Emmet Sullivan
The members of Asterik have no problem telling you that, after a couple years on the lower end of the a cappella spectrum, they’re back on the rise.
“In the past two years, we found ourselves kind of a little bit down in the a cappella world and we’ve been working our way back up,” says Communication sophomore and Asterik general director Ryan Grossheim.
Their spring show, Asterik and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, is going on this weekend, and the 15 guys in the a cappella group are working hard to entertain both newcomers and old fans.
“I think we have a reputation as being one of the funnier a cappella groups,” says Weinberg freshman Josh Waytz, who joined the group in fall. “We may not have been considered the premier a cappella group, but our freshman class is really strong, so maybe by the time I get out of here we will be.”
Waytz decided to join Asterik because, out of all the a cappella options, this group seemed like just a bunch of guys having fun on stage and not taking themselves too seriously. It’s paid off. Waytz will have a solo in the show this weekend, singing Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be.”
This isn’t his first time performing, though. Already Waytz has been a part of two big shows for the group: the fall quarter show with Significant Others (the all-female a cappella group) and the winter anniversary show.
The group just celebrated their tenth anniversary with an alumni show Winter Quarter. As the oldest all-male a cappella group on campus (only co-ed Thunk and Purple Haze have such a long lifespan), the guys invited back the original founders as well as some other notable singers.
One mystery remained after the night: the group name. “They don’t even know what it means,” Waytz says. “We do have a symbol which is like an asterik, only it’s five prongs instead of six.”
Once the winter show wrapped up, it was time to practice for the next one. The spring show for any a cappella group is important since it’s the last one for any graduating seniors. This year, five members of Asterik will be leaving.
The group will be performing some of their classics (Something Corporate’s “Drunk Girl” is always a fan favorite) as well as some new songs. Alien Ant Farm’s “Smooth Criminal” is just one of the new highlights of the show. The group will also perform The Fray’s “Over My Head” and Jack Johnson’s “Bubble Toes” along a few others for a total of about a dozen songs throughout the show.
The guys also will perform skits between songs. “We try to make them funny, a lot of jokes, but nothing too staged,” Grossheim says. “We don’t try to take ourselves for anything except an a cappella group.”
As for the musical selections, Asterik is based mostly in typical college rock, but it’s not just Dave Matthews you might hear this weekend.
“You know, (we have) those silly songs sometimes, the songs that other a cappella groups dare not to go and do,” Grossheim says. “We got a couple songs for this concert people will find in a similar vein.”
Asterik and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day premieres this weekend at Shanley. The show is Friday and Saturday at 8 and 11 p.m. Tickets are $5.4
Medill junior Emmet Sullivan is a PLAY assistant editor. He can be reached at [email protected].
