This is the third summer my friend Anna & I have been friends. And ever since the first day I met her she has been
majorly obsessed with a band called
Five O'Clock Shadow (Known by their fans simply as FOCS). I am very open to all new
music. If you like it, I will give it a chance, no questions asked. So I asked her to tell me about FOCS, and the first thing she told me sort of
turned me off.
"They're an a cappella band."
Eh. Okay. I think some
a cappella can sound BEAUTIFUL... But for some reason, I decided to NOT give them a chance. My loss, though. Eventually I caved in to Anna and heard some of their music. When I heard them I laughed A LOT because clearly Anna didn't know what "
a cappella" meant.
a cap·pel·la (ä k -p l )
adv. Music
Without instrumental accompaniment.
And
clearly FOCS used instruments. I pointed this out to her and she laughed at
me because they
weren't using instruments. They were using their voices to
mimic instruments. And they did a damn good job. You'll think you are hearing
electric guitars,
keyboards,
drums and
electric bass - but the only thing you are hearing are their
voices. One member performs vocal bass WHILE he is performing vocal drums. And they do it LIVE for thousands of concertgoers every year.
FOCS consists of five members - most with
unique names - Roo, Oren, Stack, Paul & Bill. They originate from Massachussetts but perform all over the East Coast and the rest of the
United States. They've toured
Japan, and will be touring
Germany in the fall. But strangely many people have never heard of them. Their website, www.focs.com, has
sound clips and you can download their
Mp3s off of most
file sharing programs and Mp3.com.
They have released three
albums: "
Misfit Toys", "
So There", and "
Wonders of the World".
If you are open to
new music, you should definately give FOCS a try. They're not your
typical a cappella band.