If you’re a student at JMU, chances are you have heard of one of the many a cappella groups on campus. One of the many groups who have been making headlines throughout campus are the JMU BluesTones. Darcy West, a senior and member, told us more about the all female group in a Q&A.
Q: Who are the BluesTones?
A: “The BluesTones are an all female a cappella group at JMU. We were founded 15 years ago and have been melting faces ever since!”
Q: What does your music focus on? What message do you all portray?
A: “We like to do songs that showcase our soloists as well as arrangements with a background that would also captivate and engage an audience. I would say a message that encompasses us right now would be “I am woman”. A lot of our songs have messages about females being empowered.”
Q:What makes you the BluesTones?
A: “BluesTones are known for our blue high heels and belting solo voices. We work hard on blend, sass, rocking out on stage and we most importantly pride ourselves on our killer bass lines.”
Q: What shows/awards have you participated and won?
A: “Last year we were featured on the compilation album BOCA (Best of Collegiate A Cappella) 2013 for our rendition of “Battlefield” by Jordin Sparks. One of our other tracks, “Broken-Hearted Girl” by Beyonce, is featured on another compilation album, Voices Only 2012. The BluesTones were also nominated for Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs) in the categories of Best Female Collegiate Album – “Black & Blue” and Best Female Collegiate Song – “crushcrushcrush” (Paramore), and were awarded Best Female Collegiate Soloist – Nicola Bertoni on “Broken-Hearted Girl” (Beyonce). We have also competed in ICCA’s (International Competition of Collegiate a Cappella)! More recently, our rendition of “Lie To me” by Sara Bareilles was chosen for Voices Only 2013. Earlier this November, we were one of six groups chosen to compete in SOJAM, a collegiate a cappella competition in Raleigh, North Carolina.”
Q: Do you have an album? If so, when will it come out?
A: “BluesTones have produced 6 albums in the past and are releasing our 7th studio album December 8th 2013! Just a few weeks away! Keep your eyes and ears open for updates!”
Q: Any upcoming performances on campus? How much are tickets?
A: “We will be singing at Operation Santa Clause as well as other on campus events. Our semester concert and CD release will be on the evening of December 8th in the Memorial Auditorium. Cost is $5 w/ JAC. Keep an eye out on Facebook for the time and any other updates!”
Q: Do the BluesTones have any plans for the future?
A: “We plan on spending next semester on learning a ton of new songs as well as trying to compete more local competitions. We also spend our time visiting other groups along the east cost and going on tour over our school’s winter break. Of course in the coming years we will continue to compete, record albums, as well as get our name out into the a cappella world as much as possible!”
Q: What is the best thing about being a BluesTone?
A: “The sisterhood that comes along with being a BluesTone is by far the best part. We get to make music with some of our best friends and there’s honestly nothing like it.”
Q: So, we’ve all heard about your flash mob at the Carrier Starbucks. How did you come up with the idea? How did it go?
A: “The flash mob was actually JMU photographer, Griffin Harrington’s idea. He is good friends with our music director and wanted to help us get our name out into the JMU community even more as well as bring people’s attention to the name BluesTones. We decided that “End of Time” by Beyonce was our most ear and eye- catching song at the moment so we took the idea and ran with it. The set up was pretty easy. We just had our soloist, Kaite Bianchi, miced and Griffin has some of his friends set up all around Carrier Starbucks with cameras. BluesTones were all spread out amongst Starbucks and once Katie started signing we all just jumped in. We wanted to get the JMU students to see the flash mob, record it, and show their friends. It was basically a way to get our name buzzing around campus. It was so much fun!”
Q: What is an interesting fact about the group?
A: “BluesTones are a lot weirder than we may let on. We’re really good at making ugly faces, something we like to call “creeping”.”
Photos from the official JMU BluesTones Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/thejmubluestones