Boy Bands without the Backbeat

t's 8 PM on Sunday, and the Pitchforks are singing outside my door. Their smooth harmony and quirky personality wakes me up faster than any Colombian blend. Life is good.

But maybe not as good as the life of a Pitchfork. With a brand new album (They Don't Even Know), a slew of impending nominations from the Contemporary Acapella Society of America and a much-anticipated tour in the Midwest, the Pitchforks are riding high as they approach the group's 21st birthday. And while most Duke students might think of this Saturday night's Acapellooza as a big gig for the 12-person ensemble, the Pitchforks have their sights set a little higher this year-Indiana.

"A group at the University of Indiana... decided to put together the best nine male a capella groups in the country," explains music director Seth Weitberg. "It's called the Big Men on Campus concert.... It's two shows, and they're going to be recorded and tracked, and then there's going to be tracks selected to be on a new live album that'll come out at the beginning of next year, along with a Best Collegiate A Capella Album.... We're, like, honored."

But if you don't want to schlep all the way to Indiana for your taste of the 'Forks, you could show up in Baldwin Auditorium this Saturday for Acapellooza. Besides hearing some new material, including the fully choreographed version of NSync's "It's Gonna Be Me," audiences will get a dose of the Pitchfork's trademark sense of humor. Smart and sarcastic, the group's past skits have included random adventures of a Super-FAC (complete with a light-saber battle) and How-To-Avoid-Last-Night's-Stand-On-The-Path. With their lighthearted attitude, it's easy to forget that these boys work hard.

"We rehearse for at least five hours a week," says senior Flynn Barrison. "We have to depend on each other. That's how this works."

The group's intimacy is obvious. Besides overlapping each other's sentences during interviews, private jokes abound, and a sense of trust permeates the rehearsal process. "I think people just assume that we all live together," said Weitberg. "We don't, really. But we are all really good friends. We like hanging out together; we couldn't work so well together if we didn't."

Sophomore Tom Clifton agrees: "Friendship translates into performance quality," he said. "You come forth, and you're singing in front of everyone, and it's not like they're judging you, and you're not nervous, like you could be. You're getting support from each other."

And from their audience, the Pitchforks can always expect a packed house of screaming fans just waiting for the next move of Duke's oldest male a capella group.