Ten years ago, a couple of friends at UCLA got together with a common interest in mind: singing. Today, this group has evolved into the student a cappella group the Scattertones, which has been everywhere from singing with Taylor Swift at the American Country Music Awards to an upcoming performance at the White House.
The group will celebrate its upcoming anniversary with the commemorative concert “Scatterversary,” which will be a testimony to where the Scattertones have been and where they are headed in the future. There will be performances from both current members and alumni. The combination of both singers new and old gracing the same stage will showcase the variety of songs the group has performed across the span of the decade.
Melissa Barnum, a third-year musical theater student and Scattertones member, said Scattertones quickly expanded from the small group of friends who first founded it.
“Just over the years more people started joining and we got a whole bunch of talented people,” Barnum said. “They started having fun with arrangements and started listening to (what) famous a cappella groups… were doing, and doing performances everywhere.”
Not only will “Scatterversary” mark the group’s 10th anniversary, but it will also be the group’s first fall concert in more than five years. Fourth-year communications student Brett Blackiston said the incorporation of a fall concert is normally excluded because of time constraints and planning that is normally difficult to put into motion so soon in the academic year.
Blackiston said the group is now trying to hold a concert every quarter. This fall concert will include a more varied repertoire of songs, allowing current members and alumni to showcase the Scattertones’ past 10 years of music in one show.
“They’re gonna be the big ones from our CDs,” said Blackiston in regards to which songs the audience can expect at the concert. “They’re gonna be the most notable Scattertones songs of our past.”
The Scattertones’ previous work has won numerous accolades. The group’s third album, “Wherever You Stand,” received five Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards nominations with the most-downloaded songs off of the Scattertones’ CDs including covers of “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys, “Soar” by Christina Aguilera and “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel.
Member Chris Meissner, a second-year musical theater student, hinted that audiences can expect a taste of the group’s award-winning set, and said that he was hoping for something new and surprising.
“Last year at (the) ICCAs (International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella) they pulled out some Beyoncé ,a lot of pop, and some classics,” Meissner said. “I’m trying to work on a little Florence the Machine … and looking at “˜Lover of the Light’ by Mumford & Sons and maybe mixing them up. That’d be pretty cool.”
But the perky and light-hearted mood of the set list will not come at the expense of quality and rich vocals. Meissner believes that the increasing intricacies in the musical numbers will add more style to the performance and will make this concert stand out from the rest.
“It’s getting to a deeper level of music generally. Things are getting way more complicated and the quality of the music is getting better and better,” Meissner said. “Hopefully we keep achieving new heights.”