Questionisms – Jeeves Murphy

Last one! We can’t wait to celebrate with you tomorrow night!

Euphonism Nickname(s): Mack ‘n Jeeves

How long have you been in the group: 5 months

Biggest surprise about the group after you joined: … (he was so surprised he’s speechless)

Favorite rehearsal memory: I’m not sure if I could pick a favorite; rehearsals are such a blast. It was probably when I sang through my first song with Euphonism off music.  I don’t even remember what song it was, but it was a great feeling.  You know when you feel like you’re where you’re supposed to be, doing what you’re supposed to, or feel like you’re belong?  Yeah, it was that sort of feeling.

Favorite performance: Well, of all of the performances I’ve had (it’s a joke, because I’ve only performed with Euph twice on stage), it would definitely be London.  I felt so comfortable being on stage, and I know I looked pretty baller in my Euph-Suit – just sayin.

Best thing Charlie said to during the recording process: “Who are you!?” (read as surprise when I was able to belt a high B-flat on “Good Life”).

Why you are excited about this album: Not only is this our first full-length album, but this is my first full-length album with any group I’ve been with.  It also will include my first mass-produced solo on track 5.  This is something I’ve always wanted to do, but just never worked out until now.

The recording process in one word: Exhausting

What’s next for Euphonism: We’re taking over the aca-world… didn’t you know?

Questionisms – Johanna Horn

Euphonism Nickname(s): Joh,  7/8, and Princess Caucasia

How long have you been in the group: 1 year exactly!

Biggest surprise about the group after you joined: hmm.  Singing in NYC at VoCALnation with Duwende and The Swingle Singers ( to name a few) and   I guess another one would be how totally amazing and inappropriate everyone is.

Favorite rehearsal memory:  Gosh, they are all my favorites.  But I loved the time we sang the explicit genre warm up.  It was Mercy with the F-bomb substituted for the lyrics.  Quite hilarious!

Favorite performance: London A Cappella Festival-  hands down!  We were so excited and had bonded so much that it made performing better.  And, we were so impressed by the other groups that we stepped our game up and brought the party!

Best thing Charlie said to you during the recording process:  Not sure I paid attention..oops?  Charlie didn’t say anything too special, but in general comes up with gems in rehearsal that lead to lots of Charlie jokes.  Maybe he told me to “be better”?

Why you are excited about this album: I’ve never done this before!  I’ve always wanted to be on a CD and what better way than with an amazing group of people.

The recording process in one word: Electrifying

What’s next for Euphonism: being best buddies with Sara B.. Oops, that’s just me! More awesome shows with influential groups

Questionisms – Laura McCann

Euphonism Nickname(s): Granny, Captain Crunch

How long have you been in the group: August 2008

Biggest surprise about the group after you joined: How we’ve managed to get both sillier and better at the same time.

Favorite rehearsal memory: When John did a 90 second preview roundup of every song on our upcoming album.

Favorite performance: I love all of the proposals and weddings that we have done– something always gets in my eye during those, dammit!  VoCAL Nation 2011 was amazing, as was London A Cappella festival 2012.

Best thing Charlie said to during the recording process: “That was great and sounded really good, but I want you to never sing it like that ever again.”

Why you are excited about this album: What’s not to be excited about?  Seriously, this is not a rhetorical question.

The recording process in one word: Crunchy.

What’s next for Euphonism: The same thing we do every night, Pinky – try to take over the world!

Questionisms – Charlie Friday

Euphonism Nickname: C-Fri

How long have you been in the group: I have been in the group for about 3 and a half years now, since August 2008.

Biggest surprise about the group after you joined:The biggest surprise, for me, was the way the core, starting with Joe and Amanda, pushed the group in a very nice way to always improve.  That is rare in musical ensembles.

Favorite rehearsal memory: Oh, favorite rehearsal memory.  There are so many.  I think for me, it was the moment the group realized, about a year ago, that we could pull off an emotionally charged song, seriously, and have it work.  That was a huge, huge moment.  Also all of the laughter.  Music is FUN.

Favorite performance: My favorite performance was actually not the London A Cappella Festival, like I imagine so many people will say.  My favorite one was the debut of us using extensive effects live at Jammin’ Java.  Because again, it was a big transitional “we CAN do this” moment.  The whole experience of London was amazing, but that was a culmination for me, of a lot of things, but I went into that confident that we could succeed there, so it wasn’t as dramatic of an event, for me, personally.

Best thing Charlie said to during the recording process: Well, this is awkward.  I do talk to myself, but…  I shall not disclose what goes on when no one is around in the studio.  Things are said.  They can’t be repeated.

Why you are excited about this album: I am excited about this album, because it’s the end result of over a year of hard work, passion, and great music.  I’m really proud of the work we’ve done, and the feeling we put into the performances.

The recording process in one word: Exhilarating

What’s next for Euphonism: Well, we have a busy month coming up in March, 3 headlining gigs.  For me, I’d like to get to the next 5 songs going (they are in the hopper), which will be our last 5 cover songs.  Then the group has decided to take a crack at writing original music, as several of us do that on our own already.  And get the last 3 effects pedals integrated into our set!  😀  And, and, and!!

Questionisms – John Baer

Euphonism Nickname(s): Ole Yaybles

How long have you been in the group: I was this close to getting a chair on the Polish Philharmonic, and I nailed the audish, but I didn’t get it. Guess who did…Yo-Yo Ma’s cousin…little “nepotiz”. Anyway, I just decided to give up and become a member of Euphonism in January 2008.

Biggest surprise about the group after you joined: How easy everybody was to impersonate.

Favorite rehearsal memory: Any time we warm up by singing one of our songs in a different genre of music. (For example, “Smooth Criminal” in the style of Bluegrass).

Favorite performance: When Bobby McFerrin sung the Bach aria while those in the audience sang the Gounod and then…oh, favorite Euphonism performance? Well, our “Hometown Glory” in England was pretty amazing.

Best thing Charlie said to during the recording process: “John, it’s not ‘I DON’T KNOOWWW.’ It’s more like ‘EEYYYEE DONNAAHHO'” (When I was trying to sing the very high Michael Jackson vocal parts at the end of the “Smooth Criminal” recording session).

Why you are excited about this album: Because when you start playing it right at the beginning of Wizard of Oz, it TOTALLY syncs up, dude.

The recording process in one word: Cromulent.

What’s next for Euphonism: We’re changing our name from “Euphonism” into an unpronouncable symbol.

Questionisms – Amanda Aldag

Euphonism Nickname(s): J’amanda

How long have you been in the group: Helped found the group back in February 2006.

Biggest surprise about the group after you joined: That every small success or lesson learned makes the group want to get better. The collective fire burning in everyone’s eyes is inspirational. And that the current group has completely complimentary senses of humor.

Favorite rehearsal memory: When John and Johanna broke into an improvisational comedic version of The Prayer.

Favorite performance: Going with a regular stage performance, it is hard to decide between VoCAL Nation 2011 and London A Cappella Festival 2012. At VCN we just started to make a statement and by LACF our performance just spoke for itself. Performance aside, traveling with the group to London was one of the single most enjoyable experiences of my life.

Best thing Charlie said to during the recording process:  “You are going too hard too soon.” Oh, Charlie….

Why you are excited about this album: I’ve never seen a group of people work harder. It’s been so much fun getting to know everyone in the group through the process. It’s amazing to watch this group tackle potentially stressful challenges with a smile and come out on the other side better performers and stronger friends.

The recording process in one word: Emotional

What’s next for Euphonism: More pedals. Original music. Bigger stages. And more sporking.

Questionisms – Joe Kang

One week from today we’re celebrating the release of our long awaited album, Stuck in a Memory.

Since we are all brimming with excitement to share our work with you, we thought we’d lead up to the release party with an inside peek at what’s going on in our heads as we finalize our preparations. We start with 1 of our 2 founding members, our bass man, Joe Kang.

Euphonism Nickname(s): Taste of Asian

How long have you been in the group: Since the beginning – co-founder back in February 2006

Biggest surprise about the group after you joined: Our first gig was the national anthem for the Caps, and that I was the high tenor

Favorite rehearsal memory: Watching an auditionee sit on my ottoman and totally fall backwards, exposing herself to us

Favorite performance: London A Cappella Festival 2012, Hometown Glory by having the audience become completely silent to listen and then smacking them in the face with Smooth Criminal to finish the performance

Best thing Charlie said to you during the recording process: If you start getting too excited, you’ve got to pull it out a little bit

Why you are excited about this album: Because it’s the first legit album of ours with all of the right people with the right mindset, passion, and dedication in place. it’s a culmination of over a year’s worth of time and effort.

The recording process in one word: Turn down the suck, Jeeves. Just kidding. In one word: twerk.

What’s next for Euphonism: Puppies. Or more amazing performance opportunities in DC and around the world!

“What Day Is It?”: Checking In From London

So I should preface this post by telling you I started writing a post about 24 hours after Euphonism landed in London.  We arrived around 7am GMT on Wednesday, I started this in the morning on Thursday, and now it’s Friday night (or rather Saturday morning) at 1am, and I’m just now getting around to posting.  There’s so much that I want to say about this trip – things we’ve been learning about a cappella, things we’ve been learning about travel and performing, and things we’ve (or maybe “I’ve”) been learning about our own group.  As I’ve said, I had wanted to post as much as possible to keep you all, our fans, in the loop about what’s going on over here, but between rehearsals, concerts, classes and touring around the city, I’ve been left with enough time to sleep and eat (which is great because I like doing both of those things).  But it’s been a blast, and wouldn’t trade it for the world!

Anyway, here we are – a little less than 24 hours from our performance – and really all I can say is that we are confident.  Coming in to London, we certainly believed in ourselves, but after the past two nights of amazing a cappella, we are confident in our show tomorrow night.

I feel like I should qualify that statement.  This festival is like no other that I’ve been to before.  The spectrum of groups that have performed and the array of music that has been sung is so grossly vast that it’s sometimes hard to realize that the groups have anything in common at all.  The Boxettes, Cadence, The Vasari Singers, Fork, Cadenza, all the groups that have performed in the foyer – the only thing we have in common, is that we make music with our mouths, and yet even that line has been blurred.  But because of this, we’ve realized that we also bring a wholly unique experience to this festival.  Our style isn’t the tight jazz like Cadence, or the hard-hitting original music like The Boxettes, or the effect-laden rock group that is Fork.  We are Euphonism, and what we have to offer to this audience is a different look at a cappella than what they’ve seen before.  We don’t have to be completely outrageous.  We don’t have to “fit in” to a mold.  We can just be true to who we are, and that is a very exciting prospect.

On top of that, being able to explore as a group the gamut of a cappella at this festival has really seemed to light a fire.  After each performance, I’ve seen a particular enthusiasm out of my band-mates that is very exciting.  We’ve been able to experience and explore what is being done in a cappella, and from that we’ve began plotting and scheming about our own show – what we can do, where we can take it.  The possibilities seem closer now than ever before.

Tomorrow will be very busy for us, but we are eager and confident in the show we have prepared.  All we can hope is that our performance is well received, and that we represent CASA, CAL, and U.S. a cappella to the best of our ability.  My hope for myself and for the rest of Euphonism is that we leave it all on the stage – that we give it everything we have.  I want to walk off of that stage physically tired and with no regrets.  Keep the music alive!

~Jeeves

Auld Lang Syne—a great year in review!

Auld Lang Syne:  a noun, meaning times long past.

Oh, hey there.  I was just leisurely reflecting on a wonderful year.  It’s funny how each December 31st, regardless of the year, I sit back and review everything.  I have to say, the close of 2011 is a fantastic opportunity to do so.

2011 has truly been a great year.  Now, there were a few hiccups, but it’s to be expected and those said hiccups only made me stronger and eventually lead to what made 2011 great. So bear with me while I reflect! (and be amazed at my mad memory skillz, yo)

January 2011:  I contacted thee ever amazing Amanda Aldag to set up an audition for a 7 member a cappella group, Euphonism.
February 2011:  Due to a crazy snowstorm, my audition for Euphonism was pushed to February.  I had my audition, got called back, and made it–wahoo!!  In February, Euphonism was given the awesome opportunity to sing the National Anthem for the Wizards at the Verizon Center in DC. It was also in February that the group decided to get cracking on an amazing recording project.
March 2011:  A great month if I do say so. Euphonism was selected to be the opening act for The Swingle Singers at the first ever VoCAL Nation in New York City.  We drove up to New York for an amazing aca-weekend.  I got to experience fantastic vocals from The Swingle Singers, Duwende, Treble, Redline, Overboard, Cognitive Resonance and The Red States–just to name a few. It was here that Euphonism and The Swingle Singers developed an awesome aca-relationship. And the sassy ponytail was brought back to life.  We also participated in Wooten High School’s Fiesta-Asia.  
April 2011: Euphonism continued being awesome 🙂
May 2011:  Sweet gigs:  A flash mob proposal, singing at a wedding, and participating in 2 DC Fiesta-Asia shows.
June 2011:  Euphonism continued being awesome.
July 2011: A hot month for us.  We had a wedding gig and our first ever Euphonism Retreat!  The retreat was chock full of bonding, singing, equality cooking, photo shoots and laughing.  It was a great weekend.  It was also here that we learned we would be losing Jeremy “JDubbs” Winston. 😦
August 2011:  We had the honor of singing at Camilla and Richard’s wedding in DC.  This was a great gig because Camilla and Richard’s wedding was featured in the Washingtonian online magazine.  Yay for promoting! 🙂  
September 2011:  Euphonism welcomed Jeeves Murphy to our family!  We also continued being awesome and really kicked up our recording.  In addition to all the awesomeness, we booked our tickets for London.  We had been selected to open up for The Swingle Singers at the London A Cappella Festival. 🙂 So happy.
October 2011:  We sang at a Molly and Mark’s lovely wedding.  It was also in October that shared the stage with Vox Pop and Cartoon Johnny at Jammin’ Java in Vienna, VA.  The recording continued.
November 2011:  The beginning of our Kickstarter.  Throughout this month we really saw how amazing our friends, family and fans are.  
December 2011:   We completed our goal for our Kickstarter.  Thank you all so much!  We also tied up our recordings and lose ends for our album, which will be out very soon.  We also began our hard preparations for London (eek, only 9 days away!)  It was also December 31st that Johanna wrote a lengthy reflection blog..

Annnnnnnd I’m done!  So, with all that being said/read, I welcome 2012 with open arms!  Euphonism has a lot to look forward to in 2012.  We’ll be releasing our first ever album, going to London (9 short days away!) and continuing to be amazingly awesome.  

Be safe tonight blog readers.  It’ll be a party on my feet tonight for sure! 😉
And 2012, we’re totes ready for you.  BRANG IT!

With love and reverie,
Johanna “Don’t Toot your Own” Horn 

 

 

Stuck Inside Graciousness…

Well good afternoon,

Oh nothing.  Just working on creating an amazing CD for our wonderful and generous fans.

WE DID IT!  YOU DID IT!  With the help of 107 generous backers, Euphonism successfully completed our 30 day Kickstarter project.  As a group, we could not be any more grateful.  Money is hard to come by, especially in this tough economy and holiday season.  It is really special that 107 people gave us a little bit of their generosity so that we could release and press our very first full-length album.  Thank you so much!

This album is very special for me.  I’ve never recorded anything before.  Well, when I was 9 I had a series of cassette tapes that I’d record myself singing Immature and other 90s R&B gems with, but it wasn’t really all that amazing quality.  I mean, the embarrassment and entertainment value alone is priceless, but it was never worthy or reproduction. But of course, this one is.  This album has so many heartfelt songs with amazing effects and of course.. AMAZING VOCALS/OUT TAKES! Who knew that 7 talented singers could participate in such a harmonious endeavor? 

Speaking of harmonious endeavors, we are also very excited to travel across the pond for the London A Cappella Festival in 1 MONTH! It is such an honor to be amongst a cappella legends like The Swingle Singers, Cadence, The Boxettes, and Fork–just to name a few.  It will be a wonderful experience and we are so glad that we have the opportunity to share the stage with these great and talented groups.

Well, I am very excited to head on down to the Euphonism house for one of our last few rehearsals before London and before the release of our CD, Stuck Inside a Memory. 

Speaking for the group, we are definitely stuck inside of this memory.. The memory of 7 great singers who had 107 generous people help them create an unforgettable CD.

Have a good day everyone!

Johanna “Don’t Toot Your Own” Horn