The House Jacks

The House Jacks
The House Jacks at The Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, March 2008
Background information
Origin	San Francisco, United States
Genres	A cappella, vocal jazz, pop
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Tommy Boy, Warner Brothers, Artelier, Hot Lips, A Cappella Records,
Website	www.housejacks.com
Members	Nick Girard Austin Willacy Mark Joseph Matt Sallee John Pointer
Past members	Deke Sharon Tristan Bishop Rob Penn Andrew Chaikin Kevin Fudge Garth Kravits Bert Bacco Wes Carroll Antonio Medrano Jake Moulton Roopak Ahuja Troy Horne

The House Jacks is a professional a cappella quintet from San Francisco, founded in 1991 by Deke Sharon.

The House Jacks describe themselves as a "rock band without instruments", their live shows typically include not only singing but also vocally imitating instruments such as trumpets, guitars, harmonicas and strings as well as taking audience-requests for songs and rendering them in musical styles unlike the original versions.

The group primarily performs original material (unlike most contemporary a cappella groups who focus on cover songs) and is considered the first professional a cappella group to have a dedicated vocal percussionist.

The group routinely tours the United States, Europe and Asia, has recorded numerous jingles and has garnered numerous recording and community awards (see below). The group was signed to Tommy Boy records (then a part of Warner Brothers) from 1994-1997, and Artilier Records (Germany) from 2000-2005.

They can be heard in the background music on NBC's The Sing-Off in the opening video, commercial transitions and elimination sequences. They have also created comedic bits and jingles for the radio personalities Mancow Muller and Rick Dees.

The group performed at the 53rd Monterey Jazz Festival on September 17, 2010. and have performed on stages from Carnegie Hall to the Gewandhaus.

They performed the Monday Night Football Theme "Are You Ready For Some Football" with Hank Williams, Jr. for the 2011 season.

Rolling Stone wrote about their inclusion in Ford automobiles, demoing the twelve speaker Sony sound system

Their version of "Since U Been Gone" was adapted for the audition scene in Pitch Perfect (Deke Sharon was on site music director, arranger and vocal producer for the film, as well as "Male Voice #1")

The original group of seven members met while singing in collegiate groups on the East Coast (Tufts Beelzebubs, Brown Jabberwocks, UNC Clef Hangers, The Dartmouth Aires) and relocated to San Francisco to begin the group in September 1991. Past members include Kid Beyond, Rob Penn, Garth Kravits, Bert Bacco, Wes Carroll, and Antonio Medrano.