Masters at marketing themselves via the internet, Pentatonix has not


only offered their music on the medium, they have opened their lives up freely, to a whole new generation of tech-savvy listeners. And, let me tell you, those fans are loyal… You might even say a little rabid. Bitten by the group’s availability and openness, fans access each member of the group online in ways that are entirely unique. I witnessed it during an online video-conference, one of the many for sure, during which they laughed, joked and interacted with fans. They took the time to listen attentively and kindly encourage them, as fans chatted with them and returned the favor of their own music. We have entered a whole new realm, folks. Mitch Grassi, the group’s stand out countertenor, is a perfect reflection


of that new modality. He was gracious enough to take a moment during his quick sojourn in Paris, on the way to Munich for more of their whirl- wind promo tour—which incidentally—has placed the group’s latest self-titled album at number one on October’s Billboard charts.


HERE’S SOME OF THAT CONVERSATION:


Let’s do some basic questions about your early days. I love to ask musicians about what their first memories around music are… care to share one? I think my earliest memory, really is just sitting in my bedroom when I


was like 3-years-old and listening to tapes on repeat. I remember being so invested in the music and listening to it all day, never really giving myself a break. I mean I still do that now, (laughs) so, obviously music is really important to me. Do you remember your first performance? Oh god. I was in community theatre at age nine and I think I played


a rabbit. (Laughs) It was a play calledDon Coyote. Like Don Quixote, except it involved all animals. That was my first time being on stage and I was so captivated by it… I was hooked. For about nine more years I did


community theatre and musical theatre in high school and that all kind of turned into a love for music and performance. Tell us a little about the moment you decided to pursue music professionally. I think it was maybe in eighth grade. I became a bit introverted at that


age and I started to really delve into music and figure out what I really loved. What genres I was in touch with. I remember being really inspired by Imogen Heap, because she is so proficient and self-sufficient. She creates all her own music and production. That really inspired me to be a musician, because she did so much on her own and I thought that was amazing. I understand that you, Scott and Kirstin formed a trio in high school back in Texas, is that correct? Yes, we did it for a radio competition. Scott and Kristin were a year older


than I and were seniors, so it was right during that time. After that school year, they went to college, so it kind of died out a bit. Then we did the The Sing-Off (Pentatonix fully formed in 2011 and came to prominence the same year by winning the third season on the NBC show), which happened after that. How long did the break end up being? We basically had a year hiatus. At the end of their (Scott and Kristin’s)


first freshman year in college, Scott was like, “Hey, I really want to try out for The Sing-Off, I think it could be really good for us.” We obviously were down for that and flew out to audition. Basically, the rest is history. Was it at that point that Avi and Kevin came on board? It was right before the audition. We knew we needed to fill out our


sound quite a bit. We realized that three people singing and snapping, would not be good and certainly not enough to win. (Laughs) What would you say are your biggest musical influences? I’ve been influenced by a lot of different musicians, but Imogen Heap was pretty much my first one. When I found her electronic music and


NOVEMBER 2015 | RAGE monthly


NOVEMBER 2015 | RAGE monthly 21


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