Official Blog

Last night in Tampa, FL we performed our last show of the 2011 Fall Tour. This year, we've travelled tens of thousands of miles, and performed over 135 shows in front of HUNDREDS of thousands of people! It has been truly incredible, thank you to everyone who has made it out to a show!To those in Fresno – we'll see you on New Year's. Everyone else – we'll see you in 2012! Love, Straight No Chaser  

It has been long enough and it’s time for another installment of “A Rare Walt Blog” from yours truly.  Been on vaca the past week.  I've now read enough books, walked enough beach, and listened to enough fantasy baseball podcasts to no longer justify not checking back in and letting my bloggish thoughts expunge.  So here goes...   For those who follow me on the Twitter or have listened to the fabulous SNC FanChat, you might have heard me mention my second musical creative outlet - other than SNC. I speak, of course, of the a cappella sensation, the one and only Walter Chase and The Airtight.   Now, before you go surfing the web or Wiki to learn more about this side project (BTW, anyone that wants to create The (definitive) Airtight Wiki page is more than encouraged and welcomed), know that The Airtight is not performing live or touring, has ANY albums available for sale or have anything official, like a website or even a group photo on record (yet, yet, yet and yet).   The Airtight is the name of the "group" that I use to record my arranging demos for SNC, our management and our creative team (record label, producers, etc). Members of this group include simply… me: I sing all of the parts.  The reason I record with The Airtight is so the guys can hear an arrangement fully "performed", taking the guesswork out of if it will work a cappella.  Besides using these demos for SNC, I have created recordings for other groups to have for their rehearsal purposes.   For any Chasers out there looking for a tip on how to arrange for a group, my first suggestion is to record/demo it. There are a lot of reasons I find this essential, but mainly just so you can hear if you've got it right before bringing it in to rehearsal for the sometimes nervous "first impression". Is a particular section too busy or kind of boring?  What vowel sounds best for the pre chorus?  Where should vocal percussion be used and taken out?  A lot of things can be done if you arrange with piano or guitar or whatever, but until you hear it actually sung you never really hear how it's going to sound.  Also, once I get the basic parts down, it's fun to just loop a section of the arrangement and try to write new stuff overtop to make it better.   What you need to create your own Airtight recording?  Buy a USB mic (I suggest one that you can wear with headphones so your hands are free) and open up Garage Band or the PC cheap version of Garage Band. That's all. If you cant sing the bass part, find a fellow bass or use a bass midi instrument that sounds close enough to a bass voice. Once it sounds good enough to you, share it with a friend or with someone(s) that you know will give you constructive feedback. Last step for me is using Finale (music software) to write out the sheet music for rehearsal. If you don't have Finale or don't want to waste time writing it out, just use your demo recording to isolate the parts for your group to learn.   Back to The Airtight: Now, if you're like me, and you loooooooove listening to Walt and Walt, and even more Walt, well The Airtight is just for you.  A lot of people (ok, not a lot of people, maybe two tops - one including my mom) have asked: "Walter, will we ever get a chance to hear these Airtight demo recordings?” Unless you're a guy in the group or my “fortunate” spouse (over and over and over again while I record it), Airtight recordings are not publicly available.  However, and I would like to announce here for the first time, I WILL be releasing full albums of The Airtight in the very, very, very distant future.  The only released recording The Airtight currently has is of "The SNC FanChat Theme Song", featuring Charlie on bass.   #TheAirtightFunFacts: The number of members (“Walts”) in The Airtight varies anywhere between 5 to approx 38, making it a hybrid of a small quintet up to a massive collection of “Walts” galore. I, of course, sing all of the solos, with a couple of exceptions (Luginbill sang the solo for my demo of "The Man Who Cant Be Moved" 3,000 miles away from his own home studio).   The Airtight took the past week off on vaca here in Mexico, but will be hard at work next week continuing to write for SNC's next album and our brand-new show for this summer in Atlantic City (expect 95% new music from our show last year). The group will all be in Bloomington, Indiana this coming weekend for its 15-year reunion of Straight No Chaser.  We will be performing our own set (3-4 songs) as well as a song or two with the current group at IU.  We leave from there to head back to the UK to perform with the great Barry Manilow for four dates at the O2 Arena. Keep checking back here for updates. If you don’t already, follow us all on Twitter (yes, even Ryan), thank you all for your continued support and making SNC so special for us all everyday.   -Walter Chase (on behalf of The Airtight)                              

Greetings, Chasers -    There seems to be some recent activity on here (and Twitter, Facebook) surrounding the unofficial lingo of SNC, specifically the term "beep" and its derivatives.  I feel it is my duty - nay, honor - to set the record straight on behalf of the group to avoid any future confusion and, more importantly, to ensure the integrity of the term and its propagation.   The term "beep" was coined circa 2002 in Bloomington, IN.  Most academic scholars place the origin of the term to the off-campus residence inhabited by Mike "Sluggz" Luginbill and several of his fraternity brothers.  The term was invented as a protest of sorts to bring public notice and/or mere personal enjoyment to a statement - written, verbal, or otherwise - made by an individual or group of individuals intending to bring attention to oneself or themselves.  While there may be debate surrounding the exact timing of the term's origin, no one debates the fact that it was indeed Sluggz that brought it into SNC's vernacular (albeit inadvertently perhaps...).   Immediately following its collegiate inception, a bevy of related terms soon spawned from "beep."  To eliminate discrepancies in the proper usage of "beep," please allow me to explain several of the most commonly utilized derivatives.   The Name Drop  We've all been guilty of this at some point.  The guilty party (the beeper) includes a casual reference to a person or group of individuals in an attempt to strengthen the impact of their statement upon the receiving party (the beepee).  As Walt pointed out in a recent tweet, to refer to this party by his/her/their first name(s) increases the need for the beepee to beep the beeper.   Ex:  "OMG, I ran into (name of semi-famous athlete, actor, notable public figure, middle Jonas brother, etc.) the other day at the mall while I was out shopping for some new shoes.  He/she/they looked amazing."     The Vacation Drop  A cousin of the The Name Drop, in which the beeper subtly or overtly references a destination other than the setting in which the conversation takes place to enhance the impact of their statement upon the beepee.     Ex:  "Mexico was great for the honeymoon, but we're looking into the Dominican with our travel agent for this year."  (Author's note:  not everyone who visits the Dominican Republic deserves to be beeped, but those who possess ownership over travel agents in conversation should be, including this author who has made the above statement nearly verbatim)     The Self-Dep Beep (short for self-deprecating), in which the beeper brings attention to a particular plight he/she/they is/has/will enduring/endured/endure.     Ex:  "That reminds me, last summer when I was traveling abroad I sprained my ankle on the way to the top of the Parthenon and had to have Brad carry me all the way back to the Four Seasons."  (Author's note:  this particular example includes indeed three beeps; the self-dep example of the sprained ankle, the vacation-drop reference to visiting ancient Greek historical sites, and general beep for the need to point out the name of the luxury hotel at which the beeper resided)   The Greep Coined by Charlie (date unknown), a greep can be called by the beepee when the beeper - almost always this author, whose nickname inspired the wombo (word combo) of Green+beep=greep - mercilessly unleashes some completely unsolicited nugget of trivia upon the helpless beepee(s).  A greep can be called by saying "Greep" - usually in a monotone manner, nearly always not looking up from the game of Angry Birds or Mad Skillz Motocross being played on a phone while waiting in a regional Canadian TV station's green room at 7:30 AM - or, as Jerome has recently coined, shaping the letter G with one's pointer finger and thumb while employing the Seggieface.  I will not elaborate on the Seggieface, just know that it's awesome.   Ex:  "The key change right before the guitar solo and the Picardy third on the final chord make 'And I Love Her' my favorite Beatles tune off of 'A Hard Day's Night.'"  - recent tweet posted by this author on 3/13/11 (Author's note:  the author's usage of his own tweet to show the implementation of a greep may, admittedly, in fact be a self-dep beep...)   The Honk A honk is larger than a beep in nature and tends to be called out by the beepee by miming the pulling down of a train whistle, the playing of a small horn instrument such as a piccolo trumpet, or this author's favorite, the falling asleep at the wheel of a car with the beepee's head resting firmly upon the horn.  Usually, when one is "honking," they are beeping out of control, a state in which many refer to as a "beep-fest."   Ex:  "So I was at the Lakers game (general/vacation) and I saw Jack Nicholson (name-drop) get up and say something to the ref and I was all like, "Yo, Jack (first name drop), it's me from the coffee shop earlier!" and he obviously remembered me because he invited me down to the court (general) but my girl spilled her drink on me (self-dep) when we stood up and I was like "Awww, I know you didn't just spill your drink on me right as I'm about to go sit with Jack (first name drop) and pitch him my movie script (general) about the hardships endured by the common Union soldier under the command of General George McClellan at the Battle of Antietam (Greep)."   As one can see, whereas the petty offense of beeping often goes unnoticed by the beeper, the graceful and admittedly stupid art of calling out beeps is one that requires years of study and implementation by the beepee.  It should be noted that administering beeps is not intended to be malicious; rather, distributing beeps to guilty beepers should be practiced in a light-hearted and jovial manner.  If the beeper takes offense to being called out on their honkage, they should probably stop beeping.   Thank you for stopping by, everyone, and, yes, I realize I will never have returned to me the past 30 minutes of my life (self-dep).   Ryan  

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