Toxic Audio Dinner Show

• Where | House of Blues, Barefoot Landing, North Myrtle Beach

• When | Doors are at 5:30 p.m., and the show runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

• How much | $32.95 for adults and $12.95 for children 10 and under.

• 272-3000, www.hob.com/myrtlebeach or www.toxicaudio.comFive voices and no instruments make up the Grand Strand's newest dinner show.

Toxic Audio Dinner Show, which opens at House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach on Sunday, features a five-person group that mimics a human juke box, cranking out a collection of hit songs and everyday sounds a capella-style.

The show is an hour-and-30-minute montage of favorite songs from Michael Jackson to The Beatles that are synchronized - often amusing and always entertaining - into skits.

Both lyrics and instruments are created through the human voice.

And music isn't all the five-some can mimic. Other sounds, such as a motorcycle revving and other common noises, are prominently featured.

The group is composed of Jeremy James, Shalisa James, Michelle Mailhot-Valines, Rene Ruiz and Paul Sperrazza who got started in 1998 in Orlando, Fla., when they took over an abandoned storefront at the Orlando International Fringe Festival.

As Toxic Audio grew in popularity, the members caught the eye of Disney executives and were hired as performers at the Disney/MGM Studios. In 2003, Toxic Audio's album "Chemistry" was named "Album of the Year" by the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America.

The dinner show itself takes place in HOB's music hall and will feature an all-you-can-eat Southern-style dinner buffet an hour before the members perform.

The Toxic Audio Dinner Show is a limited engagement running through July 15.


Toxic Audio Dinner Show

• Where | House of Blues, Barefoot Landing, North Myrtle Beach

• When | Doors are at 5:30 p.m., and the show runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

• How much | $32.95 for adults and $12.95 for children 10 and under.

• 272-3000, www.hob.com/myrtlebeach or www.toxicaudio.com

Contact SARA ELISABETH POTTS at 626-0379 or spotts@thesunnews.com

Once again Toxic Audio is honored to be awarded the A Cappella Community Award 2006  for the following areas:

• Favorite Pop/Rock Group: Toxic Audio

• Favorite Humor Group: Toxic Audio

• Favorite Professional A cappella Album: Word of Mouth (Toxic Audio)

• Favorite Female Vocalist: Shalisa James

• Favorite Vocal Percussionist: Paul Sperazza

• Favorite Songwriter: Jeremy James

Read the CASA Announcement - Click Here

Toxic Audio: Hearing is believing
A cappella singing meets "noises you got in trouble for making in class"
By Ann Hicks
ahicks@greenvillenews.com
Published: Sunday, January 1, 2006
 

Ask Rene Ruiz of the five-member Toxic Audio what's with the name of his a cappella group, and you get his straightaway reply: "Everybody wants to know."

Seven years ago, Ruiz, one of the Orlando-based group's creators, wanted to do something with a cappella music that was theatrical and contemporary. He shopped his idea at Orlando's famed theater festival, The Fringe.

At that festival, there's a strong built-in audience, says Ruiz, who with his cohorts wanted to infuse a cappella singing with "noises you got in trouble for making in class," he says.

But the trick is to be noticed at The Fringe, Ruiz says. While going through the track list of Vox One, one of his favorite a cappella groups, Ruiz saw that it recorded at a studio called Toxic Audio.

That was it, he says, "a name as far away from what a lot of people would consider a cappella to be as you can get."

The group's goal from the beginning has been to explore what the human voice can do, says Ruiz. One of his examples includes hiccuping, sneezing, coughing and other bodily noises, transformed into a percussive back beat and fused with well-known American TV themes.

"It is what you're used to hearing mixed with things you're not used to hearing singers do, like creating an entire band by imitating drums, trumpets and electric guitars with their voices.

Such masters of sound manipulation as innovative vocalist Bobby McFerrin and the raucous and quirky bandleader Spike Jones inform Toxic's vocal effects, what Ruiz calls "rolling familiar music into something you've never heard performed quite the way we do it."

On Friday night, the Leighton Concert hall felt more like it was in Las Vegas, Nev. than Notre Dame, Ind.

The group Toxic Audio, which is gaining recognition and recently played its first Las Vegas show at the Luxor Hotel on Aug. 19, made a one-night appearance on campus and blew the crowd away with its amazing vocal stretches, harmonies and theatrical performance.

Toxic Audio, founded in 1998, has spent the last few years performing in New York City and other areas of the U.S. for various audiences. After a break this Christmas, the group will travel to Japan for a six-week tour. The group has also made appearances at various universities and schools of music, but Friday was its first visit to Notre Dame.

Toxic Audio can sing in a wide range of octaves and in a wide range of languages, as well. In one song Friday, Michelle Mailhot-Valines - the group's bubbly blonde soprano - sang a song that jumped between Korean, German, Pig Latin and other languages without missing a beat.

As the members of Toxic Audio took their spots on stage, people all around the theatre were shocked at the sounds the singers were making purely with their voices. Toxic Audio founder Rene Ruiz said the opening number is one of his favorites because it "introduces the audience to what we're going to do."

"It's great looking out at the crowd at this time and sensing their discovery," he said.

The show was a successful start to the DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts' second season. A large crowd filled Leighton Concert Hall Friday evening, with audience members from Notre Dame and the South Bend community.

A few of the people in the audience even got the chance to spend some time on stage with the group. During the skits that Toxic Audio performed, one of the singers came down into the audience, grabbed an unsuspecting audience member and helped him onstage.

Each member of the group was given the chance to showcase their special talents at some point during the show. Jeremy James freestyled a rap made up of words audience members chose out of a book. Cheers erupted when James finished the rap with a rhyme about Notre Dame. One member of the audience called James' wife, Shalisa's, performance of "Stand by Me" "the most beautiful version of that song I've ever heard."

Ruiz showcased his bass voice with a mock string bass solo. Ruiz also took part in many skits throughout the show that had the audience roaring with laughter.

The final number of the evening was an extended version of the song, "Turn the Beat Around." The group's beat-boxer extraordinaire, Paul Sperrazza, stole the number when he broke into an amazing beat box routine that made it hard to believe he was only using his mouth.

The mixture of musical genres held the audience's attention throughout the show because they never knew what they were going to hear next. A cover of the Beatles' "Paperback Writer" had people moving in their seats and was even accompanied by James juggling a few paperback books.

One of the more theatrical concepts of the night occurred when a woman was brought on stage to "watch TV" with the group. A remote control clicked the performers went through different television theme songs.

The end of this performance included two of the group members taking off their shirts and dancing behind the woman from the audience. This was an amusing touch for the older members of the crowd but may have been a little much for the under-10 audience that had been seen filing into the theatre with their parents.

No matter what crazy antics Toxic Audio performed on the stage, they continued to amaze with their sound-making abilities. The searing guitar solos, animal noises and incredible harmonies left a feeling of wonder and amazement with the crowd as the performers exited Leighton Concert Hall.

It's obvious that Toxic Audio members are doing so well in Las Vegas because they know what they're doing, and they are doing it well.
 

INTERMISSION
By ANDREW S. HUGHES, Tribune Staff Writer

Toxic Audio brings its unique contemporary style of a cappella singing to the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts on Friday.

The inspiration for Toxic Audio, co-creator René Ruiz says, came from shows such as "Blast" and "Stomp" and the Blue Man Group.

"(They) were taking art forms that had been around for a long time and making them contemporary and making them theatrical," he says by telephone from Las Vegas, where Toxic Audio opened Aug. 19 at the Luxor Resort & Casino for a three-month run.

"They were taking things such as marching bands ('Blast') and making them contemporary and reinventing them for a modern audience. ... It's one thing to do songs everybody knows. It's another thing to do them in a way they've never heard them before."

In the case of Toxic Audio, which performs Friday at the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts, the quintet reinvents a cappella singing as something dramatic, humorous and sonically sublime as its members pitch their voices into unusual vocal territory.

"Some of it is very new and very contemporary music, but in doing that, we're going beyond vocal harmony," Ruiz says. "We're also adding musical mimicry so that we're creating the sound of the drums or the horn section or the flutes or the electric guitars. It's not just doing harmony singing, which was done with nonsense words, hence the name doo-wop; we make the instrument sounds."

Ruiz and the cast of Toxic Audio that performs Friday at DeBartolo -- singers Jeremy James, Shalisa James, Paul Sperrazza, Michelle Mailhot-Valines and soundman John A. Valines III -- founded Toxic Audio in 1998 to perform at the Orlando International Fringe Festival.

Since then, Toxic Audio has recorded several albums, won the 2003 album of the year award from the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America for "Chemistry," and won the 2004 Drama Desk Award for "Unique Theatrical Experience" for its off-Broadway show.

"The name Toxic Audio was intended to sound edgy and to make a cappella sound much more contemporary and hip," Ruiz says. "Now that we've been off-Broadway and in Las Vegas, the show has gone a lot more mainstream, and it's important to let people know the show is family-friendly and appropriate for all ages. There's nothing scary about what we do."

Although the singing is the focal point of the show, Ruiz says, Toxic Audio incorporates a good deal of humor into its stage show. For instance, in one promotional clip, members of the group adjust the tone arm and speed of a turntable (the platter isn't actually spinning), which causes the featured singer on the song to react to those changes.

"In trying to find a unique way to present each of the songs, sometimes we try to find the most ridiculous way to do a song or the most unexpected way," Ruiz says. "The show can be as eclectic as it wants to be. ... We'll do one number in one style and then turn around and do the next number in a different style."

The group's repertoire includes jazz, rock 'n' roll, hip-hop and classic standards and includes songs such as Nilsson's "(Put the Lime in the) Coconut," The Beatles' "Why Don't We Do It in the Road," Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" and 'Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry."

"Although the song might not be something we wrote, the way the song is presented was written by the members of the company," Ruiz says. "Because the show is so modular, we don't usually put the set list together until we get on-site and see what the stage looks like."

Toxic Audio's intention, Ruiz says, is for the audience to forget that the original recordings included instruments as part of their arrangements.

"There's nothing prerecorded," he says. "There are no background tracks. Everything is created live onstage. The only sound you're hearing the entire show is the human voice."

Acappella Group Toxic Audio Finds A New Home
At The Luxor Resort & Casino

The Eclectic Quintet Will Be Appearing From Aug. 19- Nov.16, 2005

(August 12, 2005)- New York City, NY- DRG Records is proud to announce Toxic Audio’s new venture with the exclusive Luxor Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, NV. The group will perform for a 3-month run fromvAug.19 through Nov. 16, 2005. The second largest hotel in the United States, the Luxor Resort & Casino is distinguished as a leading destination for first-rate entertainment. For this limited engagement, Toxic Audio will be performing an eclectic mix of standards, jazz, rock and pop selections in their very own “toxic-style.” DRG Records is also excited to announce that Toxic Audio has confirmed a six-week tour in Japan from Jan. 24 through March 06, 2006.

Toxic Audio formed in 1998 for the Orlando International Fringe Festival and their show caught the attention of Disney executives who hired Toxic Audio to perform at Disney/MGM Studios. Toxic Audio appeared for a year performing six shows a day for crowds of 3000 and more. Since then, the Toxins were named "Best Pop Group in America" by Ed McMahon's "Next Big Star" and were crowned National Champions at the 2000 National Harmony Sweepstakes.

In 2004, Toxic Audio took their show to New York City where they made their mark on the Off-Broadway scene as one of the most original and fun productions going. They won the 2004 Drama Desk Award for “Outstanding Unique Theatrical Experience” and presented more than 200 performances at the John Houseman Theater. During its New York City run, the show was rated Number One in the WALL STREET JOURNAL/ZAGAT THEATER SURVEY surpassing Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.

Toxic Audio is a five-member (Jeremy James, Shalisa James, René Ruiz, Paul Sperrazza and Michelle Mailhot-Valines) theatrical vocal band (acappella) that uses no instruments other than the human voice to electrify audiences with tight harmonies, improv comedy, vocal sound effects, and unique visuals.

Their repertoire is an eclectic mix of musical styles including pop, jazz, hip-hop, and even country. Using only their mouths they can mimic drums, guitars and horns and even turn a cough and a sneeze into an amazing groovy back beat.

Toxic Audio Goes Vegas!
by BWW News Desk

With more than 200 Off-Broadway performances presented to enthusiastic audiences of all ages, Toxic Audio has made its mark on the New York theatre scene and now will present "Toxic Audio- Live At The Luxor" for a Special Limited Engagement in the Atrium Showroom at Luxor Las Vegas. This new show will continue the Toxic Audio tradition of "exploring the boundaries of the human voice" and will open August 19 and run at 8 p.m. through November 16.

Created by Jeremy James, Shalisa James, Michelle Mailhot-Valines, Rene Ruiz, Paul Sperrazza, and John Valines III, Toxic Audio features the varied talents of very unique vocalists who amazingly use no instruments other than the human voice to create complex sonic textures, rhythmic drumbeats, thumping bass lines and searing guitar-like solos. In an eclectic mix of contemporary songs, comedy classics, jazz-scat and vocally orchestrated original compositions, their mouths mimic drums, guitars and horns and even turn a cough and a sneeze into an groovy backbeat.

Their 2004 NY Off-Broadway show "Toxic Audio in Loudmouth" won the Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Unique Theatrical Experience". It was rated the No. 1 audience recommended show in the Wall Street Journal Zagat Theatre Survey. The New York Times called it "Sure-fire fun!"

On March 22nd, 2005, DRG Records released a compilation of Toxic Audio recordings titled "Word of Mouth". The CD features selections from their first three independently produced Toxic Audio CDs including “Chemistry”- the Contemporary Acappella Recording Award winner for "Album of the Year"

Reader Feedback
How great for the Toxins
by WallaceH1 @ 08/17/05, 01:01:44 AM
Have followed their career since they started at the Fringe in Orlando and have turned dozens of others on to them. I couldn't be happier to see them succeed. They'll be the rave of Las Vegas in no time. Let's hope that we hear about them. In this case what happens in Vegas shouldn't remain in Vegas.

Toxic Audio's Newest CD - Word of Mouth!

In 1998, Toxic Audio launched its quirky show in an abandoned storefront at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. To their amazement, people began cramming into that storefront to see them. The show caught the attention of Disney executives who hired them as featured performers at the Disney/MGM Studios.

Description: Soon after, the group was crowned champion at the National Harmony Sweepstakes in California. In the year 2003, Toxic Audio's album, Chemistry was named "Album of the Year" by the Contemporary Acappella Society of America. The group has made national TV appearances with Ed McMahon and Wayne Brady, and even got to sing a reggae-style weather report on ESPN2's morning show "Cold Pizza". Toxic Audio won the 2004 Drama Desk Award for “Unique Theatrical Experience” for their Off-Broadway Show in New York’s John Houseman Theatre. They continue to electrify audiences by exploring the boundaries of the human voice. Although the group has three previous CDs that they’ve sold online and at their performance dates, this release will be the group’s first widely released album and features tracks from the previous CDs as well as 6 new tracks recorded exclusively for this DRG recording. This is essential The Best of Toxic Audio 1998-2004

Click Here To Order $14.99

Track Listing:

1. Caffeine
2. Lime in the Coconut
3. Splanky
4. Bring Me to Life
5. Stand By Me
6. Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
7. All I Gotta Do
8. Route 66
9. Putting Words in My Mouth
10. Turn the Beat Around
11. Voices Carry
12. If I Only Had A Brain
13. You Can't Stop the Beat

Toxic Audio Wins Drama Desk Award

The Off-Broadway production, TOXIC AUDIO, which has been garnering strong praise from audiences each night at the John Houseman Theater, picked up praise from their peers at the 49th Annual Drama Desk Awards at LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. The show won the award for "Best Unique Theatrical Experience." Producer Eric Krebs accepted the award on behalf of the show. The five-member cast of Toxic Audio accompanied him on stage where cast member Paul Sperrazza uniquely displayed his excitement with a backflip.
Read the whole story on Broadwayworld.com