February 18, 2019 | UHCL Staff
Once upon a time 28 years ago on the streets of New York, a quintet of a cappella musicians sang on the corner with a hat on the ground, hoping to earn enough quarters to buy some Chinese food. After PBS asked them to be the in-house band on a children’s show called, “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” in 1991, their career became a whirlwind. The quintet named themselves Rockapella, and they’re bringing their unique blend of pop, jazz and smooth harmonies to University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Bayou Theater on March 7 at 7:30 p.m.
“I was the last guy on the left on the stage when we played ‘Sandiego,’ said Scott Leonard, the group’s tenor and main songwriter-arranger. “It turned out to be a very big deal and we ended up doing an HBO special and we were on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.’”
Although the group had gotten a record deal in Japan, Leonard said, American radio stations didn’t know what to do with an a cappella group. “In Japan, they didn’t care if they played us after Aerosmith or rap because we were American,” he said. “We got noticed by American record companies after we did the Folger’s commercial.”
Everyone knows the one — the best part of waking up is Folger’s in your cup. “That got us enough exposure and led to a record deal,” Leonard said. “Now we’ve released 20 albums and contemporary a cappella has exploded.”
Leonard said the group would sing a greatest-hits medley of their famous TV commercial jingles at their concert. “We sang jingles for Almond Joy and Mounds candy bars, and for the ‘Today’ show, we sang, ‘What a Difference Today Makes,’ and ‘Where in the World is Matt Lauer?’”
With a live audience, Leonard said, they often explain that they have no instruments, although they do have vocal percussionists. “We started out with no drums, but we needed a beat or groove, as opposed to just the harmonies,” he said. “There was this beatboxing phenomenon that we added a few years in.”
The group’s vocal percussionist, Jeff Thacher, has a vocal microphone he holds up to his mouth and pickups on his throat to get the bottom end of the sounds. “There are very few ‘basso profondo’ guys out there,” he said. “That very low frequency — you can really feel it. Our percussion section with bass and drums are really strong now, and the fun we have with the higher voices make this a can’t-miss show.”
It’s hard to believe all this can happen with only five mouths. “And of course, there’s a lot of humor,” he said. “We felt like we were the modern-day Monkees when we did ‘Sandiego.’ There’s lots of silliness and fun.”
Performing for a college audience, Leonard said, is always great. “The germ of Rockapella started at Brown University with some guys from New York,” he said. “College kids today ‘get’ it. It’s been a huge influence on films like ‘Pitch Perfect’ and TV shows like ‘Glee.’ There’s no learning curve for college students to get a cappella.”
For further information about upcoming events at the Bayou Theater, visit www.uhcl.edu/bayou-theater/.
