The Other Guys (University of St Andrews)

The Other Guys (TOG) is an all-male a cappella ensemble from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. The group was founded in 2004 and has been one of the groups responsible for the rise of collegiate a cappella in Scotland.

The group uploads their musical parody videos, to YouTube, including "Royal Romance", a tribute to the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton based upon Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance", and their follow-up video "St Andrews Girls", a cover of Katy Perry's "California Gurls", which was released in conjunction with a charity single raising money for Breast Cancer Care.^[1]

History

2004-08: Formation and Early Years

The group was founded in 2004 by a group of friends who wanted to bring the American tradition of collegiate a cappella to the university. In the spring of 2005, the newly founded group went on its first international tour to the United States singing in New York City for the University Glee Club of New York City and in Westport, Connecticut at the Java Jam - a concert of American Collegiate A Cappella Groups at Greens Farms Academy. After three years spent increasing their reputation in both St. Andrews and Scotland, they released their debut album, Indecent Exposure in May 2007, which included covers of tracks by Seal, Backstreet Boys and Chris DeBurgh.

In the winter of 2007, St Andrews hosted the quarter-finals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCAs) for the first time. The Other Guys went on to win this regional round and progressed to the Western European Final in London.

On 12 May 2008, the group released their second studio album The Damage is Done, which included a mash-up of two Scouting For Girls tracks, "Elvis Ain't Dead" and "She's So Lovely", and a rewritten version of "Gangsta's Paradise" which was renamed "Golfer's Paradise", referring to the status of St. Andrews as the 'Home of Golf'. A rewritten version of the latter is also present on their fourth album, Barely Regal.

The Other Guys won the ICCA quarter-final again in 2008, where David Borowsky was awarded 'Outstanding Vocal Percussionist' at both the St Andrews quarter-final and the resulting Western European Final.^[2]

2009-10

Following the formation of The Voice Festival UK (VF-UK) in 2009, The Other Guys proceeded to compete in one of the three semi-finals on 7 March 2009 in St. Andrews. Tenor David Borowsky won the award for 'Outstanding Solo' for the performance of "Desperado", and the group went through to the London final, where Borowsky went on to win the 'Outstanding Solo' award once again.^[3]

On 1 May 2009, the group released their third studio album, entitled Well Sung. This incorporated for the first time a guest vocalist and several well-known hymns, including "Amazing Grace" and "Auld Lang Syne". The album was launched in a special performance at Younger Hall in St Andrews, and was well received throughout the university and by Rector Kevin Dunion.^[4]

On 6 March 2010, the group entered the Voice Festival UK for the second time, where bass Iain Glen won the 'Outstanding Arrangement' for his arrangement of Sara Bareilles' "Gravity".^[3]

2011

The Other Guys at the Voice Festival UK 2011 in Younger Hall, St Andrews

The following year, on 4 March 2011, the group entered the VFUK competition for the third time. There were now five semi-finals and as such, the number of groups qualifying from each semi-final was reduced from two to one. The Other Guys won awards for 'Outstanding Musicality', 'Outstanding Arrangement' for their performance of "Royal Romance", and tenor Henry Synge was 'Highly Commended' for his solo on "Kiss From A Rose.^[3]

Filming and recording on their video "Royal Romance" began in March 2011. It was cut and edited at the beginning of April and was released onto YouTube on 11 April 2011, to celebrate the Royal Wedding and to 'put a smile on people's faces'.^[5] Within a week, the video had earned recognition in the United Kingdom,^[6] the United States,^[7][8] Australia,^[9] and India.^[10] The group made their first TV appearance in a report on Five News on 14 April 2011 and later on STV News. The video was also featured on The Today Show in America as part of their 'Webtastic' section.^[11]

After the success of the video in St Andrews in particular, the group were invited by Louise Richardson, the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the university, to perform at the Principal's Awards Dinner at Lower College Hall on Wednesday 20 April. Their first public performance post-video was in the Byre Theatre bar, where they performed a set of eleven songs, including "Royal Romance", some of which involved several former members of the group.

Promotional Teaser for the "Royal Romance" video

The group performed three times in St Salvator's Quadrangle in St Andrews on Friday 29 April 2011 as part of the celebrations of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.^[12] Each time they performed "Royal Romance" along with other songs from their repertoire, including "Canned Heat" and "Kiss From A Rose", the other two songs from their set at the VF-UK Semi Final. They also appeared on ITV's morning show Daybreak.

After the success of "Royal Romance", the group embarked upon several charitable endeavours, both just as a group and as part of various charity fundraisers. The group have twice appeared at fundraisers for the Muir Maxwell Trust, firstly on 3 July at Fettes College, Edinburgh as part of their Mad Hatter's Tea Party, and the second time on 10 December at the Savoy Hotel.^[13][14]

Recording for their fourth album, Barely Regal began on 27 June 2011 and was completed on 7 July. The album was released on 5 September, alongside an EP of their 2009 album, Well Sung, which featured six of the tracks from the original album. The group worked with American professional a cappella group Overboard, who did the mixing and editing, and music producers Diovoce, who mastered the album.^[15] The group also announced that a 'significant proportion of any profits made' were to be donated to the scholarship at the University of St Andrews that was set up in dedication to William and Kate.^[16][17]

Following a performance at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Gala Dinner on 1 October 2011,^[18] they were invited by professional golfer Colin Montgomerie to sing at a fundraiser for his own charity, Maggie's Cancer Care.^[19]

2012

Promotional Teaser for the "St Andrews Girls" charity single and video

On 3 March 2012, the group competed for the fourth time in The Voice Festival UK, entering the St Andrews Regional Round. The group won the round, as well as the award for 'Outstanding Performance', and progressed to the final in London,^[20] where they won the award for 'Outstanding Arrangement' for their song 'Skinny Love'. Shortly afterwards, the group performed for the English National Ballet at their annual Gala Fundraiser held in The Dorchester. Pictures of the performance were published in Tatler.^[21]

In April 2012 the group revealed plans for their latest project, a charity video and single in aid of Breast Cancer Care entitled "St Andrews Girls".^[22][23] As part of the filming process, the group invited girls from St Andrews to be a part of the video during a special day of recording in St Salvator's Quad, St Andrews, on 22 April 2012. The single was released onto YouTube on 15 May 2012.^[24]

The group went on tour between 10 and 15 July, performing in several venues in Nottingham, Oxford and London, including The Half Moon in Putney.^[25]

The group's Christmas EP, entitled The Other Guys' Christmas was released on 26 November 2012, and contained 8 tracks, including an original, entitled "Christmas Gets Worse Every Year", written and arranged by friend of the group, Oscar Foxley.^[26][27] As of 12 January 2013, the song had peaked at number 2 on the Amazon.com Bestsellers Chart, had amassed over 130,000 views on YouTube,^[28] and had attracted media attention on Classic FM,^[29] BBC Reporting Scotland and the Scottish Daily Mail on Sunday. In the first week the song was eligible for the Official Charts, it reached number 9 on the independent chart^[30] and number 32 on the Scottish charts.^[31]

2013

In early 2013 the group revealed plans to release an EP especially for Valentine's Day.^[32] The album, entitled Just For You, was released on 5 February.^[33] A week later, the group released another video onto YouTube, "I Only Bought You Flowers Because I Love You So".^[34]

On 23 February, the group once again took part in the St Andrews Regional of the Voice Festival UK, winning the award for 'Outstanding Musicality'.^[3] On August 16, the group took their first ever show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performing their "One Night Stand" at Greyfriars Kirk.^[35] In November, the University of St Andrews commissioned Oscar Foxley to write a song in commemoration of the university's 600th anniversary celebrations. The song, entitled "St Andrean Skies", débuted at an honorary graduation dinner attended by Hillary Clinton and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.

2014

The Other Guys performing Ignition (Remix) at the Scottish A Cappella Championships in April 2014.

In January 2014, the group embarked on a tour of the East Coast of the United States to celebrate their 10th anniversary. They travelled to New York City on 9 January and performed in the Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on 11 January with the University Glee Club of New York City. They then moved onto Boston where they performed at several high schools and colleges.^[36]

On 18 April 2014, the group took part in the inaugural Scottish A Cappella Championships (SACC), held in place of the St Andrews Regional of the Voice Festival UK. The group placed first with 405 points ahead of The Alleycats and The Accidentals and became the first outright champions of Scottish collegiate a cappella. Richard Phillips also won the award for 'Outstanding Vocal Percussion' for the group's rendition of Coldplay's "Fix You".^[37]

In August 2014, The Other Guys performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the second time. They embarked on a week-long run, with fourteen performances in six days, which sold out.

On the back of this success, The Other Guys released their seventh studio album, 10, named in honour of their tenth anniversary that year. This release was followed up by a celebratory reunion, in which all manner of Other Guys returned to St Andrews for a weekend of a cappella, culminating in a gig at The Byre Theatre, St Andrews.

On 7 November 2014, The Other Guys released a cover of Run to You, originally by Pentatonix, which was accompanied by a music video.^[38] Proceeds from the single were donated to Help For Heroes. The single reached number three in the iTunes classical music charts on day of release.

2015

In January 2015, The Other Guys embarked on a ten-day tour of the South of England and Greater London, performing at a number of secondary schools in the region. The group also put on a concert at the Royal Ocean Racing Club on the Isle of Wight.

In May 2015, the group released its most recent charity single and music video: It's Raining Men, in aid of Prostate Cancer UK.^[39] This single was first performed by the group at the Scottish A Cappella Championships 2015 on March 5, 2015 where they were awarded second place.

2016

In January the Guys visited LA, Dallas, Chicago, Boston, New York, DC and Toronto.

In March 2016 The Other Guys claimed second place at SACC with a performance inspired by Sia, OutKast and The Lord of the Rings soundtrack.

In August The Other Guys returned to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a week of performances.

Current members

The Other Guys 2015/16

• Charles McGlone - Tenor
• Laurence Pemberton - Tenor (Musical Director)
• Thomas Halverson - Tenor
• Arthur Chitnis - Tenor
• George Kakas - Baritone/Bass
• Scott Syme - Bass
• Charlie McAllister - Baritone
• Iain Carson - Baritone
• Tristan Weller - Bass
• Duncan Bristow - Bass/Vocal Percussionist

Discography

Studio Albums

• Indecent Exposure (2006)
• The Damage Is Done (2007)
• Well Sung (2009)
• Barely Regal (2011)
• The Other Guys' Christmas (2012)
• Just For You EP (2013)
• 10 (2014)

Singles

• Auld Lang Syne (Free Download) (2011)
• St Andrews Girls (Charity Single) (2012) ^[39]
• Christmas Gets Worse Every Year (2012)
• I Only Bought You Flowers Because I Love You So (2013)
• Run To You: The Other Guys' Commemoration Single (2014)
• It's Raining Men (Charity Single) (2015) ^[39]

References

External links

• The Other Guys Official Website