four-fart harmony?//

Vox scatologicus: The UBC Men’s Bathroom Choir

With the holiday season quickly approaching, choirs around the world are rehearsing in prestigious venues. Career vocalists and Gregorian chanters sing in the gilded halls of the Notre Dame, St. Peter’s Basilica and, this Halloween, the foul, piss-stained men’s restroom on the AMS Nest’s main floor.

At 6 p.m. on one of the busiest party-going nights of the year, the members of the UBC Men’s Bathroom Choir filled a corner of the Nest with a crowd of eager students, all with one burning question: What would it sound/look/smell like if a bunch of guys started singing in the Nest bathroom?

The event was organized by Pea Man (of eating-peas-on-the-knoll fame) and inspired by the Youtube channel Men’s Bathroom Choir, which gained popularity in 2019 with videos of young men performing choruses in their high school restroom.

“This year … is my final year [at UBC], so I was like, this is the time to do something like this and see if I could make campus culture better,” said Pea Man. “So I decided to put posters around UBC, being like, if you want to join the men's bathroom choir, please send us an email.”

Before long, the choir had formed. Most of the vocalists had some experience — from high school choir, UBC A Cappella and the UBC Faculty of Music. The members voted on a setlist and began practicing in empty lecture halls.

“There’s always empty classrooms in the IRC,” said Pea Man. “That’s my secret.”

But even after perfecting their vocals in the crisp, clean air of an IRC classroom, the singers still didn’t feel fully prepared. So, with nerves steeled and noses plugged, they filed into the IRC men’s restroom for one final rehearsal.

“It smelled bad,” said one choir member.

But in spite of the odour, the puddles and just the overall concept in general, the UBC Men’s Bathroom Choir managed to put on a great show for their impromptu audience. With an amplifier stationed outside the restroom and the vocalists hidden away from sight, the Nest reverberated with renditions of “Viva La Vida,” the Halo title theme and “FE!N,” among others.

The setup, which saw a pair of microphones at the restroom’s entrance capturing the natural reverb of the tiled room, made for some impressive acoustics, and the songs, while relatively simple in terms of arrangement, were well-performed and clearly lovingly chosen.

But what’s a chorus without its reprise? If you missed the UBC Men’s Bathroom Choir’s inaugural performance this Halloween, there’s still hope!

“I feel like there could be … one more performance,” said Pea Man. “It depends if all the boys are down.”

As the crowds dissipated and their concert hall transformed back into the Nest men’s restroom, the choir packed up their equipment and headed home. Who needs a cathedral, right?

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