Golden Memories  SWD International Quartet Champions
The Innsiders

Guy won a sales contest at work and a trip for two to Spain. Trouble was, it was during the prelims weekend. Shirley McShan got 51 percent of the vote and the McShans headed off to Spain leaving the three Innsiders behind at Prelims as spectators (at International, the OK 4 placed sixth and the DC won it all).
This turned out to be a stroke of luck. Not going to International enabled them to afford the time and expense of attending the week-long Harmony College that summer of 1973 in Birmingham. The DC had done this the year before and it worked very well for them. DC lead, Bill Thornton encouraged the Innsiders to make the trip and they were glad they did.
At Harmony College they were coached by the best the society had to offer: Mac Huff, Billy Ball, Burt Staffen, Harry Williamson, Jack Hines and Harlan Wilson. They also met and worked with Don Clause for the first time. This week of intense work changed the quartet. They began singing better with more control and creating a "bigger" sound.
This new approach of working harder and smarter was evident that fall when the Innsiders took the Southwestern District quartet championship by a 219 point margin in Oklahoma City. It also could be the reason why they made such an incredible jump from 15th place in the 1972 International to fourth in 1974 at Kansas City.
Having now become a popular show quartet and having won a few contests", the quartet set new goals. . . with a gold medal being number one on the list. They took advantage of coaching from Roger Blackburn and arrangements from Dennis Driscoll. They also continued to seek help from Don Clause working sound and Arnie Bauer on stage presence. They planned on everything going into the 1975 International in Indianapolis except one thing . . The Happiness Emporium who out sang 'em. The Innsiders came in second.
After Indy they produced their first album entitled Innside Out (1976). It included many of their popular contest and show tunes like Show Me

 

 where The Good Times Are, who'll Dry Your Tears?, Pal Of Mine, My Buddy, The Straight Lye, Exodus and the outlandish Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.
Over the next year they concentrated their efforts and worked even harder. In addition to each individual having a daily vocal workout, the quartet rehearsed three time a week. Each was scheduled in detail. They spent the first 30 minutes singing scales followed by vowel sound matching and lots of unison and duet singing. During run-throughs of the contest sets the wives would help coach the stage presence making it a complete "team effort". They considered the ability to work well together their "innside strength".
Armed with new songs and arrangements by Elnar Peterson and Ed Waesche they began rehearsing EVERYDAY and even worked on a high school stage for every rehearsal three weeks prior to the big contest. In San Francisco they found a small church auditorium to work in away from the crowds. They knew the job they had to do and decided to forgo the "conventioning" in order to win the contest.

Early Innsiders
McShan, Oury, Devine, Wiggs

That's not to say they didn't have fun that week. The excitement of singing three sets on the International contest stage with thousands cheering you on and then finally winning the top prize in barbershopping must be considered the ultimate thrill.
On returning home several chapters wanted the new champs to appear on their annual show. Some of the lucky Southwestern District chapters were San Antonio, Houston, Lake Charles, and Sabine Area. In addition they appeared on shows around the country and several tours of England.
(Continued on Next Page)

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