Fly Painted Feathers to play The Bishop

Local newcomers Fly Painted Feathers will take the Bishop stage for the first time today.

“People who have played music ten times as long as we have have performed there,” percussionist and freshman Daniel Versweyveld said. “To sweat and play music where they did is incredible to me.”

Fly Painted Feathers will be opening for So Many Dynamos and the local band Sleeping Bag.

Freshman Harlan Kelly, Fly Painted Feather’s lead singer and guitarist, said he is honored to be opening for the bands.

“Sleeping Bag is a local band I’ve known about for a while,” Kelly said. “It’s an honor, and the same goes for So Many Dynamos. I’m happy we were sought out.”

Fly Painted Feathers, which also contains freshman and bassist Joe Romweber, was formed when Versweyveld and Kelly were still in high school in Madison, Ind.

After the two decided they were both going to attend IU, Kelly said continuing Fly Painted Feathers wasn’t really a decision, but something that was expected.

“My favorite thing to do is play music, especially with Daniel,” Kelly said. “We’ve been listening to the same music together for so long, and we have the same goals.”

Romweber met the duo during freshman orientation and filled the vacancy left by Fly Painted Feather’s other bassist who still lives in Madison.

Fly Painted Feathers has now been performing shows around Bloomington at places such as Rachael’s Cafe, Rhino’s Youth Media Center and Collins Living-Learning Center.

Kelly said the band puts on a show to be one that he would want to go to.

“One of our influences, which sounds cheesy, are pow-wows,” he said. “It’s cool for people to get involved with music together. I would feel awkward on stage if I didn’t try to get the crowd involved.”

Fly Painted Feathers’ live performances contain dancing through the crowd, face paint for everyone that comes and group-style vocals.

“I like ‘the floor is lava except for ten feet around the stage,’” Versweyveld said. “I don’t like to play ‘let’s sit around and listen to music’ music.”

In addition to influence from pow-wows, Kelly said he takes influence from bands with a lot of energy.

Romweber said he doesn’t know how he would describe Fly Painted Feathers’ sound.

“I never know what to say — it’s different,” he said. “You can’t really describe it, but I like that.”

Because of Bloomington’s supportive music scene, the band hopes to have recordings done soon. Romweber said he’s met a lot of cool people in Bloomington who are good at recording and interested in the band’s music. He added it’s encouraging for a young local band, such as Fly Painted Feathers.

“A lot of venues enjoy smaller, local bands,” he said. “Even though we got paint on the walls at Rachael’s, they were still so nice to us.”