The Overtones: A Musical Time Warp

They bill themselves as “six boys lost in time, as if they never left 8th grade male choir class.” That’s a pretty accurate description of Traverse City’s The Overtones, a men’s a cappella group existing in perfect harmony since 1990.

Oct. 9, 2014

OLD SCHOOL SOUNDS

A product of Traverse City Public Schools, the members of The Overtones– Tom Hoxsie, Neil Pickard, Geoff Henion, Tim Lyon, Matt Price and Mike Rosa–originally started singing together as part of a school group called Men of Note.

After graduation, the friends went on to their separate college classes and careers, but, in 2000, they were brought back together by Men of Note’s director Tom Stokes who wanted the members to consider singing as part of a larger group called The Northmen Singers.

"After a few rehearsals with The Northmen, we hung out afterwards and realized how much of our old music we had retained," explained Overtone Tom Hoxsie.

Stokes asked the old-schoolers if they could pick up some of the gigs that the oter Northmen Singers weren’t able to cover.

Happy to help, they chose a new name and quickly found themselves with a busy schedule of live shows. "I can’t believe it has been 25 years this year," Hoxie said. "We actually performed for Traverse City West Middle School, for my son’s choir class, and it was crazy to see that some of our names were on plaques hanging on the walls. Yeah; we are old," he laughed.

INSIDE JOKES

You’d never know it to watch them live. Often mistaken for a barbershop quartet ("we are constantly having to explain this," Hoxsie said good naturedly), there are actually six members, not four, as the standard quartet would require. Plus, they don’t perform barbershop music, instead focusing on "˜50s and "˜60s songs and older pop/ alternative favorites. The hook is that no man-made instruments are involved; being a cappella means that all of the music you hear from The Overtones is made only with their own voices.

Their long-standing friendships are evident on stage, too. Only men who have known each other for years could pick on each other as much as they do–and get away with it. Their banter adds a comedic element to the show, an extra layer of personality to complement the layers of harmonies.

"Some of it is inside stuff that only our families and close followers would get. Some is just plain joking that everyone can appreciate when you’ve been around a group of individuals for so long," Hoxsie explained. "But, we do tone it down when we need to!"

SPINNING SOUNDS

While all of their songs are covers, the group definitely puts their own spin on the sound, with each Overtone as important as the next. It’s a pretty democratic process, from choosing the songs right down to assembling their set list for each performance.

"We will often warm up and find ourselves in a public place, and that’s when we will test new songs," Hoxsie said. "If people gather and enjoy it, it goes on the set list. We try to please everyone in our audience, so we often do last-minute changes to the list."

Yes, fans, there are Overtones albums too. One is simply called "Original Recording," on which they cover classic tunes like "Duke of Earl," "Happy Together," "Java Jive" and "When I Fall In Love." The second, dubbed "Then There Were Six," takes a more current approach with tracks like "Overkill," "Somebody’s Baby," "Stand By Me" and The Eagles’ "Seven Bridges Road."

"We actually record with our own equipment and don’t use a true studio, but we have members of the group that are knowledgeable in that area and have done well with it," Hoxsie said. "We hope to do another album soon."

The Overtones current schedule of shows can be found on their "Overtones Acapella" Facebook page.