About The Undertones

After hearing the illustrious Fifth harmonic wow the crowd in Kitchner, Notre Dame Glee Club freshman tenor rookies Bryan "Buddha" Labutta and Keith "Bing" Cosbey decided that it was imperative that they form an a cappella group. They first enlisted the arranging skills of third-in-line student conductor Patrick "Quigs" Quigley, also a tenor. Patrick then pressured first tenor Adam "charns" Charnley, who was already in an a cappella group at that point, to join the group. The four then realized that four tenors, while possibly making for a good concert in Central Park, would not cut it as a musical ensemble. After hearing his magnificent treatment of the "Spanish Ladies" solo, the group recruited baritone and Zahm Hall resident Zach "Gustaf" Gustafson. The five freshman then came to the stark realization that there were no freshman basses. It was at this moment that they decided to ask the man, the legend, "Captain" Kirk Bagrowski to sing bass for them. Thus, the original Undertones came into existence.

That very day, Patrick began working on "You Can Call Me Al," the first of many arrangements that would later be thrown away including "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling," "When a Man Loves a Woman," "Stand By Me," and "Night of Silence." The Undertones did not perform on that tour or at the Fall concert which followed. It was not until the Glee Club Christmas Concert that the Undertones actually found their niche in the University of Notre Dame a cappella scene. At the Christmas Concert, the Undertones, at that point going by the name "From A to Z," then "Five Freshman and a Guy Named Kirk," performed their rendition of "The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy," which included Kenyan Lyrics and a drum track provided by Bing.

Spring Semester '97 saw three members of the group taking active rolls in Stravinsky's Opera-Oratorio Oedipus Rex: Adam as Oedipus, Bing as the Orchestra, and Quigs as the Narrator. Even with these members playing such important parts in the Opera, the Undertones were able to put together three songs for Spring Tour: "And So It Goes," "Sexual Healing" (vetoed by conductor Dan Stowe as not appropriate to be sung in churches), and the incomparable "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" with its animal noises and Captain Kirk's Barry White monologue which rocketed the 'Tones to infamy.

Since that time, the group has continued to expand. By 2000, the group had recorded three albums, and had toured all over the country. After years of increasing its numbers, the Undertones finally settled on twelve members as its standard. In 2002, the group's fourth CD, Standing Room Only, became available, and in 2005, the most recent album, entitled "Overworked/Underpaid," arrived to the delight of the Notre Dame campus.

More recently, the group has taken to touring warm and sunny locations during their Christmas breaks. On campus, the Undertones perform two major concerts every year and dozens of smaller ones, as well as providing entertainment for public and private events. The group also spends its fall and spring breaks travelling with the University of Notre Dame Glee Club to various locations around the country as well as touring internationally every other summer. Last summer, the group had the pleasure of performing with the Glee Club in numerous countries in Western Europe.

Upon returning from their most recent tour which took them on a 3500 mile circle down to Florida, the Undertones took on the challenge of recording not one, but two new albums. The first album, "Stranded," was released in October 2008, and the second, "12 Items or Less," was just released in May 2009.