The Trojan Men
The Trojan Men | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | University of Southern California |
| Genres | A Cappella |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Members |
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The Trojan Men ("The Men") is an a cappella group at the University of Southern California. Founded in 2005, the group has participated in and earned numerous awards from competitions such as the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella and USC's Absolut A Cappella contest. The group currently performs around USC, Los Angeles, and the Long Beach 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.
The group is famous for their tradition of singing "Alfred the Alligator" before every single rehearsal.
2006–2007
With momentum building around them on campus, The Trojan Men spent 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, the focus turned to establishing the group as a sustainable entity on campus. The fall 2007 semester saw 45 auditionees. 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 self-financed the entire show 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.
2016–2017
The Trojan Men actively performed around the Los Angeles Tri-state area. While they still performed classic songs including Etta James' "At Last" and Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On," they constantly cycled through new material to be performed for friends, family, and fans.
The group no longer competed in competitions.
2017–2018
The Men performed a 13th anniversary "Bar Mitzvah" concert, performing songs from the years of the group's birth. Highlights included Vanessa Carlton's "A Thousand Miles", Owl City's "Fireflies", and The Jonas Brothers' "Year 3000". New arrangements from Colin Petersdorf, Landon Fadel, and Austin Karkowsky brought a new energy to the group and its audience.
For the first time in the group's history, The Trojan Men performed their winter concert with The Sirens, USC's only all-female a cappella group.
2018–2019
In January, the group sang the National Anthem for a USC Basketball game and learned a record 21 arrangements in the semester. With Ben Shiff, Gerry Hartman, Joey Blundell, and Stephen Jung emerging as new arrangers, the growing group continued to expand their repertoire.
2019–2020
The group welcomed Alex Oliva, Sam Guillemette, Nick Springer, and Avery Streater into the group. One song of the year was Dancing in the Moonlight.
2020–2021
Following the suspension of all in-person activities at the University of Southern California in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, membership dwindled and participation was at an all-time low. Attempts to record and produce videos of each individual member stitched together were unsuccessful, and like most artistic clubs and a cappella groups on campus, The Trojan Men were on the brink of breaking up.
President and vice-president Timothy Reilly and Luke Sobolevitch, respectively, were determined to bring the group back to its former skill and prestige. With the commencement of the fall 2021 semester, members past-and-present assembled and performed at that semester's All-Hail Showcase. The exposure the showcase offered brought many new prospective members, and following the audition process, the group stood at 13. The Trojan Men once again performed their winter concert with The Sirens, featuring arrangements of Perfect and I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me).
2021–2022
The Trojan men gained 10 new members during their 2021–2022 season. George Vagujhelyi, Daniel Marable, Strad Slater, Siddhant Bajaj, Ethan Kaiser and Thomas Colglazier all became members of the all male A-Capella group. The group went on to have several performance opportunities — including their winter and spring concert. The group was also given the opportunity to perform at the banquet for USC School of Pharmacy.
2022–2023
For both Fall and Spring semester, 8 new members joined the group: Bryce Rayen, Tripp Carrington, Iain Tarves, Sam Skarin, Jonathan Liu, Arjun Lakshman, and Victor Falcon. The group had several performances including All Hail, Acapalooza in Las Vegas, Winter Concert with the Sirens, Songfest, and Spring Concert. The notable arrangements include: Harry Styles, Elvis, and Disney medleys, "Bad Guy" x "Old Town Road" Mashup, and Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road." The group also debuted an original arrangement of The Beatles' song "Drive My Car" by Iain Tarves.
2023–2024
On the way to the group's retreat in Carlsbad, members Daniel Marable, Iain Tarves, Jonathan Liu, and Henry Masin sang the Chili's Baby Back Ribs song in front of a Chili's location and posted the video to The Trojan Men Instagram. Chili's commented on the post.
2025–2026
The Trojan Men went viral.
Presidents
| President | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Evan Bregman | Spring 2005 | Spring 2008 |
| Eitan Nir | Fall 2008 | Spring 2009 |
| Cy Serrano | Fall 2009 | Spring 2010 |
| Martin Sung | Fall 2010 | Spring 2011 |
| Aaron Kwan | Fall 2011 | Spring 2012 |
| Kevin Rutkowski | Fall 2012 | Spring 2013 |
| Micah O'Konis | Fall 2013 | Spring 2015 |
| Chasen Washington | Fall 2015 | Fall 2016 |
| Clint Blakely | Spring 2017 | Spring 2017 |
| Deven Martin & Landon Fadel | Fall 2017 | Fall 2017 |
| Landon Fadel | Spring 2018 | Fall 2018 |
| Austin Karkowsky | Spring 2019 | Fall 2020 |
| Luke Sobolevitch | Spring 2021 | Spring 2021 |
| Tim Reilly | Fall 2021 | Spring 2022 |
| Daniel Marable | Fall 2022 | Spring 2024 |
| Tripp Carrington | Fall 2024 | Spring 2026 |
| Henry Masin | Fall 2026 | present |
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)
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Tracks
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Awards
2006
- 3rd Place – ICCA quarterfinal
- Best Soloist: Evan Bregman on Shout (Parts 1&2) [3]
- 1st Place – Absolut A Cappella
- Best Soloist: Evan Bregman on Shout (Parts 1&2)
2007
- 3rd Place – ICCA quarterfinal [4]
- Best Soloist: Tien Nguyen on Don't Stop Me Now
- 3rd Place – Absolut A Cappella
- Best Performance: Tien Nguyen on Don't Stop Me Now
2008
- 2nd Place – Absolut A Cappella
- Best Soloists: The Trojan Men on Justin Timberlake Medley
2009
- 1st Place – Absolut A Cappella
- Best Arrangement: Cy Serrano on Ribbon in the Sky
2019
- 1st Place – The Big Final A Cappella Show
- Best to Ever Do It: The Trojan Men
2024
- Trojan's Choice Award – Songfest
2026
- 3rd Place – Songfest
External links
References
- ↑ "SCing Along" Archived 2008-05-24 at the Wayback Machine, Daily Trojan, September 15, 2005
- ↑ "Vocal Artillery" Archived 2006-04-04 at the Wayback Machine, Daily Trojan, February 10, 2006
- ↑ ICCA 2006 Results Archived 2008-03-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ ICCA 2007 Results Archived 2007-12-17 at the Wayback Machine