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Blend of beats beyond doo-wop

After years, Straight No Chaser was reunited by popular demand

The Columbian
Published: May 14, 2010, 12:00am

o What: Straight No Chaser, in concert.

o When: 8 p.m. May 17-18.

o Where: Aladdin Theater, 3017 S.E. Milwaukie Ave., Portland.

o Cost: $30-$35 through Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or http://ticketmaster.com. The May 17 concert is sold out.

o Information: 503-234-9694 or http://aladdin-theater.com

Straight No Chaser has been known to cause a few double takes in concert when the audience hears a bass line and rhythms, but sees only singers on stage.

“It’s just the 10 of us, 10 mikes, that’s it,” vocalist Walter Chase said in a recent phone interview. “Even on the album, what might sound like a drum machine, that’s all vocal percussion that has been engineered.

The effect stems from the band’s main vocal percussion corps, which is Chase, Tyler Trepp, Seggie Isho, Dave Roberts and Randy Stine. “Tyler specifically, when you hear him do a sound, like on our holiday set he does the sound of a sleigh bell. It’s uncanny how well he can imitate things. Seggie does amazing drums beat box, like old-school beat box. … Halfway through a song, you’re performing it live, you almost forget that somebody’s over there drumming with his mouth. It sounds like you’ve got a rhythm section behind you,” Chase said.

o What: Straight No Chaser, in concert.

o When: 8 p.m. May 17-18.

o Where: Aladdin Theater, 3017 S.E. Milwaukie Ave., Portland.

o Cost: $30-$35 through Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or http://ticketmaster.com. The May 17 concert is sold out.

o Information: 503-234-9694 or http://aladdin-theater.com

The vocally produced rhythm sounds are just one of the facets of Straight No Chaser that make the group unique. As singers, the 10-man a capella group creates a pretty special blend as well.

That much is apparent on the group’s newly released CD, “With a Twist,” in which Straight No Chaser plies its vocal talents to a diverse set of a dozen covers.

A version of Crowded House song “Don’t Dream It’s Over” captures the full range of sound, from layers of vocals to a realistic sounding bass line and percussion. The group also builds a surprisingly full sound on the 1960s nugget “Tainted Love,” which was made famous in the 1980s by synth-pop group Soft Cell. Perhaps the big highlight comes when Straight No Chaser cleverly combines Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” playfully mixing lyrics and melodies from the two songs. But on a few songs (Coldplay’s “Fix You” or Oasis’ “Wonderwall”) it feels as if the vocal arrangements could be more imaginative and Straight No Chaser could have taken a few more risks in reworking certain songs. But there’s no disputing the vocal talents of the group members or the magic they create during the best moments of “With a Twist.”

Speaking of magic, just the way Straight No Chaser reached its current place as a nationally touring major label recording act is pretty amazing in its own right.

The fact is, for most of the past 15 years, the only Straight No Chaser that existed was made of college students at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Six of the 10 members of today’s vocal group were in the group that formed at the Big 10 school a decade and a half ago.

When graduation came for the original vocalists, they went their separate ways, never expecting that Straight No Chaser would be a part of their lives again.

That changed when the university decided to have a reunion of the original Straight No Chaser in 2006. For the occasion, Stine posted a video on You Tube of a 1998 concert that included the vocal group’s wacky rendition of “The 12 Days of Christmas.”

To everyone’s surprise, the video went viral. By December 2007, views of the video had reached 7 million. One of those who tuned in was Craig Kallman, chief executive of Atlantic Records, who called Stine to discuss a record deal.

“Randy thought it was a joke, had to Google him (Kallman) online,” Chase said. “But it really was him. A couple of weeks later, the entire group is at Atlantic Records speaking with Craig and the higher-ups at Atlantic, and they were telling us that they wanted us to do a five-album record deal with them.”

Because of the success of the “12 Days of Christmas” video, Atlantic had the group debut with a Christmas album, “Holiday Spirits,” in 2008.

Straight No Chaser was now off and running, and in fall 2009, released a sequel, “Christmas Cheers,” mixing new tracks and songs from “Holiday Spirits.”

The success of the Christmas material had forced Straight No Chaser to postpone its plans to make a full CD of pop material. The group did release an EP, “Six Pack,” last year, but only now has the long-planned full-length pop CD, “With a Twist,” arrived in stores.

A highlight of the project for the vocal group was the opportunity to work, albeit by long distance, with Barry Manilow on a version of that singer’s tune, “One Voice.”

The group first crossed paths with the singer when Manilow had Straight No Chaser open a show at the Hollywood Bowl.

“It was probably for me one of the most amazing performances that we did,” Chase said. “We got to open for Barry and meet him. When he came out on stage, he had very nice things to say to his audience about us, how he enjoyed our sound. It was really a great experience. That alone would have been fantastic.”

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