The House Jacks | |
|---|---|
 The House Jacks at The Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, March 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | San Francisco, United States |
| Genres | A cappella, vocal jazz, pop |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels | Tommy Boy, Warner Brothers, Artelier, Hot Lips, A Cappella Records,[1] |
| Members | Nick Girard Austin Willacy Mark Joseph John Pointer Gregory Fletcher |
| Past members | Matt Sallee Deke Sharon Tristan Bishop Rob Penn Marty Mahoney Andrew Chaikin Kevin Fudge Garth Kravits Bert Bacco Wes Carroll Antonio Medrano Elliott Robinson Jake Moulton Roopak Ahuja Troy Horne |
| Website | www |
The House Jacks is a professional a cappella quintet from San Francisco, founded in 1991 by Deke Sharon.[2]
The House Jacks describe themselves as a "rock band without instruments",[3] their live shows typically include not only singing but also vocally imitating instruments such as trumpets, guitars, harmonicas and strings[4] as well as taking audience-requests for songs and rendering them in musical styles unlike the original versions.[5]
The group primarily performs original material (unlike most contemporary a cappella groups who focus on cover songs) and is considered the first professional a cappella group to have a dedicated vocal percussionist.[6]
The group routinely tours the United States, Europe and Asia,[7] has recorded numerous jingles[8] and has garnered numerous recording and community awards (see below). The group was signed to Tommy Boy records (then a part of Warner Brothers) from 1994-1997, and Artilier Records (Germany) from 2000-2005.
They can be heard in the background music on NBC's The Sing-Off in the opening video, commercial transitions and elimination sequences.[9] They have also created comedic bits and jingles for the radio personalities Mancow Muller and Rick Dees.
The group performed at the 53rd Monterey Jazz Festival on September 17, 2010.[10] and have performed on stages from Carnegie Hall to the Gewandhaus.
They performed the Monday Night Football Theme "Are You Ready For Some Football" with Hank Williams, Jr. for the 2011 season.[11]
Rolling Stone wrote about their inclusion in Ford automobiles, demoing the twelve speaker Sony sound system [12]
Their version of "Since U Been Gone" was adapted for the audition scene in Pitch Perfect (Deke Sharon was on site music director, arranger and vocal producer for the film, as well as "Male Voice #1")
