Oxford Out of the Blue

Last year, Oxford University's all-male powerhouse Out of the Blue won the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella's Western European Division, and moved on the international finals in New York. On Monday, the guys went into competition again, and while the guys did not emerge as division champions again, they did come a close second, picking up Outstanding Choreography honors along the way.

Members of Out of the Blue took the time to answer questions from A Cappella Blog co-founder Mike Chin.

A Cappella Blog (ACB): Out of the Blue emerged as the winners of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella's Western European Division in 2006, and went on to finish second in the international finals. What has this success meant to the group?

Out of the Blue (OOTB): Our success at the international finals has come to us as an unexpected surprise. We were really excited and thankful to have the opportunity to get to the Finals in New York. Being among so many other incredible groups and having the chance to watch and listen to them perform live has been an incredibly inspirational experience. We have learnt much from the entire experience - prep to actual performance, and hopefully we'll build on this in the year ahead.

ACB: In addition to competing in the finals in New York , Out of the Blue toured the US West Coast last summer? Could you describe this experience? What were some highlights of the trip?

OOTB: Out of the Blue toured the US west coast last spring actually, and we covered the entire stretch from San Francisco, Los Angeles to Seattle. We had a great time meeting lots of wonderful people, and learning from other amazing a cappella groups that we did joint gigs with. We're always deeply impressed by the warmth and kindness that we experience each time we visit the States. And the offer is always open in return to any American groups that would like to visit us just across the pond!

A highlight of our trip was being a guest group at the ICCA semi-finals hosted at Stanford University. Most of the other competitors there were of a very high standard. In fact, 2 of the groups we watched that evening made it to the International Finals, Vocal Point and Reverse Osmosis. We were especially impressed by the very slick choreography that many of the groups had, and the diversity of music styles that were showcased that evening.

ACB: Were there any significant differences that you could observe between the North American groups with whom you competed in the finals? Were there differences in style, or structures of the groups that you could see?

OOTB:It's hard to analyse and contrast ourselves with North American groups. There are some differences in style and post-discussion with others from Out of the Blue, I'll try to offer some observations..

A cappella is a lot bigger in the US than back here. That means that as an art form, a cappella is fast developing into an awesome musical experience, complete with effects and choreography. Quite often though, we've found that a number of popular songs are commonly arranged and possibly even done in quite similar ways across the various states that we've had the opportunity to travel across. Barbershop has also probably had a stronger influence and impact on the arrangements and harmony of North American groups. As such, Out of the Blue is understandably different in that we arrange music that features mostly on UK contemporary charts. And in breaking from our strong choral traditions, we've perhaps gone as far away from barbershop as we could.

Perhaps of more marked difference is that of varying performance styles. From our travels, we've noticed that North American groups tend to focus on small termly concerts, or occasional corporate gigs, and often perform with microphone amplification. Out of the Blue is uniquely placed in that Oxford is a city bustling with arts and cultural events all year round. We have many opportunities not just for the above, but we also do a massive show each year at the New Theatre to a crowd of 1600 people. Our focus is thus a lot more on live performance, bringing as much energy as we can on stage, and creating a real presence, often doing many of our gigs acoustically. That could be why our arrangements and performance style is geared to create as much impact possible.

On the other hand, although Out of the Blue has always tried to come up with creative choreography to add variation to numbers, cool moves and some comedy moments, it's seldom been on the scale of some of the movements we've seen at the ICCA West Coast Semi-finals or the International Finals in NY. We've learnt so much from North American groups about coming up with choreography that works well to complement the music! And we see this as a major area that we can work on to keep getting better.

ACB: I understand that in August, Out of Blue engages in its "Fringe run," in which you perform daily shows at venues on Chambers Street. Could you describe these shows, and how this unique series of performances began?

OOTB: The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is perhaps the largest arts festival in the world! Initially developing as an extension of the already thriving film and book festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, the Festival Fringe has grown to a scale far surpassing it's historic relatives. With over 300 venues, and different shows on every hour, there's so much going on during this month long festival. There's a show for almost anything you can think of - drama, music, dance, comedy, and the list goes on. This is the third time that Out of the Blue is up at the Fringe, but this is the first time that we are doing the entire 'run'. It's an incredible challenge for us to just get up on stage and do an hour's show every day for a month and keep each show just absolutely energy-packed and as musically and visually awesome as possible.

It's a great experience for individuals in Out of the Blue since we can draw so much inspiration from the shows and wonderful people we meet each day. In the past week I've already met with a number of professional actors/actresses, people working in the media, choreographers, directors, producers and even a professional basketball agent! And there's always something to learn from each and everyone of them...

ACB: The group just released a new CD entitled High Tide. How would you describe this disc?

OOTB: This disc is a culmination of the best moments of our music from the past year. There's a great mix on High Tide with hits ranging from Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and Coldplay's "Fix You," to old favourites like Barry White's "First, Last, Everything" and the TV theme from Postman Pat!

All our newest arrangements have been recorded with great detail, even if that meant recording each person on his own mic and doing take after take to get it just perfect.. We've also explored more modern production techniques with the help of Freddie Feldman at Vocomotion and Tat Tong at T2 Productions. All tracks were mastered by John Milner at Novasonics Studios (who also does work for professional groups in the UK like the Magnets).

This is our favourite Out of the Blue album yet and we were really excited to launch it at the Fringe.

ACB: How do you go about recruiting new members to your group? What is your audition process like?

OOTB: There's a University-wide Fresher's Fair that Out of the Blue attends and we try to reach out to every male fresher possible who has even remotely considered singing! In the week's run up to the Fair we swing by lots of different college events and do a song or two to get the word out.. Ads in newspapers and university term cards are also great where we can afford to put something up.

Auditions tend to be rather grueling, but we try and keep it as informal and friendly as possible. We have initial auditions where we listen to individuals and have a feel for their range, ask them to sing-back a few pitch patterns, and listen to a prepared solo of their choice. First callbacks are where we teach bits of our own arrangements to auditionees and listen out for how quickly they pick up music and blend with others, musicality in terms of expressive dynamics, tone and so on. Final callbacks are a repeat of first callbacks, but with more difficult music and less guidance. That's also when we auditionees are required to perform a different prepared solo to everyone present and we look out for how confident they are in a live performance situation.

ACB: What do you consider to be the most important element for a successful collegiate a cappella group?

OOTB: I think the most important element for a successful collegiate a cappella group is to be driven. To know where you're headed and go for it passionately! If everyone gives everything they've got - stage experience, musicality, voices, and organizational capabilities - then the sky's the limit.

ACB: What drew you, personally, to a cappella?

OOTB: I grew up watching my Dad lead the Church choir, and have been singing all my life in various school choirs, I just love the way the human voice can carry so much emotion with it and how a singer can pour all his heart and soul into expressing the music that he is given. A cappella is having the confidence to create music solely through the magic of voices blending in harmony. The challenge of a cappella today is to evolve close harmony to envelop contemporary genres such as R&B, jazz and rock. And of course the sheer exhilaration and joy of performing to people and touching their hearts with music.

ACB: What can we expect to see from Out of the Blue in the future? Any new songs in the works? Any upcoming gigs of note?

OOTB: Out of the Blue hopes to constantly push itself to greater heights each year. Whether staying a strong competitor in the ICCAs, expanding the reach of our international tours, or exploring new production techniques, we hope to do all that we can to make Out of the Blue an incredible experience for the students that are a part of it. Above all, we hope to do this as a close-knit team who grow to know each other so well, and who will stay friends for life.

ACB: Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers of The A Cappella Blog?

OOTB: Let's hope that everyone of us who are involved with the arts all over the world will keep at it in our own small ways. Even though many of us will move on to 'regular' work, let's all try to find little ways to stay plugged into the arts and strive to make a difference.

If you would like to learn more about Out of the Blue, you can visit them online at http://www.ootb.org.uk.