No instruments, no problem.
News flash: A cappella is hip! Seriously, there’s a growing interest in a cappella music that has crossed over to the MySpace/Facebook generation. It has officially become cool to be in an a cappella band! There are groups springing up on college campuses across the country, many inspired by The Blanks. Leading this pack of cool is a quartet of friends, The Blanks, who appear on the worldwide syndicated television show Scrubs as “Ted's Band.” In a...
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No instruments, no problem.
News flash: A cappella is hip! Seriously, there’s a growing interest in a cappella music that has crossed over to the MySpace/Facebook generation. It has officially become cool to be in an a cappella band! There are groups springing up on college campuses across the country, many inspired by The Blanks. Leading this pack of cool is a quartet of friends, The Blanks, who appear on the worldwide syndicated television show Scrubs as “Ted's Band.” In a case of life imitating art (or is it art imitating life?), the group was written into the script as a quartet of friends who like to sing a cappella music.
Bizarre, huh? Group member Sam Lloyd played the recurring role of character “Ted Buckland” on all nine seasons of Scrubs on NBC and later ABC, now airing on Comedy Central, TV Land, WGN, and a host of other local/regional channels just in the US. The show is on several times a day everywhere in the US, giving the Blanks a constant boob tube presence. The kids like it. Their parents like it. Sam is joined by Paul F. Perry, George Miserlis and Philip McNiven. In 2004, the Blanks released their debut CD, "Riding the Wave" (Parody Records). In 2008 they began touring. In 2008 they also made shirts.
Based in Los Angeles, The Blanks perform and sing family-friendly (cool) entertainment with plenty of (hip) musical and sketch comedy. They sing a cappella versions of popular TV show theme songs ranging from “Charles In Charge” to “Six Million Dollar Man,” and commercial jingles like “By Mennen.” They’ve put words to songs without lyrics, such as the “Good Old Days,” the theme from The Little Rascals. The only instruments you’ll find on stage are talking toys - that's right, four grown men who still play with action figures. Not ones to rest on their laurels nor teeter on the edge of rebellion and artistic bravado with their choice of deodorant commercials, the Blanks wrote some original numbers that sound like songs even they might want to cover! You haven’t seen anything quite like it before. They love to sing, entertain and make people laugh, so their shows include skits, antics, choreography (the kind a 5-year old could memorize), talking toys as lead singers, and costume changes.
A note on the costume changes: they’re not Cher, and they’re not Madonna. Because... They’re men! Men who sing. Men who dance. Men who’ll make the milk you’re drinking spray right out your nose with a funny glance.
Come see them live and you’ll be in for a night of laughs, songs and their version of entertainment for any age.
To tell the story of the Blanks is to tell the tale of four unique individuals that didn’t find each other through a reality show contest, Craigslist ads, Social Networking, or even the fallout of doomed bands fighting over the drummer’s red M&M’s (thus no drummer allowed). Asked individually if this was their dream gig, they might hesitate, but as a collective whole it’s pretty clear that there was some cosmic kismet at work.
PAUL F. PERRY is from Stoneham, MA and does all the arrangements for the Blanks. He met Sam and George while attending Syracuse University together. As a composer, Paul wrote over half the songs for a special musical episode for Scrubs in 2007 entitled “My Musical,” one of which, “Guy Love,” was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. He is one of only two people on earth who are members of both the Blanks and the Butties (a Beatles cover band formed with Sam in college). Paul’s Beatlesque arrangement of the Butties’ cover of the carol “Joy to the World” can be heard in the soundtrack of the film Christmas with the Kranks starring Tim Allen. He has many other credits for scoring, film directing, and performing.
GEORGE MISERLIS (a.k.a. “The Hairy One”) hails from Lowell, Massachusetts. George and Sam met while double-dating twin sisters at their favorite hangout, Chuck E. Cheese. While the romances didn’t last, George and Sam became roommates at Syracuse and then later shared a flat in London, where they double-dated Marks and Spencer. As a performer, he did improv comedy regularly with The Second City on Monday nights in Santa Monica, CA. It was there he met good friend and future Blank, Philip McNiven. George’s stage credits include Evita, The Odd Couple with Sandy
Dennis and Kaye Ballard, and The Lion in Winter with James Spader. In June of 2008, he sang along with Jason Alexander in a 7-minute medley with the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl celebrating Placido Domingo’s induction into their Hall of Fame. Film roles for George include Sarah Pillsbury’s Seeds of Tragedy, Desi and Lucy: Before the Laughter, and a star turn in Paramount’s The Incredible Genie, a children’s fantasy on HBO.
SAM LLOYD is from Weston, Vermont. After graduating from Syracuse, he moved to Los Angeles and acted with an improv group. Over the years he’s played memorable roles in films such as Galaxy Quest, Rising Sun and Flubber, and in television shows like Night Court, Seinfeld, Spin City, 3rd Rock From the Sun, The West Wing, Desperate Housewives, Numb3rs, and Medium. He’s appeared on Scrubs since its premier, creating laughs for his worldwide fanbase as the ever put-upon hospital attorney, “Ted Buckland,” the yin to “Dr. Kelso’s” yang.
At some point Paul and George also decided to come to California. They were all so happy to be reunited that they sang. Three parts became four with the addition of the Canadian named Philip.
PHILIP MCNIVEN was raised in Philadelphia, the son of an Englishman and a French Impressionist, which for some reason makes him Canadian. Eventually he moved to Toronto, and became a tennis pro, hard to do when the courts are ice- crusted nine months of the year. So Philip packed his racquets and headed for L.A., but sadly broke a string and was forced to retire. He’s earned his stripes as a singer and actor, guest starring on TV shows CSI, ER, and Newsradio, and now on Scrubs, thanks to his new best pal Sam. His film credits include A Dangerous Woman with Debra Winger and It’s Pat with Julia Sweeney. He wrote the songs for and starred in the hit avant-garde musical Butt Pirates of the Caribbean. Philip has sung at Carnegie Hall, and performed at Lincoln Center with the group The Cormen. He has done numerous TV commercials, and is perhaps most unrecognizable as “Professor Wonder Bread,” where he sported a full head of wavy red hair.
And as long as the kids dig it and the adults enjoy it, The Blanks will keep singing it....
Viva Los Blanks!
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