Bristol a cappella group into international singing final
Hollywood blockbuster Pitch Perfect is based on the competition
Last updated 20th Apr 2021
A Bristol a cappella singing group could soon be named one of the world's best.
We've been speaking to the Bristol University group The Bristol Suspensions - who recently won the national finals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA).
They'll now compete in the international finals against teams from the USA next month.
In previous years, the 17-piece University of Bristol outfit placed just behind groups such as the University of Bath's Aquapella and Imperial College London's Techtonics in the UK finals.
“It’s absolutely mind-blowing,” said group marketing manager and languages student Alessia Doyle.
“We’ve competed in the competition for years so to win is incredible and completely shocking!
“We were on a video call when they announced it and you could see our jaws drop in unison.”
The original video for the track they covered, The Heartburn Song by Lawrence, features the band eating a series of spicy foods.
The suspensions paid homage to this in their own video, by each munching a spicy chilli pepper.
On any other year the talented team would be packing their bags for the international final in New York, but this year the whole competition has been held online.
That meant rehearsing and performing all 17 parts in bedrooms and lounges around the country.
Oscar Andrusier spent almost a year arranging the song for The Suspensions, with help from musical director Robbie Armstrong and assistant musical director Rosa Witts.
Ryan Blyth edited the video and Nathan Cave mixed the audio – challenging tasks with 17 submissions.
"It was a truly goliath task," Nathan, who is in his third year, told us.
"Essentially everyone has learnt their parts during the rehearsals and everything....and then they've just got their phones set up to a click track and they just record it onto their phone...
"Then they send it all in and I get all of the raw tracks and it's just, there's so much information to take in."
The University of Bristol group also won the Special Award for Outstanding Arrangement at both the quarterfinals and semi-finals of the ICCA, along with the Outstanding Vocal Percussion and Outstanding Mix at the quarterfinals.
The Bristol Suspensions are now looking to fundraise £5,000 so they can produce a professional album.
Musical director and biology student Robbie Armstrong said: “We’re really looking forward to recording our music this summer - it will serve as a time capsule of the amazing talent we have in the group this year, which will be especially nice to do in our most successful year to date!
"We have some great songs lined up to record.”
The international ICCA final will be live-streamed on May 8.