15 years ago acclaimed a cappella band The Idea of North were just a bunch of music students at the ANU. In two weeks they’re coming home to rock the Street Theatre – we talked to Andrew Piper (founding member, bass vocalist) to see how it felt.
“It’s always great to come back to where it all began,” reminisced Andrew. The four founding members met in Canberra, “We all sang in a jazz vocal ensemble, started a friendship and it grew from there.”
Over the years, the Idea of North has become critically and popularly a great success. Aussie critics have praised them as ‘vocal perfection’ and their fan base grows everyday- ranging from young hipsters to mums and dads. “We’ve drawn quite a wide audience,” Andrew said, “It’s very encouraging.”
Additionally, the band recently won the USA’s Harmony Sweepstakes (the largest a cappella competition in the world). T he winning song was ‘When She Loved Me from Toy Story.’ Conventional they ain’t .
The group’s signature technique is discovering beauty in one hit wonders or obscure jingles, as well as belting out old gospel, jazz and soul favourites.
“We all have an eclectic taste in music and we being that to the table…We put our own stamp on it.”
“We like the challenge of taking something that wasn’t an a cappella song.” For example? “Sting!”
Andrew’s current favourite is ‘a song by Charlie Chaplin.’ That’s a bit unusual isn’t it, even for you? “Yeah,” he laughed “Go figure.”
The song, ‘Smile’, was originally arranged for them to sing with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. “We sang it with the strings. It was just beautiful. We just love it.”
The group’s humour is also central to their appeal. Their gigs are littered with comedy tunes, audience interaction and more than little in-group ribbing. “We like to mix it up,” said Andrew. “After all the groups been going for 15 years!”
In their Canberra ‘Winter sessions’ the band’s vocals will be on fine display. Each night they put on two shorter shows of 50 minutes. The earlier show is Ballads by Candlelight.
“It’ll be very intimate….candles on stage’ and then later a Jazz and Gospel show. The audience can go to just one, or both.”
Rest assured though, when the Idea of North plays, you will laugh, cry and fall in love with a capella all over again.
Tickets are available now from www.thestreet.org.au.
