Ryan Ahlwardt * Jerome Collins * Walter Chase * Michael Itkoff * Michael Luginbill * Charlie Mechling * Steve Morgan * Dan Ponce * David Roberts * Randy Stine If the phrase “male a cappella group” conjures up an image of students in blue blazers, ties, and khakis singing traditional college songs on ivied campuses… think again. If, on the other hand, it conjures up campy college ensembles singing joke versions of “Like A Virgin” in boxer shorts… think again. Straight No Chaser are neither strait-laced nor straight-faced, but neither are they vaudeville-style kitsch. As original member Randy Stine comments, “We take the music very seriously; we just don’t take ourselves too seriously.” In the process, they are reinventing the idea of a cappella on the modern pop landscape. Originally formed a dozen years ago while students together at Indiana University, the group has reassembled and reemerged as a phenomenon – with a huge fanbase, millions of viewers on YouTube… and a contract with Atlantic Records. In an era when so much pop music is the product of digital processing and vocal pro-tooling, Straight No Chaser is the real deal – the captivating sound of ten unadulterated human voices coming together to make extraordinary music that is moving people in a fundamental sense… and with a sense of humor. In the fall of 1996, Indiana University was a rarity among colleges – a campus without a single a cappella group, where other schools often had multiple ensembles (Yale boasted 15!). So ten students came together to remedy the situation – hand-picked by group founder Dan Ponce not only for their outstanding voices, but for their personalities. Standing alone, they knew they had to stand out to succeed. Purposefully avoiding the stereotype of the traditional college a cappella group, they treated themselves more like a local band that just happened to use their voices as their instruments. As Dan recalls, “We needed to be a group that would blend in terms of both sound and character.” Beginning with Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time,” they built up enough of a repertoire to play the school’s annual 36-hour non-stop Dance Marathon. As the new group, they were booked to sing at 7a.m. Sunday morning – and they stole the event. “Everyone stopped what they were doing and listened to us,” says Dan. “After each song ended, they screamed and cheered… we walked off stage feeling like The Beatles after their Ed Sullivan Show debut.” SNC began performing at a variety of campus events and sorority functions (“Where else could we get the attention of hundreds of women on campus?” says Dan). It wasn’t long before they were headlining concerts, and within two years, they were touring nationally. They opened for artists like Lou Rawls, performed at Chicago Cubs and White Sox games, and even made their way to Carnegie Hall, where they blew away the crowd at the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. The original line-up of Straight No Chaser released three albums, which sold over 50,000 copies. The key to their success was the unique approach and attitude they brought to the art of a cappella. “When we went to Carnegie Hall and competed against the UC Berkeley Men’s Octet, it was their 50th Anniversary… and we’d been around for two years!” says Randy. “So we always felt like we had something to prove, because we started from nothing. We were almost like a sports team; we’d huddle backstage and get ourselves pumped up before a concert. We had to win people over based strictly on our performance, because we didn’t have any kind of tradition or history behind us like many of the other groups.” Straight No Chaser forged a unique style based on a combination of musical brilliance balanced with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor. “We would dip into something contemporary that you wouldn’t think an a cappella group could pull off. But instead of having people say, oh that was funny, we wanted them to say, ‘Wow, I can’t believe they did that,’” Randy explains. “But at the same time, we’d try to make each other laugh on stage, because if we weren’t having fun, how could the audience be enjoying the show? If we had a good time on stage, then the audience would have a good time as well.” In 1999, with college graduation looming, the members of Straight No Chaser chose their replacements – putting a plan in place to ensure that the new tradition they had created would continue on with successive generations of IU undergrads. Then, in April 2006, the unexpected happened – Indiana University decided to host a reunion concert for the original members. In honor of the event, Randy produced a DVD of one of their 1998 concerts, and he posted clips from it on YouTube to share with the other founding members. Suddenly, concert footage that was nearly a decade old was available to be seen by millions of people worldwide… and see it they did, in mind-blowing numbers. With no promotion, Straight No Chaser’s version of “The 12 Days Of Christmas” (interpolating Toto’s “Africa”) received more than 7 million views in December of 2007 alone, becoming the hottest viral video of the season. Randy sold out every copy of the DVD he had put together, and his supplier couldn’t produce new copies fast enough to keep up with rising demand. In a turn of events that the spiritually inclined might describe as a “higher power” moment, Atlantic Records Chairman/CEO Craig Kallman happened to be among those millions of viewers. “It was completely random and totally unexpected,” says Kallman. “I was surfing YouTube to check out what was new, when I saw this brilliant, fresh, and totally compelling performance. And then I saw how many hits they were getting, and I had something of an epiphany. So I emailed Randy right away.” Randy, not surprisingly, thought it was some kind of prank. “The head of Atlantic Records emailing me at 8 a.m. New Year’s Day and saying he was interested in our group? I thought, ‘yeah, right.’” Fortunately, Randy decided to check it out anyway, and he and Dan soon found themselves having dinner with Craig in L.A. Within a few days, the entire group flew to Atlantic’s offices in New York, and a deal was in the works. “I think their potential is unlimited,” says Kallman. “The incredible combination of their amazing voices, great material, fantastic sense of humor, and huge charisma sets them completely apart from what anyone usually thinks of when they think ‘a cappella group.’ They’re just a great group, period. I believe they have a terrific future ahead of them in the musical mainstream.” In the years since they graduated from college, the original members of Straight No Chaser had embarked on a variety of life paths – some pursuing professional careers in music and theatre, some going into other fields entirely. But suddenly presented with the unforeseen opportunity to come back together, make their major label debut, and take their music to a new level, they all agreed to seize the head-spinning moment. Taking off from the runaway success of “The 12 Days Of Christmas,” Straight No Chaser makes their Atlantic debut with “HOLIDAY SPIRITS,” a captivating collection of Christmas songs. The goal, as Dan explains, was to deliver “powerful arrangements of the Christmas music that everyone loves. So many Christmas albums stray too far away from the original songs, and I think that can be a turn-off. Ultimately, it’s the time of year when people want to hear songs they’re familiar with and be able to sing along. We want our arrangements to re-energize the classics that everyone loves.” At the same time, Straight No Chaser shows their musical versatility with two original compositions by Dan, “Indiana Christmas” and “Christmas Wish.” For the recording of “HOLIDAY SPIRITS,” the group decided to return to where it all began – Bloomington, Indiana and Airtime Studios, run by award-winning producer/engineer Dave Weber. As Dan explains, “A cappella recording, just like the music style itself, is its own niche and requires it own set of skills. It’s more about the engineer and producer than it is about the studio itself. Dave has been recording a cappella music for 15 years. He knows our voices, and he knows how to capture the best sound from us. We have an amazing rapport with him.” With “HOLIDAY SPIRITS,” Straight No Chaser is looking forward to a full slate of concert performances, TV appearances, and everything that a major label release entails. But, just as importantly, they are already looking further down the road, to the recording of an album designed for year-round listening pleasure, and to the enthusiastic pursuit of a career they could never have imagined would have taken such an extraordinary path. The birth of Straight No Chaser’s second life is a story of talent, drive, and some very good luck indeed. But their goal remains the same as it was back in their college days. As Randy says, “We want the audience to not miss the instruments, be surprised by what we’re doing, and in the end, appreciate the songs in a whole new way.” August 2008 Atlantic Recording Corporation 1290 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10104 Tel: 212.707.2000 Fax: 212.405.5477 3400 W. Olive Ave. Burbank, CA 91505 Tel: 818.238 6800 Fax: 818.562.9211 http://www.atlanticrecords.com