When the DU a cappella group Exit 205 takes stage, clad in their sharp red and black outfits, they are serious about their performance. But that is not to say this group doesn’t like to have fun with each other too.
“We can be pretty silly. We’re all friends and hang out all the time,” said 205 member Mia Angeles, a sophomore marketing major from Colorado Springs who sings soprano and does vocal percussion in the group.
Last Friday, they performed a set at the Big Event at 10:15 p.m. in the Davis Auditorium. The auditorium was packed, with some people even standing up in the back to watch. They performed a mashup of Lorde’s “Royals” and Muse’s “Madness”, arranged by Angeles, as well hits like Cake’s “Short Skirt Long Jacket’ “nd the 90’s classic “Hit ‘Em Up Style” by Blu Cantrell, among others. Despite the minor chaos of having to bring and set up their own sound equipment, their performance received plenty of positive feedback. Most of their performances usually take place on DU’s campus, and sometimes are in collaboration with other DU a cappella groups, such as the Unchained Melodies.
Exit 205 was formed in 2008 by three freshmen at the time. They were the second a cappella group to form on DU’s campus. They chose their name “Exit 205,” the exit one would take off of I-25 to get to DU, because, according to member Nathan Crowder, junior opera major from Arvada who sings tenor, they wanted to ground their group within its Pioneer home. Starting with over 20 original members, the group has since evolved over the years to the current 13 members.
Exit 205 has three vocal percussionists in the group, commonly known as beat boxers. Including Angeles, the other two beat boxers are Brad Becker, freshman physics major, and Jared Giammanco, freshman vocal performance major.
“There is this stigma that everyone in the a cappella group is a music major, but that is not actually true. What brings us together is that all of us really love music,” said Angeles.
Members’ ages range from freshmen to seniors and their majors include vocal performance, biology, emergent digital practices, physics and accounting. According to Angeles and Crowder, most of the group members also play an instrument as well.
The group arranges most of their own music and doesn’t like to confine the genres they cover and thus performs songs that are jazz, blues, rock, ‘90s throwback hits and everything in between.
“Really we just like to choose songs that we can groove to,” said Angeles, who also does some of the choreographing for the group when needed.
Exit 205 holds auditions to join every year, usually within the first week of fall quarter. They don’t have a set number of openings for each year, but choose how many new members to add depending on how many leave or graduate from the year before. According to Crowder, last year they had about seven members leave and had plenty of room for new faces, but this year will have fewer members leaving the group. After auditions, the group then deliberates and posts call-backs where they can further discover whose talents mesh well with their group dynamic. Exit 205 practices at least five hours every week and schedules at least one performance per quarter.
“We’re a bit different than the Exit 205 of past years. There is more of a passion for singing in this group. Before, it was more of a social group of friends who liked to sing, but now we are trying to put a lot more focus on our performing,” said Crowder. The group has five potential performances for the coming quarter.
The remaining group members are as follows: Mark McCarthy, freshman, finance major; Corey Braccialini, freshman, undeclared; Zeky Nadji, sophomore, vocal performance major; Danielle Park, junior, music performance major; Melanie Glavic, sophomore, biology major; Chelsea Smith, senior, vocal music major; Shira Simon, junior, violin performance major; McKayla Stutz, freshman, accounting major and Amanda Kriss, freshman, emergent digital practices major.
For more information about the group, students are encouraged visit the a cappella group’s new website.
