On the Rocks 2010: Where are they now?

By Sarah Bathke, BA ’25 (journalism), UO Alumni Association communications generalist  

Sixteen years ago, a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” launched On the Rocks (OTR)—the UO’s premiere all-male a cappella group—into the international spotlight. They performed the song, with zombie-like choreography and full voices, at their weekly Friday show in the EMU amphitheater.  

The cover was uploaded to YouTube and after Ashton Kutcher shared the video on his Twitter account, it quickly started racking up views. Today, it has been watched 12 million times. The next thing they knew, OTR was jetting off to Los Angeles and filming for season two of NBC’s The Sing-Off, where their passion and goofiness charmed audiences.  

The group had a taste of going viral earlier in 2010 when they performed Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” on the subway in New York City while on an East Coast tour. Teigh Bowen, BA ’10 (psychology), remembers that performance as a spur of the moment decision. 

“That was just one guy turning to another one and being like, ‘wouldn't it be funny if we rickrolled the subway? Like, turn on the camera.’ And we just did that. It wasn't planned out. It wasn't structured. It wasn't supposed to go viral.” 

The confidence to perform on a dime in public came from hours of weekly rehearsal and performances. “We rehearsed three days a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays for three hours, and then we'd have a Friday show—so over 12 hours a week that we were putting in to this group,” Bowen said.  

Becoming On the Rocks

On the Rocks was founded by Leo DaSilva, BS ’73 (political science), and Peter Hollens, BMus ’05 (music performance), in 1999, more than a decade before the group’s appearance on The Sing-Off. The storied group had already made a name for themselves in Oregon and within the a cappella scene long before they catapulted into the national spotlight. In fact, their popularity among Oregon high school choirs is what drew several of the members to the UO. 

Bowen was one of seven seniors in the 2010 OTR group and had been a member all four years at the UO. For Neil Ghosh, BS ’11 (economics), being part of the 2010 group was a homecoming. He joined OTR as a first-year student in 2005 but transferred to Portland Community College and left the group. He came back to the UO in 2009 and, before he knew it, was back performing in the EMU amphitheater during OTR’s Friday shows. 

“It was really interesting and cool to see how much the chemistry had really gelled between all those guys that had been in the group together for three to four years. Musically, they had gotten a lot stronger, of course, but just the dynamic and the chemistry was so much better than it was when they were freshmen, so it was cool to come back in,” Ghosh shared. 

The two youngest members of the 2010 OTR group, Alex Horwitch, BA ’12 (public relations), and Jeff Rogers, BA ’13 (journalism), spent that year finding their bearings and learning everything they could from those graduating.   

While Rogers was a first-year student who had auditioned as a high school senior, Horwitch joined the group during his second year at Oregon. He didn’t make the cut during his first audition but was determined to try again.

"I think not getting in at that time allowed me to explore other parts of the university I wanted to participate in as well. Going into my sophomore year, I had just been named president of the Pit Crew, but OTR was still something that was really high on my priority list—something I had really wanted to do since before I even started at the UO," Horwitch said.  

Rogers said that auditioning for OTR taught him an important lesson—one that he carried to The Sing-Off and into his career.  

“If you're kind of interested in something, just do it. Just go try it, because other people show up [too],” he said. 

As the 2010 OTR group rehearsed and performed together,  they saw the impact their chemistry and joy had on audiences. That camaraderie was evident in their performances, and Bowen believes that their connection as friends is what led to their success.  

“People gravitated toward the stage presence and just the fun that everybody was having on stage, and that ended up being a product of those four years of working with people.” 

The Sing-Off Experience

When casting opened up for The Sing-Off, the group decided to submit a video audition, but the cost to fly to Los Angeles for the in-person round would have depleted the group’s funds, so they withdrew from the audition process. Then, the call came.

Deke Sharon, considered to be the father of modern a cappella, reached out to the group and said that if they came down and auditioned it would be worth it for them. With this encouragement, the group decided to go for it. But first they had to finish the school year, and that meant their annual OTR “In the Dark” concert. The performance is the last show of the year for the group and a send-off for the graduating members. They start singing at midnight on Friday before Finals Week in the EMU amphitheater and sing through all the songs they know.

“There were so many people that came out for that concert in the middle of campus at midnight, that it filled the whole EMU amphitheater. It's just incomprehensible to me. Looking out and seeing 6,000 people in the EMU amphitheater . . . that was wild to see the culmination of this experience that I've had in college,” Bowen reminisced. 

Though In the Dark marked the end of the school year for 2010’s OTR, it was just the beginning of their journey. 

“[The concert] ended at 2 [or] 2:30 in the morning, and then we all drove up to Portland a few hours later to fly down to LA to do the audition. We did the audition and we flew right back,” Horwitch said.  

The group was cast in the middle of the summer and moved into a hotel together in Culver City, California for a month to shoot the show. The troupe turned OTR into a full-time job. 

“It was 10 hours of rehearsal a day every day, so even though the episodes were generally about a week apart, it would be like 70 hours of rehearsal compressed into that one week before we would do our taping, so everything got very tight as far as choreo and music,” Ghosh said. “I don't think the group has ever worked as hard as we did in those few weeks.” 

Even with the long work hours, they still found time to relax and connect with members of the other groups on the show. After a long day at the soundstage, contestants gathered in a ballroom and hung out for hours into the night “getting goofy” and jamming around a piano. 

“I think that we were a little bit of a catalyst of just the social hangout element and breaking down the kind of walls of people sticking to just their group. We would go strike up conversations with strangers all the time, get people playing card games backstage and just whatever else,” Ghosh recounted. 

They found many ways to fill their time behind the scenes, and sometimes that meant singing even more. Jonah Seitz, BS ’11 (educational foundations), remembers an impromptu performance of one of his all-time favorite songs—“The Moment” by fellow member Nick Firth, BS ’10 (sociology). While waiting to rehearse on stage, Seitz said it seemed like they either had to start singing or they’d start running around the soundstage, so they went for it. 

“[We] started singing, and everybody stopped. It was like all these people who are milling about doing all these things. They've got to get from one place to the other. They’ve got to get this cable from here to there. They're talking to people on their headsets and everybody just stopped. The power of song in that moment was incredible, but also the power of that song because it is so, so, so good,” Seitz said fondly. 

After four weeks on the show, OTR was eliminated. Rogers remembers they had one last party in the hotel, exchanging shirts and other items with other a capella groups. The next morning, OTR loaded into a 15-passenger van, as their new friends watched them leave. 

“I remember our friends were wearing some of the shirts that we gave them . . . It felt so juvenile and it was so sad. I just remember it being like, ‘Wow, this moment in time is over and . . . it will never happen again,'” Rogers said. “It felt so finite and emotional in such an immediate way.” 

While their time on The Sing-Off ended, the OTR fever was just taking off. 

“We were asked [by the UO Alumni Association] to sing at the official tailgate party the day before the BCS National Championship game. And we're singing in front of thousands of people on this gigantic lawn. It was probably like 60,000 or 70,000 people at this thing. It was incredible,” Horwitch said. 

That same day, the group met Ducks football legend Joey Harrington, BS ’01 (business administration), who asked the group to sing “Bad Romance” for his wife. One member of OTR, Jacob Steinberger, BMus ’10 (music education), MMus ’15 (music education), even got to receive a pass from Harrington. That moment brought with it a realization for the OTR members. They were Duck legends now too. 

“We thought that [catching a pass from Harrington] was cool, but Joey was so stoked that we were at his tailgate singing for his wife,” Horwitch said. 

Lessons learned

Balancing OTR commitments and school work taught the members crucial skills that they applied as new graduates.  Horwitch gained first-hand experience as the public relations manager for OTR, coordinating with the Boyz II Men team to open for the group at the House of Blues in Chicago while OTR was on a Midwest tour in 2011. Experiences like that helped him build skills in social media and marketing. Now, he works as director of digital marketing for DreamWorks Animation. 

“The [“Bad Romance”] video is that moment of my life where the lightning hits the clock tower. So much of my current life happens and can be traced back to that moment. I got into social media because the video started going viral, and it’s now become my career,” Horwitch explained.  

Rogers took on the job of booking the group’s gig requests and tour travel. While learning the ins and outs of travel scheduling and coordination, he worked summers as a production assistant on The Voice. He found a love for this behind-the-scenes work and fostered connections. Now, Rogers produces video content for global brands like Nordstrom, Dickies, and Cole Haan as a brand director.  

Bowen said the confidence he developed as a performer has translated to his job as fifth grade teacher, speaking to students every day. Ghosh has taken that confidence into his career in sales and procurement of medical devices for veterinary hospitals.  

“There was no better way I could have learned to speak confidently and engage well with strangers and new people and be just generally personable,” Ghosh said. 

The ability to work with a diverse group of people, whether in choir or now as a product developer at Nike, is a lesson that’s stuck with Seitz.  

“Choir is essentially a team sport . . . We're not trying to win a game, but we're trying to make something that sounds good and makes people feel something. So now, my job is . . . to create something that brings out some sort of emotion with people,” Seitz explained. 

Rocking on

Brotherhood is at the center of OTR. Members past and present mention it frequently. The time they spend together is precious, the music they make is unifying, and the memories will last a lifetime. 

In April 2025, the current members of OTR put together a 25th anniversary show and invited alumni from every era to perform and spend the weekend in Eugene. That opportunity was special for the members of the 2010 OTR group, both to catch up with one another and to connect with the younger members of the same brotherhood. 

“It makes me really proud as an alum of [OTR] to see that they've kept things going. It was really cool to meet the current group and get familiar with the folks that are doing it now,” Ghosh said. 

Sharing in the joy of performance unites OTR across generations.  Whether rehearsing in someone’s college rental house garage for hours or competing on a nationally broadcast competition, the a capella group has showcased their passion and art for more than 25 years. The members of the 2010 group have flocked across the globe since graduation, but their friendships remain strong.

“Your college friends meet you and know you and like you when you’re just potential,” Rogers said, quoting Hulu’s Fleishman Is in Trouble. “The novelty of performing and creating something special with those around you is something that every group of Rocks gets to do now, too. 

The current OTR group still performs every Friday in the EMU amphitheater, carrying forward the beloved tradition of music and performance.  

“I hope that On the Rocks is around forever,” Ghosh said.