron movies or Burning Man.
Similar to the three openers, Book On Tape Worm continued the intimate setting and storytelling. Like when lead singer Scott Shepard invited the crowd to sing along and harmonize on each song, or when he jokingly shared that their song “Defcon 5” is about Mountain Dew, and also shared that the song is about when things are potentially over. A message, he explained, that has taken on new meaning in the last few years since the beginning of the pandemic.
These stories and explanations help us, the listeners, to build bridges to the song. Then as we introspect, we reflect on how the messages these songs carry might pertain to our own lives, deepening our relationships we have with the artist’s music.
The most special part of the night came during three songs in the middle of their set. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the names of those three songs, only the messages and magic they conveyed. As the fake journalist I pretend I am for this magazine, I am sorry I failed you.
The first song came with the story of a friend of Scott’s, who upon falling extremely ill, admonished Scott, saying, “If you got music in you, make sure you get that out.” This message hit home as I thought about my own life, goals, and pursuit of my creative endeavors.
He then passed out strips of paper and pens. He instructed us to write down something we want to let go, to move on from. He then told us to crumple it in our hand and to hold onto it for the duration of the next piece, an unreleased song called “Confetti.”
After the song, he instructed us to rip it up. Then, he taught us the following lyrics:
All our troubles
And all our cares
Fall to the ground
In colorful squares
All our sorrows
Can wait for tomorrow
We’re safe here
We’re safe here
He instructed us to hold onto our ripped up colorful squares until we reached the part of the song he taught. Then when we were ready to let go, we should throw them in the air, giving us a mini fireworks show.
How many shows not only give you an awesome musical experience but teach you a valuable life lesson?
It was a truly beautiful night. If you haven’t already, I’d suggest finding the time to attend one of these shows in the future. Make sure to follow Book On Tape Worm on Instagram and check out their song “Movie Lives” below.