By DANIEL HODSON
Daniel@newsroom.byu.edu
'Do it, Rockapella,' the audience shouted to a cappella heavy weights Tuesday and Wednesday in the Mountain View High School auditorium.
Rockapella, a New York-based a cappella group of five, is nationally known for their presence on PBS's 'Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?' Most recently, they are known as the 'Folger's guys' who sing about 'the best part of waking up.'
'We're so thrilled to be here the day that our newest album, 'Rocapella 2,' was released,' said Elliot Kerman.
Rockapella performed most of the songs on their new album, including jazz style songs and sad love ballads like 'People Change,' 'Tempted,' and 'This Isn't Love.'
They have a tone quality and blend incomparable to any other a cappella group around. They feature a vocal percussionist, Jeff Thacher, who spits rhythmical beats into the microphone in such a convincing manner that lead singer Scott Leonard had to tell the crowd, 'All of those sounds are coming from his mouth.'
One of the most awesome demonstrations of vocal percussion was Thacher's seven-minute 'drum solo.'
Ultra-bass Barry Carl, a.k.a. 'The Testosterone of Rockapella,' wowed the crowd with his rendition of '16 Tons.' He talks so low, he says people hurt themselves trying to speak lower.
'I always win,' Carl said.
Rockapella has a tremendous ability to sing and please a wide variety of people. They can sing anything from doo-wop to religious to pop, and many sang along.
One of their most interactive songs is one in which they take a girl from the crowd and sing 'Pretty Woman' to her. As they sing and dance and woo her on stage, their voices don't even skip a beat.
Scott Leonard, who called himself 'The Girlie-man of Rockapella,' poked fun at his own dancing and energy on stage. His dancing, however, gave visual appeal to a concert with relatively minimal movement.
Rockapella gives a cappella groups around the country something to aspire to. They truly should be crowned the kings of a cappella.