By Barbara McGuire
Daily Bruin Contributor
With boy bands like *Nsync and The Backstreet Boys bombarding
the music scene, it’s quite possibly one of the great wonders
of the world who the first really was.
The investigation need look no further. Dating back to 1986,
quite possibly prior to some of the births of current popular boy
band members, Rockapella has wooed the music scene with songs that
use nothing but the different octaves of their members’
voices.
The quintet consists of Elliot Kerman, the only remaining
founding member, a baritone; Scott Leonard, a lead and a high
tenor; Kevin Wright, also a lead and tenor; Barry Carl, a bass; and
Jeff Thacher, the vocal percussionist or beat box. Rockapella is
currently on a national tour promoting its newest CD,
“Rockapella 2.” Fresh from Annapolis, Md., the fivesome
has made it to Los Angeles where tonight it will be charming an
audience at the Troubadour.
“We love playing in L.A.,” said Kerman in a recent
phone interview. “We’ve played at the Troubadour a
couple of times before, and we’ve always had great audiences
and it’s just a fun place to play. There’s always a
sort of curiousness to playing in L.A. because you never know
who’s coming.”
Though Rockapella could and quite possibly should be considered
in a separate genre from the boy bands who have a largely female
following, Kerman mentioned that their typical audience composition
was not lacking in the female ratio, although was in no way
dominated by them either.
“Sometimes we play at colleges and it’ll just be a
college audience,” he said. “Sometimes we’ll play
in theaters where it’s sort of a family oriented thing where
we’ll have parents, and sometimes grandparents will come, and
then sometimes we play in clubs where it’s couples and
women.”
Not only does Rockapella’s audience consist of members
other than the pre-teen/teen females associated with contemporary
boy bands, their music maintains a different tone as well,
especially exemplified by the fact that their songs consist
completely and exclusively of their voices.
“We have everything,” Kerman said. “This
record, I’d say, is heavier on upbeat, happy, fun songs, but
there are good ballads. Our music is generally played on AC ““
adult contemporary ““ radio, but we’ve been crossing
over to top 40 and hot AC, which is sort of more urban
AC.”
Most, however, will not recognize Rockapella as one of the first
boy bands but instead from its television appearances. Rockapella
was the band featured on the children’s game show
“Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” and also
provided one rendering of the catchy Folger’s coffee jingle:
“The best part of waking up is Folger’s in your
cup.”
For those who really enjoyed the commercials, of which Kerman
said there were many fans, the final two tracks of their newest
album contain the different versions of the 30-second jingle.
“Sometimes people have a hard time putting us
together,” said Kerman. “We’re not your
traditional pop act where everybody knows us from just being a pop
act. We have a huge audience that knows us from “˜Carmen
Sandiego’ and we have a huge audience that knows us from the
Folger’s commercial.”
The band’s following isn’t just limited to coffee
fans, however; the Japanese know Rockapella simply as one of their
favorite bands. While on “Carmen Sandiego,” Rockapella
released seven CDs in Japan, all of which received an encouraging
reception. They even sing a song, “Christmas Cease
Fire” entirely in Japanese.
“In Japan there’s sort of an open mindedness about
music and I think in general in Japan people love things
American,” Kerman said of their popularity there. “But
on the other hand, they love jazz and they love interesting music
and good music, and they just took to us.”
As an a capella group with a unique style and unique
arrangements, the members of Rockapella have had quite an effect on
the emerging a capella scene. New groups have begun imitating their
methods and ideas, just as they did with the Persuasions, who
Kerman cited as the band’s early inspiration.
Overall, Rockapella promises not only to appeal to a capella
fans, but to all audiences.
“I think anybody would enjoy the show,” Kerman said.
“(Rockapella) is entertaining and that’s the bottom
line. We’re an entertaining group that loves good music, so
we do good songs.”
“We have a mix of cover songs that everybody is going to
know and originals that are really good songs,” he continued.
“And we’re fun, I think that’s why people would
like (our show). Plus, we’ll do the “˜Carmen’
songs.”
MUSIC: Rockapella plays the Troubadour at 9081 Santa Monica
Blvd. tonight at 7:30. Tickets are $20, please call (310)276-6168
for more information.