#stuff from 2014

Between promoting their season of The Sing-Off and releasing the songs for their Collide collaboration album, VoicePlay didn't put out a Christmas video in 2013. They definitely made up for it in 2014 with this combination of vocal awesomeness and visual ridiculousness.

Details:

title: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

original performers: Bing Crosby as Jim Hardy and Marjorie Reynolds as Linda Mason in Holiday Inn (1942)

written by: Irving Berlin

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

release date: 28 November 2014

My favorite bits:

the jaunty tempo that makes it more upbeat than the original

their festive sweaters in Geoff's fantasy sequence

an appearance from Tony's good boy Fletcher

Layne's incredible sleigh bells — I've seen him demonstrate how he does it, and it still astonishes me how real it sounds.

the fact that Earl's fantasy isn't just having a lot of cookies, but specifically having enough to satisfy him without sharing

Tony, Eli, and Layne just barely managing to keep straight faces during the candy cane chase sequence

Geoff's lovely riff and the ending harmonies

the extended slow-mo clip, complete with the guys losing it

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Trivia:

VoicePlay originally recorded this track for their 2012 holiday album, "Peppermint WInter".

The video got a nice listicle writeup in Buzzfeed.

This song was part of their rotating setlist for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Disney World from 2015-17.

They had previously recorded a video for an arrangement of this song as 4:2:Five (with Danny and Ryan) in 2010. It was made private along with the rest of the 4:2:Five YouTube channel when they changed their name to VoicePlay in 2012.

Eli does know what it's like to have long hair, because he used to have a full head of curly auburn locks. He decided to shave it off one day with the help of a bandmate and has maintained the look ever since.

For this post, I want to let you do a bit of compare-and-contrast. Below are two performances of the same piece, two years apart. As with a lot of VoicePlay's more theatrical skit-songs, every iteration is a little different, and delightful in its own way. Especially in comedic numbers like this, "Elvira", and "Road Trip", where the guys are trying to make each other laugh almost as much as they're trying to entertain their audience.

Details:

title: The Chicken Song

original song / performers: American novelty song also known as "The Rooster" ; first two verses included in the New Christy Minstrels' "Bits and Pieces" medley (1962)

arranged by: VoicePlay

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version 1

This video was recorded during VoicePlay's concert at The O'Shaughnessy theater at St. Catherine University during the 2014 Arts Midwest conference in Minnesota.

performance date: 19 September 2014

My favorite bits:

Layne playfully admonishing the videographer while clucking

Eli's tokyo-drift skibble at the end of each chase

"Anybody wanna milk me?" ::delighted pointing at the audience response:: "Oh, okay!"

"Big guy." ::patpat::

::half-heartedly points at his raised hand:: "’T’s’muh branch."

Eli's smug grin at Geoff's reaction to him taking over, "And an awful lot of it."

Layne, Geoff, and Eli's startled smiles at one audience member's distinctive laughter

Tony repeatedly trying to refuse his assigned role, only to get annoyed when the others don't immediately back him up. "C'mon!" 😠

"I don't think we have that."

Trivia:

Tony's improvised dialog, "Hey, my name is Maggie. Welcome to Matt's," is a reference to Matt's Bar in Minneapolis, where the guys had been very excited to go for a lunch of "juicy lucy" burgers before the show.

Since they were in Home Free's neck of the woods for the conference, the guys had a chance to catch up with Rob Lundquist and Tim Foust.

Tim live-tweeted the show in his typical wry fashion, including some arboreal appreciation for his fellow bass singer.

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version 2

This performance was part of a benefit concert for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation hosted by the Alpha Epsilon Phi fraternity at Stanford University. Tony got stuck in Florida because of Hurricane Matthew, so their old friend Paul from Vox Audio agreed to pinch hit. Which made it even more chaotic than usual.

performance date: 7 October 2016

My favorite bits:

Layne shaking his tail feathers

Eli and Layne's little finger wiggle high-five

Earl and Layne cracking each other up with livestock jokes, then everyone giggling even more when Geoff calls them out on it

Eli laughing so hard he has to take a knee

::elbow bump::

Geoff asking the audience, "D'you guys know what Chiclets are?" only for Earl to immediately pull one out of his pocket

Paul accidentally skipping the second refusal gag and grumbling about not getting paid enough

::wolf whistle:: "Shaddup."

Eli doing his darnedest not to laugh at Paul's waitress antics, to the point of angling himself away from the rest of the group

Paul's incredible scream

Trivia:

The "California cow" / "happy cow" / "best cheese" banter was referencing a series of ads from the California Milk Advisory Board that aired in the early 2000s.

The Chiclets gum question was asked at least in part because that brand had recently been discontinued.

What better way could there be to announce the second Sing-Off tour than a collaboration video between two of the featured groups? VoicePlay teamed up with season 2 runners-up Street Corner Symphony, and teased that another group from the upcoming "season 5" holiday special would be joining them for another trip around the country spreading the good word of a cappella music.

Details:

title: The Sing-Off Tour presents: Don't (VoicePlay and Street Corner Symphony)

original performer: Ed Sheeran

written by: Ed Sheeran & Benjamin Levin

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

release date: 8 December 2014

My favorite bits:

starting simple with Eli, Geoff, and Layne, layering in the rest of VoicePlay, then seamlessly passing it over to Street Corner Symphony

Chance's smooth slide into the basement

the harmonies on the first ♫ "I don't wanna know that, babe." ♫

passing the ♫ "knock knock knock" ♫ back and forth

Layne, Kurt, Geoff, and Chance's "instrumental" solos, highlighting their individual styles

the full jam of all eleven voices coming together for the final chorus

ending on one big unison line

Trivia:

The two groups had recently headlined back-to-back concerts at the 2014 Kettering National A Cappella Festival in Ohio.

This video served as a sneak preview of the tour, since the two groups performed the song during some of the shows.

VoicePlay had previously featured guest singers on inset screens for their "Feel This Moment" and "Talk Dirty" videos, and collaborated with another entire group for "Survivor".

Adam Chance from Street Corner Symphony later replaced Chris Rupp as the baritone for season 4 Sing-Off winners Home Free.

Because performing 36 shows in 34 cities over the course of 5 ½ weeks isn't exhausting enough, Tony and Layne also decided to create a short documentary about the experience. They filmed a bunch of behind-the-scenes footage of their own, got access to some of the tour's official footage, and provided narration by Tony, Earl, and Geoff that they recorded both before they left and after they got home. Take a peek behind the curtains.

Legendary a cappella group Rockapella were the recipients of the first lifetime achievement award from the Contemporary A cappella Recording Awards in 2014. This video was shown at the ceremony during the Boston Sings festival in April.

Since Deke Sharon was not only the founder of CASA and CARA, but also the musical director of The Sing-Off, he asked members of VoicePlay and Home Free to share some memories of Rockapella's influence on their own careers while they were on the road with the Sing-Off tour. Earl, Layne, Geoff, Tim, Adam, and Chris recorded a segment that begins at 7:26.

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Trivia

Rockapella's longtime beatboxer, Jeff Thatcher, produced 4:2:Five's first EP in 2001. He's also a visual artist, and has created several pieces of artwork for VoicePlay over the years.

4:2:Five recorded Rockapella's arrangement of "Hound Dog" for their 2004 album "Time Machine".

Layne has recorded and mixed tracks for Rockapella through his production studio, Rayne's Room.

Geoff subbed for Rockapella's bass, Ryan Chappelle, during their 2015 New Year's Eve show in Vegas.