All Things Swingle

We’re still buzzing from last weekend’s ‘Weather To Fly’ album launch show at Cadogan Hall. A week of holiday had worked its magic and we gave what must have been one of our best performances since I joined the group 18 months ago. It didn’t hurt to have such a wonderfully receptive audience, either.

It’s a great feeling to finally be able to share the disc with you (North America gets it this Tuesday 8th – sorry for the wait!). It was recorded in the summer of 2012 in beautiful Basaluzzo, Italy by Erik Bosio, mixed by Bill Hare in California, and released through World Village. Being a truly international endeavour featuring music from around the world, it seemed fitting that for the launch we had audience members in from France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Israel, South Africa, USA and Hong Kong. Some had flown to London especially for the gig – we’re so grateful you did!

We were joined on stage by a couple of special guests. One was Scott Turner, who was kind enough to support our PledgeMusic campaign for the next album (more news on that soon!) by pledging for the chance to sing with us. He took part in a world premiere performance of my new song ‘Burden’, a good old-fashioned love song, and he acquitted himself handsomely! Bravo Scott – it took a lot of guts, and you’re a rock star.

The other guest was the bird that features in Ben Serbutt’s gorgeous album art for ‘Weather’, which featured as a projection in our stage set. At the start of the show we challenged the audience to come up with a name for him, and heard some excellent suggestions including Albert Ross, Bertie, Chalk, Concorde, Gregory (Peck), Swing-gull and Wingle. After much deliberation the winner is Gulliver – congratulations to Richard, who’ll soon be receiving a free copy of the album.

Wishing you all perfect weather to fly this autumn…

PledgeMusic launch – and more #swingle50 news!

  It’s about time we brought you up to date with some of the exciting ways we’re celebrating our 50th anniversary this year…

  Our #swingle50 anniversary album is underway and we want YOU to be involved in making it. We’ve just launched a campaign on PledgeMusic – check out the video we made about the project, plus a sneak peek of one of the tracks.

  For just £8 you can pre-order a download of the album, but there are also loads of sweet exclusives to be had, from beatbox lessons to handwritten lyrics to the chance to actually sing on the album. We want to create an album that sets a new benchmark for innovative and exciting vocal music, featuring collaborators from across the musical map, and we need your help to make it happen.Please pledge what you can - every single pledge brings this project closer to completion. 

  The anniversary album will be the SECOND Swingle Singers record released in 2013! The first, Weather To Fly (to be released this summer) brings together favourites from our current a cappella repertoire, from Turkish folk to Astor Piazzolla to Beyoncé. Recorded in Italy by Erik Bosio of Cluster, and mixed by Grammy winner Bill Hare, Weather To Fly combines the excitement of a Swingles performance with high-octane production. More news on this coming very soon!

Today we're thrilled to share a first glimpse of the brand new music we've been writing and recording for our #swingle50 project. 'Piper' was played on BBC Radio 3's 'The Choir' hosted by our own Clare Wheeler - the full show is available here, and you can hear us at 26.50.

50 years ago, a group of singers performed alongside a drum kit and an upright bass, and in our anniversary year we're once again calling on the services of a killer rhythm section, as you'll hear on this track. The Swingle Singers haven't always been an a cappella group, but we've always striven to explore the full possibilities of the voice and to create new, innovative, surprising music. This is the next chapter in the Swingle story. We hope you enjoy it.

Some photos from our recent trip to Milan - the beautiful La Scala.

I have a present for you all...

There’s something absolutely thrilling about holding up your microphone for the start of a piece like Berio’s Sinfonia. Everything is in the conductor’s hands, and you wait for it to begin… That first wonderfully eerie chord that hangs in the clean air, almost tells the audience everything they need to know; that they are in for something rather special and a little unusual. But you all know that as a vocal group who sing ‘a cappella’ more than anything else, we tend to work 90% of the time without the help of a director waving their arms in front of us and we become so accustomed on a stage, to being in charge of our own fate, using each other as our piano or pitch reference or as our metronome. But when you put your fate in someone else’s hands, they have the power and you can just ride the wave of the orchestra. We find ourselves really enjoying the balance of feeling rather daunted by allowing someone else that level of control and simultaneously the freedom that comes under such conditions as you just have to go with it and no matter what, keep going.

It’s such an honour and a real pleasure to perform a piece that was written specifically for us. Sections of it were even penned at our founder, Ward Swingle’s house! The piece itself is an absolute roller coaster ride of emotions. It ebbs, flows … It’s haunting, amusing, aggressive. It’s very easy to become totally absorbed, and then suddenly remember ‘Well well, so there is an audience’. One of my favourite aspects is that throughout movement three the first tenor is just talking incessantly over us.

After our run at the legendary La Scala in Milan, the next performance we do will be my 25th. It’s always more satisfying to do a run of performances. When the curtain comes down for the 9th time you can choose your favourite and think, ‘That is the show’! I am still discovering new things every time we sing the piece; a new sound from the orchestra that I’ve never noticed before. We often come off stage and ask each other, ‘did you hear’ that?! Yes, there is a secret lurking on every page of the score waiting to be discovered. I am so thankful that we have, without a doubt the most varied repertoire of any vocal group under the sun. Every time I speak a piece of the wonderful text, I just want to say it again, louder.

It seems so perfect to be performing this piece so many times in our 50th year. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of Berio’s death. We still have snippets of his handwriting in some of our vocal scores. Yes, I feel the moment has come for us to acknowledge that performing this piece has meant that we have had the opportunity to work with some of the most sought after conductors, with the top orchestras in the most prestigious venues in the world. And for this, we would just like to say ‘Thank you, Mr. Berio’.

We're often asked, "where are your favourite places to tour?" It seems crazy to compare such wildly different destinations as Moscow (crunching across a snowy park to a frescoed monastery); Dubai (cocktails at a private beach on the Palm) and Arkansas (beautiful BBQ, bluegrass and banana pudding - but no booze for miles). Incredibly, these were all stops on the same trip, a month-long globe-trot that's just ended.

If this seems nauseatingly glamorous, be assured I'm editing out the immigration queues, the early starts, the dodgy roadside coffee. North American tours in particular mean day-long drives through flat Midwestern landscapes. But if we're honest, these road trips - which have the potential to be deathly dull - these are probably our favourite kinds of tours. They give us a real sense of distance covered rather than just moving between sterile airports. We don't have to be on our best behaviour - we get to simply hang out and go cheerfully insane together. 

The Swingles usually split into two cars: CJ, Oli, Clare and Jo in one; Kevin, Sara, Hugh and I in the other. And I can’t speak for the other car, but if you ride with us, it's going to get weird. Especially the music.

Along the way, we look out for the fantastic place names that rural America has to offer. On a single drive from Kansas City to Little Rock, as snowy plains gave way to twisting, tree-lined valley roads, we went by Fair Play, Humansville, Tightwad, Romance and Bald Knob. Blessed are those town elders for the amusement they've brought to generations of travellers.

My favourite, though, was Peculiar, Missouri. At some point or another, we've all lived in Peculiar, if only figuratively. So I've chosen it as the title of this Spotify playlist, which brings together some of the most exquisitely strange tunes in rotation in our car. As you listen, picture the lyrics being mouthed by Alan, the “tour sock”. Go nuts. 

Playlist: Peculiar, MO

Edward

London A Cappella Festival. Wow. For the 4th year in a row we've been overwhelmed with the response and support of the a cappella scene in London and internationally. Now in the aftermath of the festival we Swingles can take a breath, have a cuppa, and put our brains back together.

People, singers and non-singers, have an image of what it must be like to be a singer in a professional group. Sometimes it's close to the real thing and sometimes their ideal is much, much farther away from the truth. Even being inside this group, in this particular situation, I find it really hard to express all that our job actually entails. All the random work that goes on behind the scenes, all the emails and meetings we have that make up our "job". Each group is different. Each person within each group is different. However, we share a common bond. We are in the family of musicians. This is our job but its also the perks of our job. I read a blog from one of the a cappella groups that performed at this year's festival, a new and exciting group called Vive. Their lone female singer, Emily Dankworth, wrote this:

"I discovered that every single note you sing is not only the foundation of the song, but also crucial towards the success of its sound. An a cappella group is completely reliant on you, and you on it. Tonality-wise and emotionally, if one person falls down, everyone is going to fall down. You simply have to be strong enough – and in both respects - to pull yourselves back up."

This idea should be the "family of musicians" motto.  Each of us is important, each of us is strong, each of us choose to band together to make this unique body of art that has the ability to change peoples lives. I know that sounds epic and a bit conceited but it only takes meeting that one person you've affected that way to make you want to affect all people that way. At the risk of sounding like a hippie: "Share the love, man!"

We are so thankful to all of the groups who were able to participate this year in the festival. You create the spark that keeps the family growing. To all the groups that wanted to participate but we didn't have enough space for: hopefully we'll see you next year!  

Drink lots of water and get lots of rest,

HI All

The Swingles had great fun supporting England in the Six Nations last weekend, but we obviously had to throw some singing in to the mix at some point! Watch and enjoy, and thanks to our friends at Canterbury, official kit providers for the England team!

Hi All!

As you MUST be aware by now, Christmas is just around the corner. I'm celebrating by cracking out some of my frankly remarkable festive knitwear, photos may follow. I'm sure you'll all be creating your christmas playlists around now, and we wouldn't want you to forget our winter gem of an EP 'Yule Songs' - follow the link to get it on iTunes. And while you're downloading, you can enjoy our quirky animation. I want the giant to be my friend, he's ace.

Peace!

It was such a pleasure to be a part of the Choir Of The Year Grand Final at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday. As guest performers, we had the chance not just to sing for (and with) 2,000+ lovers of vocal music, but also to hear some of the finest amateur choirs the UK has to offer.

For me, there was the extra thrill of seeing my old university group, The Oxford Gargoyles, competing (and rocking the house) as one of the six finalists. The two years I spent as a Gargoyle were my entry point into a cappella music. Without them I wouldn’t have met the Swingles – in fact, I most likely wouldn’t be a singer at all. This month, as we’ve toured the US and encountered great college groups such as the University of Colorado’s MIX, I’ve had cause to wax nostalgic about the trips I made to New York and Boston with the Gargoyles. At that time, I would never have dared imagine I’d be doing this for a living five years later.

So, no prizes for guessing who I was rooting for on Sunday. But I was knocked out by the high standard of every single group, each of whom would have made a deserving champion. Huge congratulations to the winners Les Sirènes, who had us all captivated with their passionately delivered, beautifully controlled set. I can’t wait to watch it again on BBC Four on Friday 23 November.

Hello! 

So we are in the midst of a USA/Canada tour at the moment, which is a lot of fun. But, it means travel, and lots of it! Spotify pretty much saves my bacon on long car trips, and I thought I'd share some of my favorite songs from this tour. The list is a little eclectic, but at different moments of a long journey, all are necessary for me. Click HERE for a playlist.

Enjoy! 

We're delighted to launch our new website! We're hoping this will become a hub for our social media and a way for you to stay better in touch with everything we are up to! Visit this news section for the most up to date news on our life on tour, and for photos of our shennanigans. 

As I write this post we are in the middle of writing some new ORIGINAL material, so keep your ears peeled for that...

Also, we are gearing up for our big London Show at the Cadogan Hall on the 2nd November. Visit their website to buy your tickets, we'd love to see you there!

We'll be getting this site fully up to date in the next few weeks, so bear with us and in the meantime, enjoy our videos and links!