Published: Dec. 1, 2016
A capella band returns to UW-WC
Six Appeal performs Dec. 9
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
West Bend has a special place in the musical heart of Six Appeal, a six-person a capella group from Minneapolis.
It was in West Bend two years ago the group debuted its second album, “Ugly Sweater Party,” a Christmas-themed album.
“Anytime we release something and the first place we sell it, it’s
like a mark for us,” said Trey Jones, who is low tenor for the group.
“We had it mailed to the venue,” said Andrew Berkowitz or Berko, vocal percussionist. “We were really excited to perform it.”
On Dec. 9, the group returns to West Bend for another sold-out show at
the University of Wisconsin-Washington County in West Bend as part of
UWWC’s Art Series.
When the university announced the 2016-17 series, Sue Bausch, UW Colleges-Southeast Region director of communications, said, “we don’t usually bring an act back.”
“They were so highly received,” she added. “... Everybody loved them.”
Six Appeal has promised another exciting show and hinted at the plan
to debut some new material for their fans in West Bend and Washington
County.
“We are excited
to come back,” said Michael Brookens, mid-tenor. “Wisconsin has been a
really good place for us. We feel like our northern sense of humor
resonates with Wisconsin.”
The group started in 2006 when Brookens and Jordan Roll, who sings
high tenor, were at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.
“We put it together as a hobby,” Brookens said. “Mostly classical and jazz; make music with your friends.”
Throughout college, it was Brookens and Roll at the core of the group with several fillers or substitutes along the way.
In 2010, an agency contacted the group and told them they had the
talent to go national. Soon after, Berkowitz and Reuben Hushagen joined
the group. About a year later, Nathan Hickey joined. Another year later,
Jones was added.
Six Appeal as they are today was formed and off they went.
Out of the six members, only Jones is not from the Midwest. Roll and
Hushagen are from North Dakota, Brookens is from Kansas and Berkowitz is
from Minnesota.
Jones was born in San Bernadino, California, and was raised in Orlando, Florida.
“I moved to Minnesota from Florida for a small job opportunity and
ended up starting a little band and got that going,” Jones said, adding
the band was a jazz and funk band that played original and cover music.
One day, he saw an ad for joining Six Appeal, which mentioned the group wanted to tour the U.S.
Jones thought it was a scam. For some strange reason, though, he was curious. So he applied anyway.
“I replied to the ad because I’m the type of person ... at that time, I
was like, ‘If nothing comes of it, then nothing comes of it.’ I looked
them up and it looked pretty legit.”
Jones sent a video of himself performing and soon got a call from Roll.
When he learned more about the group, the first thing Jones noticed wasn’t their sound.
“I loved their camaraderie, the bond and where they were going,” Jones said. “They just wanted to work hard.”
In 2012, Six Appeal won an online competition to perform live with
recording artist Andy Grammer. The performance took place March 30,
2013, in the Skyway Theater in Minneapolis.
Also in 2012, they won the National Harmony Sweepstakes, taking awards
in Audience Favorite as well as Best Original Song categories.
Then, in 2013, they had two careerchanging achievements.
They performed the national anthem at the 2013 Allstate Sugar Bowl in
New Orleans, which was broadcast live on national television by ESPN.
“That was insane,” Berkowitz said. “It was our first time in New
Orleans. The stadium is amazing. It was an awesome experience. The
amount of people in the stadium, to perform for that many people was
amazing. It was life changing.”
“It was larger than life,” Brookens said. Later that year, they released their first album, “Plan A.”
While excited to get the album out, they admit the process of writing,
singing and recording songs was a learning experience. It was a new
concept for them, especially the recording part.
With the second album, they each believed they put together a stronger piece of work.
“We had figured out how to do the recording, how to do the process, make everything run smoothly,” Berkowitz said.
“I feel like with our second album, we had a better understanding of
the mechanics of recording in a studio and how to plan out a cohesive
album,” Brookens said. “We felt like we had our legs under us with the
second one.
“It was a product we were all very proud of.”
The group has been to every state in the continental U.S., and have
taped a PBS special with Kenny Loggins, which will air some time early
in 2017.
“It’s been amazing,” Jones said. “I never expected to travel the world singing.”
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