Q&A: A capella group Straight No Chaser's Steve Morgan, an Evansville native
All music requires an instrument to create a melodious song, but for Straight No Chaser, the only way to create great music is with their mouths.
The a capella group is coming to Evansville to spread a night of holiday cheer. The show is Sunday night at 7 p.m. at Old National Events Plaza.
One member of the group is Evansville native Steve Morgan. Morgan, 45, has been with Straight No Chaser since his days at Indiana University.
After graduating from Harrison High School in 1996, he knew he wanted to join the Singing Hoosiers as soon he got to college. As fate may have it, he didn't do it.
At that time, a few friends formed a group that would sing at sorority and fraternity events around campus before the group buckled down and started doing a capella competitions.
One even took them to Carnegie Hall.
In 2007, The group was thrust into the limelight after a 1998 video of the original members singing "The 12 Days of Christmas" went viral on YouTube.
They caught the eye of Atlantic Records and on New Year's Day 2008, they signed a record deal and made their first album. They have taken off since then.
They've released more than 10 albums and EPs, and numerous singles. Their newest release is "Stocking Stuffer," featuring several holiday-themed songs.
Members of the group are: Morgan, Randy Stine, Michael Luginbill, Jerome Collins, Walter Chase, Seggie Isho, Tyler Trepp, Jasper Smith and Freedom Young.
The Courier & Press was able to speak with Morgan ahead of Sunday's concert about his career and the upcoming show.
What made you go into music?
It's just something I always loved. I had some fantastic music teachers going all the way back to Hebron Elementary School with Gary Bailey, Ann Woodruff at Plaza Park Middle School, Christy Miller at Harrison High School. My teacher and mentor, Jerry Hoover, was my voice teacher in high school and well beyond, even when I had continued into a professional career, singing on Broadway. Whenever I would come home, I'd have a lesson or two with Mr. Hoover. And it's just something I loved.
It wasn't until second semester of my senior year of high school that I really decided to pursue music. I was looking at engineering and a number of other things and I ended up going to IU as a math and music major. I knew there was a lot I didn't know as a 17-year-old so I tried to keep my options open in terms of exercising both sides of the brain. With music I just kept saying that as long as I saw progress, I''ll'd keep pursuing it.
I left IU a little early and after graduating went down to Atlanta with about four other guys from Straight No Chaser. We had a record deal down there and that kind of fell through after 9/11 and Napster and others that had all happened at once, back in 2001. And so I moved to New York, did a cruise ship over in Europe, did a couple of national tours, and did a couple of Broadway shows before going back to grad school and leaving the business for a while to start a family.
What part of growing up in Evansville had an impact on your career?
I think the biggest thing was having incredibly supportive parents who never said that's a crazy idea. They always were supportive and, said chase your dreams and go for it.
In Evansville, there are a lot of people who went on to do some cool things and for the size, and location of where we are, we had just a unique set of people who were making things happen for young people and really giving them a good foundation in the arts. There's just a ton of people who were supportive of the arts, and who were out there performing themselves, but then also bringing up this next generation.
In 2013, 'Pitch Perfect' threw the a capella world into the limelight. What parts of the movie were accurate?
They make it look a lot easier than it is, I think. There's a lot of grunt work that goes into it, and just hours and hours of practice. We were each others' friends − it was not only the a capella group rehearsing together, but then we went out and hung out together all the time. And that kind of camaraderie is kind of what carried on to the stage and translates now into our shows.
What made you guys want to release a Christmas album as you are on tour?
This is new material to take on the road with us, creating a brand-new experience for the audience and keeping it all fresh for us as well.
What can people at the Evansville show expect?
It's going to be in the same vein as our normal holiday shows. The first act is non-holiday, and the second half will be holiday. We've got everything from the 50s and 60s up until today and we've got some really clever, new medleys that we are excited to share. We've got a little something for everybody, everything from Elvis to Taylor Swift, and then the second act will get you in the holiday spirit.
What advice do you have for anyone wanting to get into music, especially a capella?
Get out there and find your group or people and make it so that it's not work to do it. We love seeing fans and the best part of our day is getting up on stage every night. The thing that makes it a job is the tour and the travel. When you're young and getting into it, the main thing is to get up and get in front of everybody. You can make the mistakes early so that you can get up above that learning curve, and most importantly, have fun with it.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Q&A: A capella group Straight No Chaser's Steve Morgan, an Evansville native
