When home-grown acapella band TAP (The Acoustic Project) was formed four years ago, the six members had no idea what was in store for them. From pitch-perfect harmonies to beatbox medleys, the troupe from St Joseph’s Commerce College is creating a space for acapella.
In a tete-a-tete with Pilith Pericho, Tony Joy, Adrian Jeffery, Jonathan Adriel, Sohn D’Souza and Peter Alvin Brando, we get to know about acapella, how TAP was formed and more...
Like most acapella artistes, these lads too hail from choir backgrounds, which is a clear influence. “The thing about acapella, is that not everybody understands it. We have always been part of choirs and this influenced our tastes, gave us an insight on understanding the benchmark choirs create. It is soothing to create sounds that instruments can’t create,” says Pilith, one of the four founders, who doubles as manager of the troupe.
Over the course of four years, they have performed all over the country. “Adrian, Pilith and I were classmates in college who started the group. Soon we started getting offers for private gigs and at one venue we were literally expected to come up with a name on the spot, because they didn’t want to introduce us as a SJCC band. And since we also do acoustic gigs, a former member came up with the name and it stuck. Now, people just know us as TAP without even knowing what it stands for,” reveals Jonathan who is also the art-director at Thinktree.
TAP doesn’t believe in sticking to a particular genre. “We are influenced by all genres and it shows in our music. At a competition, we performed metal songs and ended up in second place! While the other bands had guitars and drums, we were the only ones who went on stage with mics,” says Tony proudly. And like other bands, they too have creative differences, “I think that is important as it makes us better and helps us improve,” says Peter, the youngest, who beatboxes while still in college!
Before any performance, they, “Make fun of each other to lighten the mood. Nobody wants to perform with a heavy heart. We also pray before a performance — something we picked up and it has become a ritual from our college days,” concludes Sohn, who is also part of the band Rhapsody out Loud.
