By NICOLE CIRIDON

UW News Lab  

Every weekday around 5 p.m., a chorus of voices springs forth in a conference room at Microsoft. No, it’s not a business meeting – it’s the Baudboys, an Eastside a cappella group made up of eight Microsoft employees. Their songs range from the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Aeroplane” to original tunes penned by members.

“The group has been in existence for about 20 years,” said Mark Adolph, a bass and baritone singer who serves as the group’s president. “The membership changes because if you leave the job, you leave the group. In a sense we’re like a college group only that we have day jobs.”

Aside from Adolph, the group consists of Elliot Lewis, Dave McEwen, Owen Braun, Jonathan Schwartz, Paul Eng, Graham Sheldon and Ric Lewis.

Their unique group name came from the word “baud,” the speed rating of an old-style modem.

“The group has really outlived the name, but now we have name recognition,” Adolph said. “‘Bytes-per-second boys’ doesn’t have the same ring.”

The Baudboys have performed for larger audiences at Northwest Folklife and Mariners games as well as at senior centers and prisons.

“I was always looking for interesting venues, and I had done volunteer work at Monroe prison in the past,” Adolph said. “I contacted them and they brought us in to sing. They had us sing to the special offenders unit and they reacted like no other audience we sang for.”

Baudboys’ performances at numerous venues set the stage for their involvement in the Pacific Northwest Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival in Olympia.

“About six years ago I heard it was going on,” Adolph said. “I went and saw a show and I came back and said ‘we belong on the stage.’”

During their first and second year of competition, the Baudboys tied for fourth.

“Each time we went we learned a lot,” Adolph said. “We understood how to better entertain an audience, although we weren’t winning.”

After coming in second and third in the years following, the group took first place in 2008 and went on to perform at the national finals in San Rafael, Calif.

“As they were calling the places, we were listening to the groups and they were really good,” Adolph said. “They called two chief rivals to tie for second place. It was disbelief. I think I did a spontaneous fist pump on stage.”

After winning, the Baudboys set their sights on recording and releasing their first album, “Hello World.”

“We have been really focused on the competition and using that as a springboard to get the album out,” said McEwen, who is the group’s bass and baritone singer and also handles marketing.

On March 7, the Baudboys will return to Olympia to host and perform at the festival.

“Our sights are set at putting on a really great show in Olympia,” he said. “That was really a hurdle for us. Eventually we hope to win nationals and win it all.”

For information, visit www.baudboys.com

NICOLE CIRIDON is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.