The Trojan Men

The Trojan Men

The Trojan Men performing at the VKC building at USC
Background information
Origin University of Southern California
Genres A Cappella
Years active 2005 – present
Website http://www.thetrojanmen.com/
Members J.P. Alanís
Michael Bannett
David Burris
Rob Ellis
Kevin Ikuta
Todd Levin
Pierre Liu
Eitan Nir
Tien Nguyen
Cy Serrano
Martin Sung
Daniel Weidlein
Past members Evan Bregman (2005-2008)
Casey Levental (2005-2008)
Mario Sawaya (2005-2008)
Jared Scheib (2005-2008)
Andrew Skotzko (2005-2006)
JC MacMillan (2006-2007)
Thomas Kim (2007-2008)

The Trojan Men is an all-male a cappella group at the University of Southern California. Founded in 2005, the group has participated in and has earned numerous awards from competitions like the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella and USC's Absolut A Cappella contest. The group currently performs around USC and the Los Angeles area.

History

The Trojan Men was founded in January 2005[1] by then-freshman Evan Bregman. Nine people auditioned in the initial stages, and the group had its first performance on March 3, 2005 with five members. They sang three songs: "In the Still of the Night", "If I Ever Fall in Love", and Bregman's original arrangement of "California, Here I Come".

The group has grown steadily in number and popularity. In 2006, they competed in the ICCA for the first time, placing third in their quarterfinal behind BYU Noteworthy and that year's eventual International Champions, BYU Vocal Point. They were also honored with a Best Soloist award. That same year, they competed in USC's annual Absolut A Cappella contest, placing in first above ICCA finalist USC Reverse Osmosis. Again, they were honored with a Best Soloist award.

2006–2007

With momentum building around them on campus, The Trojan Men decided to spend the Fall 2006 semester preparing a specialty repertoire of multi-denominational Holiday music. This culminated in their first annual Holiday Concert on December 3, 2006. Eschewing the established campus format of concerts with multiple groups singing only four or five songs, the concert featured only The Trojan Men, singing a dozen songs. Many of these songs have since gained popularity through the group's YouTube Channel.

The following semester, the group competed in the ICCAs again, placing third in their quarterfinal[2] and again winning a Best Soloist award. In that year's Absolut A Cappella contest, they placed third as well.

2007–2008

In the final year of the group's founding members, focus turned to establishing the group as a sustainable entity on campus. The fall 2007 semester saw the group as strong as ever, with 45 auditionees. For the first time, new members had arrived at USC with knowledge of the group and intent to audition. One week later, the group was the featured performer and clinician at the second annual Las Vegas A Cappella Summit.

Continuing the trend of breaking with established USC a cappella tradition, the group scheduled their first concert of the semester one week after other campus groups, associating it with USC's Homecoming festivities and again performing a dozen songs. At the concert, the group announced that their second annual Holiday Concert would be the first by a USC a cappella group to be held in Bovard Auditorium with a small admission fee.

The second annual Holiday Concert was held on December 6, 2007. Nearly 500 people were in attendance as The Trojan Men performed 20 songs, a total of 90 minutes of music capped by two short videos. The concert was recorded for a future CD and DVD release. The group financed the entire show themselves using funds acquired from previous performances and private donations.

The spring semester of 2008 was focused on recording the group's debut album, Take Root. The album was released May 4, 2008, the night of the group's end of the year spring concert held again in Bovard Auditorium.

Albums

The group recorded their first album at Asylum Studios, home of singer/songwriter/a cappella producer Gabriel Mann, engineered by Chris Harrison, former director of UCLA Awaken A Cappella.

Take Root (2008)

Take Root (2008)

  • Studio Album
  • Released: May 4, 2008
 Tracks
  1. Don't Stop Me Now (Queen)
  2. Bless the Broken Road (Rascal Flatts)
  3. I Wish (Stevie Wonder)
  4. The Blower's Daughter (Damien Rice)
  5. Insomniac (Billy Pilgrim)
  6. Because (The Beatles)
  7. Change in My Life (Rockapella)
  8. Rocksteady (Marc Broussard)
  9. Can't Take My Eyes Off You (Frankie Valli)
  10. I Didn't Understand (Elliott Smith)
  11. My Mistake (Evan Bregman)
  12. I Want You Back (Jackson 5)
  13. Somewhere Out There (Live) (from the movie An American Tail)
  14. Shout (The Isley Brothers)

Awards

2006

2007

2008

2009

References

  1. ↑ "SCing Along", Daily Trojan, September 15, 2005
  2. ↑ "Vocal Artillery", Daily Trojan, February 10, 2006
  3. ↑ ICCA 2006 Results
  4. ↑ ICCA 2007 Results
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