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Originally, when the group formed in 1988, they were called 'The Banana Blenders'... Introduced by David Bonifant (Rotary Club of Broadbeach), four members of the famous A Capella choir joined us: Barry Mallett, life member (over 20 years), Roy Tomkinson - life member (since foundation in 1988), Tony Egan and Rusty Lush, a former member of Surfers Sunrise. Roy started the show with a Video when they appeared on 'Australia's Got Talent' - click here to view it. Even Karl Sandilands loved it! Roy followed up with a history of The Blenders over the past 30-odd years. Today, the group has around 50 - 60 members. You can find a lot of information on their website - click here.A Barbershop Quartett must strictly follow the rules of the Australian Association of Barbershop Harmony Convention. Bit the choir progressed - to one of its pinnacles of achievement, appearing at the Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2018. "Every year, the songs get more complicated, but on the other hand, the learning materials also have become so much better, due to them being IT based", Roy advised. And it's not just voice, tonal and vowel matching. These days Choreography much comes into it too!
Barry Mallett followed up with a very interesting metaphor, comparing Barbershop style singing to Rugby... What?? Come again? Yes, Barry called it "Rugby without the contact"... Further, learning songs is good for the brain - not to be underestimated, as - as one gets older - anything that improves brain power is good for you! "Singing Barbershop Harmony sort of makes your bones vibrate," Barry said, "it's similar to guided meditation, or [censured]..." [sorry, you should have been there... Ed.] Reams of questions resulted in us literally running out of time. What a pity! An actual performance of one of their quartets would have put the cherry on the cake!