Trouble in Pitch Perfect Paradise?

Inside Acapella At St Andrews

The Other Guys (TOG)

Despite the hordes of Americans, St Andrews lacks sororities and fraternities. But what it lacks in Greek life it makes up for in acapella. 

The Other Guys (TOG), The Accidentals, The Hummingbirds, The Alleycats, BELLS, The Rich Teas, and The Vocal Bandits make up the University’s vibrant acapella scene. TOG is the only all-male group, while the Hummingbirds and Alleycats are all-girls. They may harmonise on stage, but are the arrangements flawless behind the scenes? Or does singing in a lower octave come with a higher place in the hierarchy?  

“It's very social. There's a lot of friendly rivalry,” Alex Barnard, a third-year Alleycat singer, said. That’s especially true when it comes to acapella tournaments. 

“A lot of us are close friends, but on competition day we do not interact,” Millie Chew, Head of Choreography for the Hummingbirds, told me.

Do things ever get messy? “When you sort a lot of strong-minded, talented young people into groups and put them in direct competition with each other, drama occurs,” Rachel, a former acapella group leader, said. Rachel chose to use a pseudonym. “It’s hard. You're having a bunch of young adults come together multiple times a week for hours at a time, in the evenings — you get sick of each other.”

Sometimes the constant contact can cause friction. Sometimes? “You form really strong friendships,” Rachel said, “and maybe a little something more.” 

Chew thought tales of acapella strife were overhyped. “We try to create drama where there is none,” she said. 

I asked Leon Tasch, President of TOG, how much Pitch Perfect-esque backstabbing he saw. “I don’t think the level of sabotage between the groups and reluctance to socialise is there. There’s none of that elbowing. But people do get quite passionate about competing and they want to win.” 

St Andrews teams compete in the same competition featured in Pitch Perfect: the International Championship of Collegiate Acapella (ICCA). The similarities don’t end there. “I wrote an article about this two years ago,” Barnard laughed. “It's very real when you lose members and then you have to build the group back up again, that’s quite relatable.” Beyond that, she felt that Pitch Perfect was perhaps more accurate to the experiences of the non-mixed groups. “The Hummingbirds and The Other Guys have a friendship and they do everything together, it reminds me of the Barden Bellas and Treblemakers.” 

There’s a clear hierarchy in St Andrews acapella, and TOG is at the top. “When they perform, it’s on a level that gets them to national championships effortlessly,” Andrew Ibarra, a third-year BELLS singer, said. “They’ve been featured on TV. Every one of them is a meticulous musician. They work their asses off, and it shows.” 

 “I don’t want to say it’s annoying when they win, but it seems sometimes like it's inevitable,” Barnard added. 

Tasch was modest about his team’s amassed accolades — they have “high standards.” “We’re very reluctant to settle, be done with something when it’s just fine.” 

Despite TOG’s well-earned success, many — including Tasch himself — acknowledged that women’s acapella groups go under-recognised in comparison.  

“The Other Guys are very talented — they do get a lot of credit, though, for being men that can sing,” Rachel said. 

“I’m such a fangirl of TOG,” Chew said. “But at the same time, if we went up there and did that, we would not be getting the same amount of points from judges. That’s just a fact.” 

Tasch himself pointed out the Hummingbirds are the first female group to qualify for the national acapella semifinals in two years. “This is the first time ever that both the [Scottish] teams qualifying are from St Andrews, which is big for St Andrews acapella but also big for all female acapella.” 

“I fully believe that all female groups have to work ten times harder than any of the other groups,” Chew added. She remembered last year’s ICCAs when the all-female Hummingbirds came third behind an “awful” all-male group. “They forgot the lines of their music, voice cracks-galore, and did not have any interesting choreography. It’s still a mystery.” 

Despite these hurdles, the “Hummies” are on the up and up, coming second in the Scottish ICCA quarter. “Last year we went viral on Tiktok, we had a video that had four million views. It was an acapella rendition of Creep by Radiohead. We’re also just getting more involved in the community — we just performed at Galentine’s Ball, for example.” With these victories under their belt, Ibarra thought the Hummingbirds had cemented their place in the St Andrews pecking order. “The Other Guys and the Hummingbirds are now the de-facto groups of St Andrews.”

While the Hummies vie for a more permanent top spot in the acapella hierarchy, a new contender has entered the scene: the Rich Teas. They were formed when Aidan Ideker, originally a BELLS member, recently broke off to start his own six-person “doo-wop” acapella group focused on a semi-jazz retro sound. 

“I won’t lie. I was a bit of a hater at first,” confessed Ibarra, Ideker’s former teammate on BELLS. “I was like, why can’t you just suggest [doo-wop] songs in our group? Like what’s so wrong with us?” He came around quickly, though — now, Ibarra respects the doo-wop drive. “[Ideker] had a concert with his new members, and I [saw] this doesn’t match our aesthetic. Not to mention it sounds really good. So who am I to disparage you and your art when you’re having a good time?”

The Rich Teas are currently on the “curb” of the scene, as third-year Charlie Macbeth put it. This doesn’t bother them — they have different goals than most. Although they try to compete, record music, and “get as many gigs as possible”, the Rich Teas don’t want to grow. “It’s not like we’re a brand,” Macbeth said. “We’re just a group of friends.”

However, Macbeth remains torn about their future. “There’s always the appeal of leaving a legacy,” Macbeth said. He’d like to imagine the “Rich Teas’ name” will outlast him. “I don’t like the idea of it disappearing.”

Drama, rivalry, and misogyny aside, St Andrews acapella is on the rise. “St Andrews might be the leading university in acapella in the UK. I don’t think any other university has two acapella groups going to the ICCA semifinals,” Tasch said. He sees a chance for acapella to become a bigger part of uni life here, too. “It’s incredibly good at generating school spirit. People love Pitch Perfect and they love getting behind a team.” 

Maybe one day, Tasch thought, acapella competitions will get as much hype as the Varsity Rugby Match. Whether or not acapella ever rivals rugby in school spirit, it’s becoming harder to consider their vocal background noise. 

Chew had a more down-to-earth view of sing-song showbiz. “At the end of the day,” she said, “we’re all glorified theatre kids.”

Photo: Creative Commons