The best part about karaoke is that everyone, for at least a few minutes, can become a rock and roll star. But sometimes actual rock and roll stars roll up to karaoke — and they go hilariously unnoticed.
Brian Vander Ark, the singer-songwriter best known as frontman of alt-rock band The Verve Pipe, rolled down to a random spot hosting karaoke this week recently and belted out his own song — the quintessential, chart-topping late-’90s hit “The Freshmen.” It seemed like no one in the audience knew who he was, and that was all part of the plan.
“I LOVE it when they have no idea,” Vander Ark tweeted yesterday (March 11), with a two-minute clip shared from TikTok. “And they had NO idea.”
It’s unclear where this karaoke spot is located, but it’s pretty funny to see most in the room — a restaurant, maybe in his home state of Michigan? — more focused on their dinner and drinks. But Vander Ark got a nice applause at the end there, and the karaoke DJ offered him some quick praise. The whole clip is pretty great.
Meanwhile, The Verve Pipe released their latest album Threads last fall, and are touring this summer with Five For Fighting. The run comes to Cohasset’s South Shore Music Circus on July 31, and the Cape Cod Melody Tent on August 3.
It’s clear Vander Ark has a pretty great sense of humor and is a pretty humble guy, and watching this clip go viral in our feeds led us to his wonderful Twitter bio, which reads: “I sing for Verve Pipe. We had a hit — The Freshmen. Not Bittersweet Symphony which was The Verve, but wtf, I take credit for it sometimes.”
No, he can’t be held responsible.