The A Capella Tour 2012: East Coast of USA

A packed out itinerary involved travelling over 2000 miles and visiting 8 different states on the 13-day tour. From NYC, we headed north to New Haven to visit Yale, where we were able to experience the oldest and most established a cappella scene in the world. We sang a set outside, amongst their beautiful campus buildings in the baking sun, before watching a ‘singing dessert’ concert from one of the 17(!) a cappella groups there, before attending an amazing house-party thrown for us by our guests there. For more detail of all these events, see our tour blog.

From Yale, we continued onwards to Providence, RI and Brown University to visit our friends the Brown Derbies. We hosted and performedwith these awesome guys when they were in London as part of a European tour earlier this year, and they aptly returned the favour, providing another amazing evening of education into American culture, student life, and a cappella music.

The next day saw a change in direction as we headed back south through 6 states to Georgetown, near Washington DC. It let us experience the feel of a true American road-trip, and spirits remained amazingly high, despite hangovers, heavy traffic, and a 300-mile diversion taken by one car whose sat-nav had an aversion to Delaware. We stayed with a lovely host family just outside the town and caught up on some sleep missed on the last three nights.

Now the tour turned to business, and the Techtonics arrived at the first of 4 schools we would visit on the tour. Our visit to Georgetown Day School saw us perform in the high school assembly before taking workshops for their music classes and a cappella groups. The reception was incredible! The British boy-band effect took over and we were mobbed for photos and autographs after every performance; a new experience for most of us. This also gave us an excellent opportunity to sell a few copies of our debut album: Groundbreaker, which was released just before we left for the USA.

From Georgetown, we headed back north to Philadelphia and to the wonderful hospitality of Tom and ‘Broad Street Line’ from Temple University. The evening’s not-so-secret ‘super-secret activity’ involved going to see the Pentatonix; one of the best and certainly most famous contemporary a cappella groups in the world at the moment. The gig was incredible, and afterwards a few of us even managed to get photos with the group as well as palming a copy of our album to them. Still buzzing, we headed back to our host’s house on the subway, and were shown yet another amazing house-party; we were so spoiled by the generosity of our hosts.

Following another deep yet brief night’s sleep, we were shown a whistle-stop tour of Philadelphia by Tom and Molly, our fantastic hosts. This included experiencing Philly cheese steaks and running up the Philly Museum of Art steps, as seen in Rocky. Sad to leave just as we’d settled in, the group headed back on the road and back to NYC and Columbia, where we met our host Eliana from

he reception was incredible! The British boy-band effect took over and we were mobbed for photos and autographs after every performance; a new experience for most of us

another group called the Clefhangers. We sampled some more greasy (cheaper) local cuisine before heading onto the picturesque Columbia campus where we took part in an informal concert of a few songs each with the Clefhangers. By the end, a hefty crowd had gathered, including people from the far side of the campus, who had heard the music and seen it as a good excuse to take a break from their studies. We then headed down to a (fairly) local bar, where we got to know our hosts a little better despite the extortionate drinks prices. Pleas from some of the harder group members for a longer night out were quickly quenched, as the group had seemed to hit the proverbial wall, so we headed back to the rooms where we were staying for some well overdue sleep.

The next day’s schedule gave the group a good chance to spend a proper tourist day in the Big Apple. Some group members awoke early to take one of the cars across to a free parking space (hard to find) at the school we were to sing at the next day, and also to get in line for Broadway matinee tickets. Others slept in more, before heading out to see all the sights. Between the group, we covered most of the major NYC monuments, but the real special moment of the day was for the lucky 6 of us who just happened to bump into our biggest idol, a cappella and musical legend, Bobby McFerrin. The group sang for him, which he said was “a real gift” before giving him a copy of our album. The rest of the group were devastated at missing out, and despite 8 time Tony Award winning Broadway show, Once, being amazing, it did not compare to meeting such a huge idol.

The evening saw us meet our hosts for the next 2 nights, the wonderful family that is all the people at Leman School, Manhattan. We were to spend the next day giving classes, workshops, discussions on studying in the UK and finally a concert at the school. The families were the best hosts that anyone could ask for – from skyscraper penthouses, to why-would-I-want-to-keep-my-Emmy-anywhere-other-than-my-upstairs-guest-bathroom, we had such a wonderful experience. The evening saw us hosted at a beautiful BBQ with a chance to meet some of the teachers, parents and kids for the next day.

After a night of the best rest on tour so far, we joined our respective hosts’ children on the school run to the amazing school. Situated about 2 blocks from Ground Zero, and with 360 degree views of the best skyline in the world, this was some school! We took two music classes in the morning and were

... the real special moment of the day was for the lucky 6 of us who just happened to bump into our biggest idol, a cappella and musical legend, Bobby McFerrin. The group sang for him, which he said was “a real gift” before giving him a copy of our album

received extremely well, by the students and music teacher alike. After a chance to eat their amazing school lunches, some of us took time to head to Ground Zero and Battery park (to see the Statue of Liberty) while others talked to some students interested in studying in the UK, and others prepared the amazingly set out theatre (also in the school) for the gig that evening. This was possibly one of the best gigs that the Techtonics have ever performed, and it has given us new ideas about the impact that a good and well used microphone setup can do for our performance; this is probably going to be a major project for the year ahead.

We were mobbed by kids and parents alike afterwards, and sold many a signed CD to the families. We then said our temporary goodbyes and headed for Stone St. where we joined the high rollers of NYC in some appropriately pricey drinks. We then returned to our families (via an excellent florist) and were able to relax and get to know our hosts a bit more. One more amazing night’s sleep, a couple of loads of laundry, and another early morning later, we were saying some very sad goodbyes.

We jumped back in our cars and headed to Brooklyn and Poly Prep School, where we were to perform in two separate assemblies, for the high school and middle school. The reception was incredible once more, the kids (and especially the girls) absolutely loved it, and the sheer enthusiasm for music, a cappella, and the English accent never ceased to amaze. Straight from the school, we

The reception was incredible once more, the kids (and especially the girls) absolutely loved it, and the sheer enthusiasm for music, a cappella, and the English accent never ceased to amaze

headed north to upstate New York, where we would spend the remainder of tour. We arrived in somewhat ominous thunderclouds to Syracuse, and met our hosts in a greasy pizza place that we’d become accustomed to. The evening that followed was fantastic once again; on dropping our bags at respective hosts’ houses, we met up for an a cappella house-party with 4 of the a cappella groups from Syracuse. The loft, a venue which fit up to 100 people, complete with makeshift stage, bar, and ping pong table was up there with the best venues we had the pleasure of performing in. Also the party afterwards was incredible, and lots of new friends and contacts were made.

The next morning gave us the opportunity to see how Varsity is done properly; Syracuse, generally considered the NY state capital for college sport, was out in force to support their team, and considering that events like that occurred at every home game of the year, the difference in college spirit value was clear to see. Leaving yet another set of lovely hosts at Syracuse, we took the short (by comparison) drive to Rochester to meet our next hosts, the Yellowjackets. Competitors on hit US show, ‘The Sing Off’, the Yellowjackets are both very talented and very well known. However, it was clear to see that in essence our groups were very similar, which was a good indication to us that we were somehow doing it right! After a lovely free canteen dinner, we headed with the Yellowjackets to the venue (an ex-frat house) and shared the stage at their homecoming gig. Even though we had improved so much on the tour, it was clear that there was always more room for improvement, and the Yellowjackets showed us some of the ways to do this.

As became a tradition on the tour, we were not only treated to an incredible gig but our hosts then threw yet another amazing social occasion for us afterwards. The following morning, we headed with the remainder of the Yellowjackets to the incredible ‘Sled Dog Studios’, in true (sitcom style) American suburbia. The team there was amazing; all professionals in the a cappella and music industries, they hosted us amazingly all day, with endless amazing food, conversation and enjoyment, with the added bonus $500,000 recording studio in the basement. We spent the whole day there, with a short break to head down to the RIT campus for a casual performance with RIT 8 Beat Measure, and as with many places we experienced, it felt like we could’ve spent at least the week. We then headed for our final hosts of the tour, the lovely Juli, and the local families that lived around her.

The next morning saw our last proper chance for a morning off, which we thought it would be a shame to take when Niagara falls are only a short (again, relatively) drive away. Up at the crack of dawn (with a couple of slight alarm-missing incidents) all but 2 of us headed out to the falls with the plan of heading to the Canadian side (a better view, plus why not make the tour international!!).

... endless amazing food, conversation and enjoyment, with the added bonus $500,000 recording studio in the basement

However, the mixture of an early morning and a long tour meant that not all members managed to remember to bring passports for this internationalborder crossing. Not deterred by the thought of trying to clear Canadian Immigration (or even US Immigration on return) without said appropriate documentation, Eugene confidently drove across the bridge only to be met by less-than-impressed Canadian border guards, who sent us back to the even-less-impressed US border guards. After some relatively quick questioning, we managed to safely reunite on the US side, and those of us that did remember passports walked across to experience the best side of Niagara, leaving those that forgot to watch from the still very impressive US side.

Following this eventful morning, we headed straight back to Rochester to do an assembly performance at Rochester School of the Arts, a local public school. We were once again to perform, John Lennon bare-foot style, at a school assembly, and, becoming fairly used to the celebrity lifestyle by now, were mobbed by the high school students for photos and autographs afterwards. We then had the full school tour from one of the assistant heads, and found that despite it’s slightly rough exterior and challenging situation, it was a thriving and interesting school. Once our guide

... Eugene confidently drove across the bridge only to be met by less-than-impressed Canadian border guards, who sent us back to the even-less-impressed US border guards

remembered that we were not actually prospective parents and stopped selling his school to us, the tour was completed and we headed back to Juli’s house for a nice relaxing afternoon. After some sleep/skype/dinner/choral music around a piano time, we began to prepare for the final gig of our tour; an intimate performance to the locals in Juli’s back garden. The setup was beautiful, and with the clear night sky above and the perfect acoustic, this was a really fitting gig to end a fantastic tour. The families were fantastic and really enjoyed our performance, which showed by the CD’s that we managed to sell afterwards. We had a really lovely evening getting to know our hosts properly and reflecting on what an amazing time we had had.

Another early morning, another very sad goodbye and we were back on the road, headed for JFK and home. Stopping only for one last artery clogging Wendy’s, we made good progress, returned our two hire cars, and made it to departures. A fourhour delayed flight gave us time to issue some tour awards, film a music video for one of our songs, and to reflect on the amazing 13 days we’d had as well as looking forward to the next year. Despite plans for having a load of fun on the flight, it seemed that the tour had finally caught up with us, and we all crashed only to wake up at home in Heathrow. Thus concluded an amazing tour which none of us will ever EVER forget for the right reasons.