Q&A: UNC Walk-Ons inspire, support each other

The DTH's Laney Currin spoke with president of the Walk-Ons and a junior at UNC, Logan Kaelin, about the group's expectations for the rest of the school year as part of a series featuring the a cappella groups on campus.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Daily Tar Heel: What would you say are the benefits of being a mixed gender a cappella group?

Logan Kaelin: I think being a mixed gender group gives you a lot more variety in terms of the songs that you can do.

We have a very wide range of voices, from our lowest bass to our highest soprano, and that gives you a lot more options and versatility when it comes to arrangements and genre of songs and the soloists for songs and stuff like that.

I think that's probably the biggest benefit.

DTH: What are you as a group, looking forward to this year?

LK: I would say we're really looking forward to both of our concerts. We have one this fall, on Nov. 17, and then we'll have another one in the spring.

Our concerts, we do one every semester and it's just like — that's just like the end goal, so everyone's always looking forward to it and it's super fun and super exciting. All our friends and family come.

This year, for the first time in a few years, and we'll actually be competing in February in the ICCA's— which is like Pitch Perfect, an a cappella competition. We're doing that for the first time in a long time. I think we're all very, very excited about that.

DTH: What kind of music do you like to sing?

LK: We really care a lot about doing like, a wide variety of genres and a lot of different types of music.

Genre diversity is very important to us. This semester, we have a rock song that we're doing, we do a decent amount of R&B and just basically pop songs, we've even done like a country song in the past before.

DTH: Could you tell me a bit about "Wednesdays With the Walk-Ons"?

LK: Basically, after one of our rehearsals one night — usually they end at 10 p.m. —  we go out to the front of Wilson Library and we invite our friends to come, and we just do a quick little two, maybe three song performance for them.

And it's just like a fun way to like promote our concert and like have like a more chill performance experience rather than a huge concert we do every semester.

DTH: What would you say is your group's greatest inspiration?

LK: I would say our biggest inspiration honestly is — I don't want to sound corny — each other.

I think we all have formed such deep relationships with each other and really care about supporting each other and doing the best that we can do as a group. So, honestly, it's not even about impressing other people or being the best at everything.

It's really about doing something that we can all be really proud of and supporting each other in that.

The Walk-Ons will perform at their annual fall concert on Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hanes Art Center.

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