News-Press.com
May 3, 2012
These days, Roberts holds down the middle notes and also handles the band’s finances. Roberts hasn’t seen the inside of a bank in seven years – unless you count depositing checks from the band’s exploding career.Read more: http://www.news-press.com/article/20120504/ENT/305040007/YouTube-sensation-Straight-No-Chaser-perform-sold-out-show-Phil
Hat Tip: @ChaserNation1
(Edit: The link is now inactive, so the text is below.)
Dave Roberts sat in his 16th-floor Manhattan bank office, crunching numbers instead of belting them out onstage.
That was seven years ago, and Roberts had given up the dream of a singing career. He only occasionally picked up a guitar or sang at karaoke bars.
“I was in a daily grind,” recalls Roberts, 35, of Chicago. “It was just cubicle to cubicle.”
That was about to change, though. All thanks to a runaway YouTube video.
Unknown to Roberts and the other nine guys in the defunct vocal group Straight No Chaser, a 1998 concert video had taken on a life of its own online.
Before they knew it, their performance of “The 12 Days of Christmas” racked up 1 million views on YouTube. Now it’s reached almost 15 million.
Suddenly, the dream was alive again.
“One of the guys posted the video,” Roberts says, “but there was no way we could be prepared for what happened. I was just blown away.”
The 10 Indiana University buddies quickly regrouped, recorded hit albums and now play 150 to 170 concerts a year all around the world.
Straight No Chaser comes to The Phil on Wednesday. The show is sold out.
The a cappella group performs a mix of pop songs from “Tainted Love” to “Wonderwall” to “Let’s Get It On” – often mixed together in unexpected ways.
Humor and the element of surprise are a big part of their shows – suddenly segueing, for example, from “The 12 Days of Christmas” to Toto’s “Africa.”
“We call that the ‘Straight No Chaser twist,’” Roberts says. “We’re always taking a different angle or coming up with some kind of surprise. That’s part of what makes it fun.”
Their 3 1/3-minute, career-making video captures a 1998 holiday concert in Indiana. Wearing their signature tuxedoes, the 10 singers weave in and out of popular Christmas songs, fight over who gets to sing the chorus, and even bust out with a little Toto.
Roberts admits he doesn’t get much of a spotlight in the video. But, then again, he’s used to that.
“Tenors get all the high notes and all the glory,” he says and laughs. “And I’m not cool enough to be in the basses. Nobody cares about the baritones.”
These days, Roberts holds down the middle notes and also handles the band’s finances. Roberts hasn’t seen the inside of a bank in seven years – unless you count depositing checks from the band’s exploding career.
Roberts still can’t quite believe he’s a professional musician. Back in 1998, Straight No Chaser wasn’t even famous in Indiana – let alone the world.
“I’m a full-time entertainer now,” Roberts says. “And it’s all because of that video.We had no idea that, 15 years later, something would come of that concert.
“It’s been quite a ride, and I’m still enjoying it.”
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