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.