by Carly Schuna
Staff Writer
“We’re like a group of siblings,” said Jay Wiesner ‘05 of the G-Tones. “We rag on each other sometimes ... we’re like brothers.”
Mark Henry ‘05, one of the group’s cofounders, agreed. “We have a good time. [Our intent was] to start a group ... that has a lot of fun.”
Together with Henry, Derrick Mitchell ‘05 founded the G-Tones, Grinnell’s all-male a cappella group, at the beginning of this school year.
Mitchell and Henry held auditions to find members for the group. “We actually wanted six [members], but we had such good people trying out that we ended up picking seven,” said Mitchell.
After picking members, the group needed a name. The name G-Tones was Kreger’s creation. “G-Tones [was a name that] just sort of worked for everybody,” said Henry.
Armed with a talented group of singers and a new name, the G-Tones got to work. When picking songs to sing, members’ ranges were considered in decisions of who would get a solo. Both Henry and Mitchell sing tenor for the group. Wiesner sings tenor 2 and baritone, Gagnon and Cook sing baritone, and Kreger and Leach sing bass. Range, however, is not the sole factor as to which G-Tones get a solo. “We want to make sure that everybody sings solos,” said Mitchell. “It’s not just about one person; it’s about everybody.”
Though the G-Tones currently have seven members, they are hoping to up their number to ten at semester time, when Gagnon will be graduating. Auditions will be held in December and are open to all male Grinnell students.
The G-Tones are also looking forward to their upcoming concert and soon-to-be-released CD. The concert will be held on Saturday, November 16, at 3 p.m. in Sebring-Lewis Hall at the Fine Arts building.
“It’s going to be a good time,” said Henry. The concert will include all of the songs from the G-Tones’ new CD, including the popular a cappella “Lean on Me,” Marc Cohn’s “Walkin’ in Memphis,” and Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” in addition to a few extra “surprise” songs.
The new CDs will also be released to the public at the November 16 concert. The CD will cost $5 and includes ten complete songs, as well as several outtakes.
Recording a CD was a new experience for most of the G-Tones, but they all seemed to enjoy it. Kreger called the sensation “empowering,” and Leach called it “exhilarating.”
The process of recording the CD was “long and painstaking,” according to Leach. Wiesner explained: “Basically, we come in this room [Sebring-Lewis], we have our recording artist [Nick Liebman ‘04], who we actually call God, and we stand around and we sing.”
“And we sing over and over...” began Leach, “... until it gets as perfect as it can be by us,” finished Wiesner.
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