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| Edited By: Rucha Sharma |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Sep 06, 2017, 04:40 PM IST
Before we became fans of a capella singing thanks to the Pitch Perfect movies and before American sensation Pentatonix arrived on the scene, The Magnets were already capturing the attention of the music world.
The Magnets, comprising of Gibbs James Alexander, Hirst Patrick Paul, McIntosh Callum Gordon, Conway Michael James, Sandilands Duncan Eric Jarvis, and McCabe Matthew are visiting India as part of their ongoing tour. They will do two shows, one in New Delhi on September 16 and the first one in Mumbai on September 9 at Tata Theatre, NCPA. For these two shows, they will be joined by soprano Natalie Di Luccio who is famous for her collaborations with maestro AR Rahman on Coke Studio and composer Amit Trivedi for English Vinglish.
Often described as the 'must-see' act, The Magnets' a capella sets are full of energy and fast paced choreography. They beautifully balance the harmonies with beatboxing to present a musical show without any musical instruments. In an interview with DNA, the band talks about the process of selecting the songs and what new they are bringing for the Indian audience.
When the band started we were inspired by lots of American groups from the 1960’s and 1950’s such as The Temptations, The 4 Tops, The Hi-Lo’s so we knew we wanted to have a name that started with "The'. Then we knew we wanted to try and bring people to our music and to see us as a band so we tried to think of a word that meant attraction…we ended with "The Magnets". It seemed silly at first, but here we are 22 years later and the name is still with us.
We always choose songs that mean something to us. You can’t really perform a song (or anything really) if you don’t believe in it. So first, the song has to mean something. Then we try to have a song that lends itself to harmonies; not all songs do. Sometimes you really love a song but it just doesn’t work a cappella. So we like to choose songs that will work for our voices and that we really like.
1. One of us chooses a song that we like and suggests it to the other guys.
2. We argue in the band about whether it’s going to work.
3. 3 or 4 (out of 6) guys will get together whilst touring and try “jamming” a version of the song to see if it feels right. This is often could be in an airport, hotel, tour bus etc.
4. We argue about if the song is working.
5. Then if it is working one of the guys will arrange the music in full, writing out the music for everyone to learn.
6. We will learn the song individually in our own time and then start practising the song together.
7. We argue about when we’re going to practice.
8. When the song is ready to go we will sing it in public to see the reaction
9. We then argue about whether the people like it.
Honestly? It’s cardio-vascular fitness….seriously. We have to put the hours in the gym to be able to keep going whilst running/jumping/dancing on the stage.
Easiest are the faster songs because there’s so much going on and you maybe get away without being pitch perfect. The slow songs are by far the hardest and require the most amount of work as you are so exposed singing a cappella, there’s nothing to hide behind.
Well, it means that we don’t have to explain what a cappella is anymore! We spend 15 years explaining that a cappella means “without instruments” and now everyone knows - that makes life SO much easier! It also means that there are suddenly a lot more people who are fans of a cappella singing.
Natalie is based in Mumbai and we’re in London so we had to do some Skype rehearsals so we could understand what we're going to sing together. Natalie suggested some songs for us all to sing and then when we arrive in Mumbai we’ll rehearse with her in person.
Oh yes….we’re doing some classic Bollywood hits a cappella….! Come to the shows to hear them.
