The Alleycats (University of St Andrews)

The Alleycats are a collegiate a cappella group, hailing from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. The group was established in 2001. Since then, they have produced 9 albums, performing across the UK.

The Alleycats
OriginSt Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom
GenresA Cappella, Vocal, Contemporary
Years active2001 - Present
Websitewww.thealleycats.co.uk
MembersClaire Beattie
Lucy Bishop
Bea Delafaille
Lauren Gage
Hamish Garratt
Markus Lee
Andrew Mundy
Jamie Rees
Alex Schellekens
Nele Templin

History

2001-09: Formation and early years

The group was formed in 2001 by two students, Ben Murray and Dan Wright and soon grew with the addition of George Hollis, Matt King, Vince Wong, Nigel Mattinson, Bill Calderhead and David Caves. In the following years, the group set about increasing their reputation around the university, performing at several gigs around the university town. Originally an all-male group, in 2007 girls were permitted to audition, and today the group consists of roughly half males and half females. They recorded four albums before 2008, the titles of which played on the feline name of the group : Their debut album, The Cat Pack; More Than A Feline; Cat Fight and Platinum Chat.

The group released their fifth studio album in 2008, entitled Meow, That's What I Call Music. That year, they applied to be on the BBC's primetime show, Last Choir Standing, where they progressed to the final 15. However, they were eliminated in Heat 1.[1][2]

In March 2009, the group entered the inaugural Voice Festival UK competition at the semifinal stage, held in St Andrews. In the semifinal, they won the award for 'Outstanding Performance' for their mash-up of "Dance Wiv Me", "Lovestoned" and "Billie Jean", and progressed to the final in London.[3]

That year, they also released their sixth studio album, Press Paws, which included tracks they had performed during Last Choir Standing.

2010: Cat Touch This and Edinburgh Fringe Debut

In March 2010, the group competed in the Voice Festival for the second time and progressed to the final again, winning the award for 'Outstanding Performance' for their overall set in the final.[3]

From 16 to 21 August of that year, the group debuted in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2010 and were given an official Sell-Out Show award.[4]

2011: We're Not Kitten

The group released an album titled We're Not Kitten, featuring some of the songs that had earned them success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2010.[5] Featured on the album, their arrangement of 'Titanium' featuring Heather Robertson earned them the #2 spot in the UACUK (The UK University A Cappella Blog)'s "Best of British 2012".[6] In the Voice Festival UK 2011 and 2012, the Alleycats were awarded "Outstanding Vocal Percussion", for Cammy Dobbie's performances, as well as "Outstanding Choreography" for Philip De Winter Shaw's work on "Till the World Ends / DJ Got us fallin’ in love / Tonight".[7]

The group performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013 for two weeks (31 July – 13 August) achieving 4-Star reviews.[8][9][10][11]

2013: Furplay

In November 2013, The Alleycats released their EP, Furplay, as a three track teaser for their album, released in 2014.[12] The EP was recorded and produced by Liquid 5th, a studio based in the US.

2014: Careless Whisker

In August 2014, The Alleycats released their album, Careless Whisker. The album was again recorded and produced by Liquid 5th, a studio based in the US.

2014: US Tour

In January 2014, The Alleycats embarked on their first tour to the East coast of the USA. For 10 days they traveled around Boston, New Haven, New York and New Jersey, visiting and singing with other university groups. They visited the Yale Spizzwinks, Tufts Sq!, The Boston College Bostonians, the MIT Chorallaries, the NYU Mixtapes and the Princeton Katzenjammers as well as performing at the Spence School in NYC.

2017: Scottish A Capella Championship

In March 2017, the group successfully captured the title for the Scottish A Capella Championship with a set of "Dangerous Women / Crazy / Crazy In Love / Animal / Hey Now" against many other Scottish A Capella groups such as The Other Guys, The Accidentals, and 2016 Championship winner The Belles & The Beaus. In addition, Best Arrangement was awarded to Musical Director Lauren Gage, and special mention went to Caitlin Macdonald for her solo and to Joe Revell for his Vocal Percussion.[13][14]

Current members

The members of the group can change every year as old students graduate and new students enroll. As of 2020, there are 11 members in the group, with Claire Beattie as Manager and Jamie Rees as Musical Director. Jamie Rees is also the vocal percussionist of the group.[15]

Members in italics are new members of the year. Members with asterisk * left the group in the middle of the year.

2018
SopranoAltoTenorBass
Lauren GageLucy BishopAndrew MundyJamie Rees
Claire BeattieBea DelafailleHamish GarrattMarkus Lee
Nele TemplinMilo Bernfield-Millman*Alex Schellekens

2019
SopranoMezzoAltoTenorBaritoneBass
Chloe SomervilleClaire BeattieBea DelafailleHamish GarrattMarkus LeeJamie Rees
Katie HarveyBethany MackayGrace DeriMilo Bernfield-MillmanAlex Schellekens*Eli Thayer

Albums and EPs
  • Careless Whisker (2014)
  • Furplay (2013)
  • We're Not Kitten (2011)
  • Cat Touch This (2010)
  • Press Paws (2009)
  • Meow, That's What I Call Music (2008)
  • Platinum Chat
  • Cat Fight
  • More Than A Feline
  • The Cat Pack

Reviews

Three Weeks [16] UACUK [17] Broadway Baby[9] Edinburgh Fringe 'What's on'[18] Vocal Australia[19] Edinburgh Fringe Review (EFR) [20]

gollark: Cross-origin websockets go through fine.
gollark: That shouldn't be it actually, it's reverse proxied and I can access the thing itself fine.
gollark: Hmm, this might be some kind of IPv6 thing somehow?
gollark: I just get a cryptic error.
gollark: How odd.

See also
  • List of collegiate a cappella groups in the UK

References
  1. "The Alleycats". BBC. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  2. "Myleene's Blog - Heat 1". BBC. 21 July 2008. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  3. Voice Festival UK Results Archived 5 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 12 July 2011
  4. "The Alleycats". Her Campus.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "University Results". Thevoicefestival.co.uk.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "The Alleycats – Contemporary A Cappella (The Alleycats)". Threeweeksedinburgh.com.
  11. "FringeGuru - The Alleycats: Contemporary a Cappella". Fringeguru.com.
  12. "Furplay, by The Alleycats". Thealleycatsmusic.bandcamp.com.
  13. "SCOTTISH A CAPPELLA CHAMPIONS 2017". The Alleycats. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  14. "The Alleycats Are Crowned Your 2017 Scottish A Cappella Champions". College A Cappella. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  15. "Members". Thealleycats.co.uk. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  16. "The Alleycats – Contemporary A Cappella". Threeweeksedinburgh.com.
  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. Alder, Amelia (27 September 2011). "REVIEW: The Alleycats". Vocalaustralia.com.

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