The biggest a cappella festival in California and possibly the West Coast is returning to the Pomona Campus for the fifth straight year. The Southern California a cappella Music Festival, or SCAM Fest, planned each year by the Claremont Shades, continues to grow. This year’s event, to take place this Friday at eight p.m. in Bridges Auditorium, is the biggest yet, with more groups from outside of Claremont than ever before, with a total of eleven in all.
"I’m excited about all the groups we have this year at SCAM Fest. This is our best lineup ever," said Shades President Jake Oken-Berg ‘02.
The most notable group outside of the Claremont area is the five member group Five O’Clock Shadow. The group, hailing from Boston, was named the best unsigned artist in 2000 by VH-1. They are a nationally renowned group which has toured extensively throughout the United States. With an intense vocal percussion and intricate harmonies, they are one of the top a cappella groups in the world.
However, their appearance at SCAM Fest was not originally planned. "Five O’Clock Shadow was already planning on being in Los Angeles for a tour. As they were trying to book dates they heard about SCAM Fest. They called me, very excited about the event, and really wanted to be a part of it," Oken-Berg said.
The Claremont Shades are also using the event as a jumping off point for their new CD, "Color." The CD features eleven tracks, all professionally recorded at Asylum Studio in Los Angeles. Shades will also be unveiling a new song arranged by Robert Beahrs ’05, which is a mix of three techno songs.
"It’s incredibly original and I think the audience will really enjoy it," said Oken-Berg.
The concert is not just a highlight of Shades and Five O’Clock Shadow however. "None of the Claremont groups are headlining. The whole point is to bring in other groups," explained Woman’s Blue and White member Emily Duarte ’05. There are a total of 12 groups that are scheduled to perform throughout the night.
"It’s a really great show in that it’s a combination of a lot of groups," said Men’s Blue and White member Rick Berggreen ’04. The mix of music is bound to be eclectic, ranging from Beahrs’s techno arrangement to pure a cappella. "Many groups just stand a soloist out in front. But at the concert there will be a lot more groups that really focus on harmony and are more of a pure vocal group," said Bergreen.
In addition to the four Claremont groups that are performing there are groups coming from NYU, UCLA, UCSD, USC and Cal Tech.
"It’s amazing to me that Cal Tech even has an a cappella group. But they’re really good music," said Berggreen.
Each group that has agreed to come has shown its dedication to the performance of a cappella music, and many have become excellent at what they do, representing some of the best of college a cappella. Several of them have been featured on the "Best Of College A cappella" or "BOCA" CD available through Mainely cappella, the largest a cappella retailer in the United States.
One of these groups is the all-female USC Sirens."TheSirens are an…amazing group. They’re in Hawaii right now on tour. Women’s Blue and White performed at Scripps last week, and [the Sirens] are in Hawaii," said Duarte.
Despite this pressure, the Claremont groups are undaunted. "I know all the Claremont groups have been working really hard," said Duarte. Berggreen added that Men’s Blue and White was one of only two groups to get standing ovations last year.
Nor are any of the Claremont groups daunted by the other groups’ good looks. "We’re going to look damn sexy. Sexier than the Sirens. I mean, we may not have matching tube tops, but we’ll still be sexier," smiled Duarte.
There is one notable absence this year among the Claremont groups performing. Due to a lack of space, the five-college group Shower Quality was not invited to sing at the festival. "We were told that too many off-campus groups had responded and that because of lack of time, that the Claremont groups were being limited more than in the past," explained Shower Quality President Edwin Wright. But that is not stopping them from supporting the festival and the a cappella scene on campus. "We’re still going. The entire group is going. It’s a very good show. In years past we’ve really enjoyed performing there," Wright said.
SCAM Fest, which has sold out in the past couple of years, was moved to Bridges Auditorium this year to compensate for the massive interest. "I’m nervous. I mean I’ve never sung in front of 1200 people before," Duarte said.
The event has recently received a lot of publicity in the Los Angeles area because of the presence of Five O’Clock Shadow, and the venue change may be essential to be able to fill the high demand for tickets. "There are going to be a lot of people from outside Claremont," said Shades member Beahrs.
