Today we’d like to introduce you to Davis Franklin.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
The Bubs were founded in the spring of 1962 in the basement of West Hall. Our founder, Tim Vaill, was on a mission as soon as he got to Tufts. Upon leaving for college, his father (who was a Yale Wiffenpoof) told Tim, “If there is an a cappella group, join one…if not, make one.” Tim did just that. He and his friends started singing some classic barbershop tunes, and it took off. Pretty soon, Jumbo’s Disciples (as we were known then) were a campus hit.
As the Jumbo’s Disciples became more of an established group, the amount of performances they did increased. One night, the group was waiting to be introduced before a big performance, and the emcee asked them how they wanted to be introduced. Tired of being “Jumbo’s Disciples”, the group was scrambling for a “cooler” name. One of the members at the time was reading “Paradise Lost”, and in a hurry, he flipped to a random page and saw the word “Beelzebub”. So from then on, the word Beelzebub was attached to our group in some form or another. After a while, different combinations of “Jumbo’s Disciples” and “The Beelzebubs” became cumbersome, and the group simply became “The Beelzebubs”.
From then on, The Bubs have picked up more and more traction, and have been lucky enough to be traveling all around the world spreading our motto, “Fun Through Song”. Nearly 55 years later, The Bubs is an amazing organization with a rich history of brotherhood, singing, and of course, “Fun Through Song”.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The Bubs have certainly faced a handful of different challenges along the way. I’ll just speak to a few notable ones.
Back in the 70s, the Bubs almost dissolved. Several members left school to join the military, and the general passion for singing just wasn’t there. It was either that, or people just did not have the time to sing and perform, all the while working to put food on the table. Luckily, a few key members picked the Bubs up from the dirt, dusted them off, and pointed them forward. We are incredibly lucky for the guys (in particular our music director) who did what they did.
Now I’ll talk about some more recent/current challenges that we are facing as a group. In the past year or so, the group has really taken the time to analyze our culture. We have recently been tackling topics such as gender, diversity, and general inclusion. I want to make it clear that this is not a negative obstacle, but instead a long overdue set of topics that we need to figure out. Though we are on a summer break right now, the end of the academic year was filled with fruitful discussion about such topics, as we hope to hit the ground running next year!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
First and foremost, we are a collegiate a cappella group. We rehearse and perform a variety of different genres of a cappella music. If you don’t know what a cappella is, it is basically just a band without instruments. We do our best to mimic and interpret the sounds that various instruments make, in order to create a cohesive sound. We try to cover a diverse set of songs, ranging from radio hits, oldies, jazz, and more!
I think our speciality and what we are most known for is our on stage energy. We act like every single show is the most important show of our lives, and we commonly use the phrase, “Leave it all on stage”. One of our biggest goals is to have the audience realize just how much fun we are having on stage. I think that this is also what really sets us apart. It doesn’t matter if the song is upbeat, or a slow ballad…we are always conveying the energy of the song.
I’d also like to touch on our recorded music. The group has been releasing albums since 1964, and we haven’t stopped. Just about every other winter, the group goes to our founder’s house to record as much music as we can. Something we are really proud of is that most of the album work stays within the Bubs. Bub alums handle our recording, mixing, and a really good friend of ours masters our albums. I also don’t want to leave out the importance of our music director during the recording process. They do an amazing job organizing and executing so much for the group. We like to think that each album is unique in its own way, and it really reflects the way the group feels. Though we record music to immortalize now hundreds of songs, we couldn’t be happier with how the public responds to our music!
Lastly, I’d like to talk about our group’s history. The Bubs are one of the oldest a cappella groups in the country, and with that comes a rich and in depth history. As president, one of my jobs is to act as a liaison between alumni and the current group. Our alumni mean so much to us, as they are all part of our amazing brotherhood. Alumni come to all of our events, and with just about 300 past and present Bubs, we are always excited to meet new faces! As far as we know, no other group as an alumni organization quite like this.
Contact Info:
- Website: bubs.com
- Phone: Harper Wise (Business Manager): 1-203-455-7146
Davis Franklin (President): 617-257-6008 - Email: info@bubs.com
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