Sing to Your Heart’s Content
In this three-part interview series, I (Ashley) sat down with Devon and Drew of the Beardy & the Beast podcast to talk about aspects of the creative world, as they pertain to our very different lives and perspectives. In this portion of the interview, we talk about why humans have the innate drive to create.
Full disclosure, this was originally intended to be a podcast but I had mic issues. I have edited our conversation ever-so-slightly to improve readability.
Ashley: Let’s dive right in to our next topic: Creating for the sake of creating. Why? Why should we create?
Drew: Primarily self-expression, getting your ideas out there. I mean, [this topic] harkens back to (our past article about) learning and absorbing things from other people in good faith. You need to be able to put something of yourself out there in order to connect with other people.
Devon: If you want to get really deep with it, the act of creating is really what sets humans apart from most other creatures on the planet. We are creative by nature. So yeah, (sometimes we) build something just to build something. Why not?
Bing Copilot wasn’t able to speak about its “hypothetical human emotions” but did manage to get it to create this picture which expresses how it was programmed to have a sense of wonder and curiosity.
Ashley: I guess everybody has different reasons, but do you think it has to do with personal legacy, personal expression, just trying to get a better understanding of the world? Why do the both of you do what you do? Drew, you've been experimenting with different musical instruments, and drawing and everything. Devin, who knows what you do? (I am so sorry.) What are your reasons for putting yourselves out there and making your art?
Drew: Well, my personal hobbies are mostly, about learning, about trying something new… Becoming generally, at best, average at it. Um, the same reason why I took archery classes is the same reason why I started playing ultimate frisbee or riding a motorbike. My outlook [is that you should try new things to learn] and to enhance yourself as a person.
Devon: [Let’s take our podcast, for instance.] Drew and I have been friends for a very long time. We used to go and watch a movie and then, stand outside, have a coffee and talk about the movie for a couple hours. And we're like, “Hey, we might be kind of good at this! Or not, who knows, but let's put it on the internet anyway!” We're hanging out and having interesting conversations. Why not share it with the world?
Ashley: People that know the both of you, know that you're mild-mannered, polite young men...
Devon: I don't think Ashley knows us, Drew.
Ashley: I'm wondering if, when you’re creating, if you feel like you maybe also be tapping into a different part of your soul or personality that you might not usually be in touch with, whether accidentally or intentionally?
Devon: So, when it comes to the podcast, even when we go off the rails, most of the time there is only a little bit of holding back (of what we say) because, well, we don't want to do that much editing. But a lot of [our conversations] are kind of stream of consciousness. [We may self-censor a little bit], but the core of the show is the same. We've gotten better at doing it because we've been doing it for two years and kind of have [more] of an idea of where the conversation is going.
Drew: And I think, personally, when it comes to something like art – or like my very weak attempts at doing music stuff – to express myself emotionally and [creating] with a quality that I'd want other people to see is very difficult and beyond me. So I [tend to] guard that type of material from the world because I don't think I'm expressing it in a way that someone will actually understand… And this is one of the reasons why I like the conversations with Devon. There has been some emotional stuff that we've talked about during our podcast, but Devon knows me well enough that he can either play off what I'm saying, or he can return that energy to me with a different viewpoint.
Ashley: That's really well put and surprisingly vulnerable, thank you.
Devon: We have both [had moments] where we know what the other person is talking about, but there's no way the outside audience is going to [know the context], and Drew's done the same thing for me and he's been able to pick up that, expand on it, and put that different set of words to help express the ideas we're going for.
Ashley: I think with my art, it's like… I feel like I'm trying to express who I want to be, even though it's my current me expressing it. Does that make sense?
Devon: Oh, completely.
Ashley: Oh, wow, yay. I said something intelligent.
Devon: Well, I mean… If you're not good at something you can “fake it till you make it.” Like, current you is only going to get to the you that you want to be by working on it and expressing that. To go back to [our conversation] “can you change minds?” That's where that changing comes from. I recognize that this is where I want to be in five years. I'm not there now. But I'm writing as if I am.
I asked Copilot to make a picture of myself, Devon, and Drew, as if we were a group of traveling bards. Unfortunately, this looks nothing like us (my real face is slightly less glitchy) and looks more like three theatre kids who decided to become traveling seasonal fruit pickers.
Ashley: I'm glad you mentioned the changing minds conversation. … Lately I've been doing stuff with really bright colors, and [partially related] I've been doing these Clueless - The Series commentary videos on YouTube just for fun – almost through the first season! Only 18 episodes in total. Oh my god. It's such a slog… Anyway, it's interesting that you mentioned our previous conversation on changing minds, because without getting too personal, as a kid, I was a huge nerd. I still am now, in a different way. But [as a kid] I was really into things like the X-Men cartoons and Batman and Digimon and stuff like that when I was little.
As I was growing up though, I remember becoming more into feminine things, liking glittery stuff, liking pink, but I was laughed at for it and because I'm pretty sure my family wanted a boy, I was kind of forced into more “masculine” – whatever that actually means – hobbies and interests. So, I was always kind of struggling to fit in and to find what I truly liked. And now as an adult, I'm finally able to be like, oh wait, I like hot pink and that's okay! And now I have a hot pink office and I'm watching a lot of stuff I didn't watch when I was younger. During the dark periods of 2020 to 2022, I went through IMDB and I made sure I watched every teen party movie from the 90s that I hadn't already seen. And now, I've seen all of them. That might have been my midlife crisis.
Drew: I’m wondering if one of the reasons why you've gotten into like art as you have, like filmmaking, writing your novels, and even like the entire House of Fog project… I'm wondering if that ended up being kind of an outlet for you because you were unable to express yourself early in life as a kid or a teenager. And now that you have the freedom to express yourself, you're using that to like, the utmost degree to get yourself out there?
Ashley: Yeah, I think so. I feel like a shaken-up pop bottle in a way. It's like all of the random creative shit I wish I did when I was younger… is just… exploding everywhere. Anyway. I had a point to make but now those thoughts have gone into the ether… Wait! Okay. Let’s take my first novel, Mary & the Alien. This is probably a little bit confessional, but we're all friends here. I wrote that [book] to specifically have a young protagonist, because I went to therapy right before the pandemic started and she suggested that I do some inner child work. And I did, which inspired [Mary & the Alien] and sent me on a bit of a writing spree because now I am ready to start my fourth novel in four years. So, those two therapy lessons basically paid for themselves through my novels.
Devon & Drew: Congratulations!
Ashley: Thank you. It was really nice getting my shit together right before the world went to hell. Because I was like, wow, I feel great. What's everyone else's problem?
Drew: Well, I mean, I had all my stuff together and then it all fell apart during the ‘demic, so...
Ashley: Drew, now you just have to heal yourself through art.
Devon: I come from a very different standpoint with all of this. You were talking about when were growing up, Ashley, and you know, things falling apart and coming together. [I didn’t have] a lot of that same type of ostracization and such growing up. But, I've always been a singer. And into playing instruments, that type of thing. I haven't written anything, but you know, Drew has definitely heard me belt out a few [songs]. But after [years of being too shy to perform,] I [eventually] got to the point where I [stopped worrying] about what anyone thinks because I'm just expressing myself. It's just like, I don't care, I'm gonna be me. And that allows me to express myself exactly as I want.
Devon & Drew
The bio that they submitted simply said, "Drew and Devon: Hosts of Beardy and the Beast, Assholes." Because that is only partially relevant to Haus of Fog though, it should be noted that they are also into music (creating and listening to), gaming, and could be described as nerds in the 2000s-sense, and not the weird, modern, obsessed with Disney-kind of nerdery.
Instagram: @atbeardy
ASHLEY GOOD
Ashley Good is the brains behind Haus of Fog. After directing the Foggy Isle Film Festival, which shone a spotlight on dark/horror indie shorts for the past five years, she decided to launch Haus of Fog to better reach her niche of fellow film weirdos. You can learn more about her work at ashleygood.ca.
Instagram: @ashleyegood | Youtube: @ashleyegood