By MEGAN ELISON
megan@du2.byu.edu
For Provo rhythm band Big Suckin' Moose, playing music is a family affair.
The band is comprised of two pairs of brothers, Alex and Eric Peterson and Jeff and Andy Higham, and is sometimes joined by the sounds of the Peterson sisters, Summer and Starr.
The entire band is a close-knit group, with most of the band members hailing from Ephraim, Utah. They started playing in high school and came together again at Snow College when the thought of financial benefits came into the picture.
Since September, the group has delighted Provo audiences from its adopted home at The Cafe. The group will release its self-titled debut CD at The Cafe next week, playing lunchtime shows from 12 to 2 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.
Apart from band members' close ties, Big Suckin' Moose is also unique in its musical diversity.
'We're kind of Provo's alternative to alternative,' said percussionist Nate Thompson, a junior from Manti, Utah majoring in environmental science.
Thompson describes the band's music as 'blues-jazz-folk fusion.'
'It's kind of a lot of blues and harmonica and some Brazilian jazz. Also, reggae, folk and just rock; it's all acoustic,' he said. 'It's not really technical music -- not hard -- but it's such fun that I keep with it.'
The new CD proves the band's eclectic style with 17 tracks that express everything from blues to straight rock. Band members employed diverse instruments as well, playing everything from the digeridoo to a soda straw in accenting the main tracks.
'It's a good potpourri of musical styles,' said singer/songwriter Alex Peterson, a senior from Ephraim, Utah, majoring in English and film. 'It's pretty organic music. No digital stuff.'
The band's unusual name has a long history. A friend heard the term on a TV news interview with a Canadian hockey player, Thompson said. The hockey player used the phrase after he had hit a moose with his car while traveling to a game.
Band members saw the humor in the term and began using it as a friend's nickname, according to Thompson. When it came time to name the band, Big Suckin' Moose was suggested as a joke, but adopted.
'We tried to get rid of it because it was kind of dumb, but we couldn't. People just remember it,' said vocalist Eric Peterson, a junior from Ephraim, Utah majoring in botany.
Since its inception, the band has played everywhere from Bicknell, Utah, to Victor, Idaho. But the Rabbit Valley Cafe in Bicknell still holds the best memories for Alex Peterson.
Big Suckin' Moose played Bicknell on New Year's Eve, starting at 7 p.m. and finishing around 1 a.m., Peterson said. Some of the locals joined the band, playing along with various instruments like the mandolin.
By the end of the evening, the long play had taken its toll.
'Our fingers were all bleeding,' Alex Peterson said, while noting the experience as a good one.
The band is often accented by violin music from Kristen Washburn and Summer Peterson, while Starr Peterson sometimes joins her brothers on guitar. The band also typically features two drummers/percussionists and a versatile sax player (a graduate student in music), which adds to band's diversity.
'It's just kind of a unique musical experience,' Alex Peterson said. 'We have such a variety of background music we listen to. Everyone brings their own niche into the band.'
Band members have been recording the debut album for the last year, cutting tracks piece by piece as the money came along and recording in people's basements, Peterson said. The result is a disc full of the band's diverse experiences and styles.
'All CDs have 74 minutes of space, but very rarely do people use it,' Alex Peterson said.
Big Suckin' Moose's debut album can be purchased at local CD stores like Disc-Go-Round, Tom Tom and Media Play, or at the band's release engagements Monday and Tuesday, for $10.