'Never be afraid of no's': Md.-based a cappella group sees success even during pandemic

TOWSON, Md. (7News) — What started as the 'Towson Trills' has blossomed into a viral sensation with millions of views and reactions across several social media channels now known as 'The Trills.'

Six vocalists who attended Towson University came together first through flirting and number exchanges, but not with each other. Click here to check out their music on Spotify.

How it started

"It was like our second day of college and Erin and Leroy both went to an open mic night or karaoke night, I think, and they saw this girl who was across the room who was really cute, and they went up to talk to her at the same time to try to get her number, and that's how they met. And then they met me the same night through like a weird connection with that girl. And then we auditioned in the lovely Missy, Will and [Nick], and here we are."

The rest was history as Kathryn Marie, Missy Melkonian, Will Damanka, Nick Zuelsdorf, Leroy Hyson, and Aaron Bayne came together to form the eclectic and musical talents of the A cappella group now known as the Trills.

After jamming and vibing out with each other in dorm rooms, the Towson Trills came to life.

"And I met this guy the other night and he beatboxes, let's just like jam out, and we started what was then called the 'Towson Trills," Leroy said. "And then we became 'The Trills' after the majority of us graduated."

Of The Trills, the A cappella group consists of Aaron the "beatboxer," Leroy is the base, Nick is the tenor, Kathryn is the soprano, Missy is the alto, and Will is the baritone.

Then, there's the pandemic...

While the pandemic brought its own set of frustrations and concerns, the group says it had its unintended positive consequences for the team as well.

"In my opinion, I think that the pandemic in a very, very, very strange way, helped us in terms of branching out and networking," Nick says. "Getting our name out there, using different social media. Honestly, I feel like if COVID never happened, we probably wouldn't be big on TikTok, we probably would not have posted nearly as much, and we probably wouldn't have had the fire to light under us to keep going. Like we would've kept going, but the success rate probably wouldn't have been as significant."

That's because, in place of live shows, the group has instead been taking the time to put together viral videos.

"It's changed our mindset and the way we execute our music," Aaron explained.

And it all started with a TikTok video. Well, a lot of very popular TikToks have earned the talented group thousands, and in some cases, millions of views and reactions.

"At first, we weren't very serious about it, we were like let's just have fun with it," Leroy said. "By that point, COVID was getting more serious and Kathryn was like we're doing TikTok! And that's how on-the-fly was birthed."

From there, it started with Kathryn singing in the mirror and running out to the rest of the group to sing hit songs at random. Since gathering quite an impressive following, fans keep coming back for more with different requests for them to perform.

"Uhm, who are we?" Leroy said with a laugh after explaining the shock they got from the thousands of views received after posting just a few TikTok videos. "And that was the start of it, and it's gone up from there."

Nick credits the music industry taking the social media app a lot more seriously at the same time the group starting posting on it.

"People are making musicals, people are making like so many things that we love to watch," he explained. "We're on TikTok a lot, so we find a lot of inspiration, but a lot of people actually found a lot of inspiration from us. If we popularize a trend, we'll see other a Cappella groups doing the same trend, doing kind of the same style, like oh, did we have a part in that? It's just kind of interesting how it just comes full-circle. "

The group says it has its passion projects while other songs either come from highly-requested cover and fan recommendations or songs they know fans will like. The group has also been in tune with the trends on TikToks and has used a lot of that to make their own.

"I think the pandemic actually made us slow down in a sense, before we were always on busy schedules and working on this project, this rehearsal, but then it turned into a lot of passion projects and things that we really wanted to do, a lot of music videos we had never done before, " Will explained. "A lot of singles that we wouldn't conventionally do. It kind of just put things into a better perspective of really enjoying what we were doing, then it's going to really reach people."

Versus how it's going

Since unexpectedly taking off on social media, the group has even signed with a management company out of Los Angeles. As COVID restrictions start to loosen, the team says it hopes to book more live events and sponsorships.

"Not even in this area, we want to travel," Kathryn excitedly said.

The Trills hope to have a pretty big month of May, and plan on releasing three different projects, songs, and experiences over the next three Saturdays. At the end of the releases, The Trills plan on having a virtual concert on May 20 at 8:30 p.m. ET which the group hopes will be one of its biggest events yet.

"I think the furthest we've been is Georgia," Leroy added. "But we want to go everywhere. The Phillapeans, we have a group in the Phillapeans that want us to go down there, a place in the U.K., so we're willing to go wherever people will have us. It's a blessing, it's been crazy the amount and the reach our music and us as people have gotten, it's really cool."

Nick adds that as the team has been doing live TikToks, they'll get messages from fans all the way from places like France, Brazil, and Argentina.

"We'll be like, 'is this real, are we a real band?' We're an official band, like we are around the world, that's kind of crazy," Nick said with a smile.

"We got a DM, I think it was on Instagram, and someone was like yeah, love from Sweden, and yes your music is getting this far, because when you're good at what you do, it spreads easily. And that was a really cool thing to see," Aaron said. "They're like yeah, it made it all the way out here because you're great at what you're doing, and that was really cool."

The groups say that one of the coolest parts about their reach has been the connection they have felt with people, some of which have reached out to them to thank them for things like getting them through a tough week.

"I just wanted to let you guys know you gave me a laugh today, you gave me the one time I was able to smile and enjoy something this week, so like that feeling is probably the best thing that we could have out of this," Leroy said. "Hey, the pandemic is hard, it's been hard on all of us, but we've been able to make use of it and get on TikTok and do a lot, but it's been a hard time for all of us. When we see those messages, that's when we're like alright, this is why we're doing it. We're still able to reach people."

The group also hopes to inspire other artists as well with its music.

"Don't be afraid of no's," Missy said. "Especially in the music industry, you're going to hear so many no's. And it's going to open up more doors than you realize. Like just like the pandemic opened up TikTok for us and opened up all these opportunities for us, maybe not live, but in different ways. So never be afraid of no's, it's always going to happen."

Watch the full interview with the Trills below.