The seven musicians are back on tour with light luggage. On November 7, 2017, the a cappella group will present their new album "Both Sides Now" at Kaufleuten Zurich.
Naturally 7 are living proof that sometimes it's worth not being able to make a decision. Torn between hip-hop and a cappella, frontman Roger Thomas found it difficult to commit to one style in 1999 - so he put the two musical genres together and created the first hip-hop and R&B a cappella band. Together with his brother, Warren Thomas, he looked for five other band members who could all play at least one instrument with just their voices - from electric guitar to flute to harp and a few more.
"We call it 'vocal play'," Roger explains in the interview. He himself performs as a frontman rapper and beatboxer. "What we do is like a chef creating a new recipe. The ingredients already exist, but we mix them together in a way that no one has done before. Vocal games already existed in jazz and hip-hop, but we were the first to leave out the instruments completely."
Quincy Jones, Chris Martin, Michael Bublé and Helene Fischer are fans
Quincy Jones, producer of Michael Jackson, crowned Naturally 7 the "best a cappella group of all time". The band accompanied Michael Bublé on his world tour in 2007, and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin was so impressed after a live performance that he invited the band to his studio the very next day. Helene Fischer felt the same way when she performed with the band - now she can even be heard on the band's latest album, "Both Sides Now".
As the drummer, Warren is the only one of the band members who sits on a stool on stage. His posture and movements are exactly the same as those of a real drummer, only the drumsticks and the instrument are missing, of course. He drums in the air with clenched fists and lets his invisible drum kit bang and hiss. Again and again, the audience has to remind itself that there is no instrument in the room. "The simulation gives us a feel for the rhythm," explains Warren. "It also helps the audience to experience the instrument - it tricks the brain."
Naturally 7 also love reinventing classics and mixing genres. The band had their worldwide breakthrough in 2006 with "Feel It (In The Air Tonight)" when they mixed the Phil Collins song "In The Air Tonight" with rap. On "Both Sides Now", the band proves once again that they know no genre boundaries - songs such as "Hello" by Adele, Roberta Flack's "First Time, Ever I Saw Your Face", Sting's "Shape Of My Heart" and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now", which inspired the album title, are reinterpreted.
