SUIT AND TONIC. The members of Tonic Sol-fa bring their sweet a cappella sounds to the State Theatre Dec. 17.

There’s a holiday show at the State Theatre you’re not going to want to miss this Dec. 17. Tonic Sol-fa is an Emmy Award-winning, Minnesota-based a capella group that has been coming to Eau Claire to perform for almost a decade. Don’t let the term “a capella” scare you away. Just because there are no instruments doesn’t have to mean it’s totally minimalist. Tonic Sol-fa has a lot to offer and is known to put on a performance worth remembering.  We had the chance to chat down with Shaun Johnson of Tonic Sol-fa to discuss their upcoming show in Eau Claire, changes to the their musical landscape, and what lies ahead.

Volume One: You’ve performed in Eau Claire a lot over the years. What keeps you coming back?

Shaun Johnson: I think in some way we have always had a really good following in western Wisconsin. And when we put together some of our tours, this one being the Christmas tour, we definitely want to hit some of the highlights of many states in the Midwest, and Eau Claire is one of them for us.

You’ll be here in town soon, any details or tidbits we should know about?

There are a lot of vocal groups that, say, have a guy that does vocal percussion all of the time, and that’s really cool. For us, we like a mix. We like technology; we like to push the envelope. We have this giant bass drum that we use on a song. We use a porch board, which is what guitarists sometimes use when doing a solo show, as a stomp. We use a looper for one song. We have video screens and such – we don’t use them on every song – but some of them tell a story. We will also have local dancers come out, and they’ll be dancing in the aisles.

“When we put together some of our tours, this one being the Christmas tour, we definitely want to hit some of the highlights of many states in the Midwest, and Eau Claire is one of them for us.” – Shaun Johnson, one of the members of a cappella group Tonic Sol-fa

With its recent popularization in Hollywood, has a capella changed much?  For better or worse?

I think it helps. There has been a really big change in the last few years: People are a lot more open to different types of music. When we began, I feel like people were more likely to say “we only listen to Christian music” or “we only listen to rock,” and I feel like now with Pandora and people buying a song here and there … because of that and because of those shows, people are more likely to be open-minded to new music. A capella has always been a niche kind of music, but now it’s coming into its own.

What’s next for Tonic Sol-fa?

This has been a very crazy year for us in that we lost a member. We’d been together for that last decade, and it was very abrupt. So we started collaborating and doing new music and new videos and sort of a new sound. In some ways it was a very-needed refresher. So I guess I’m most excited about the music we’ve started to write and do currently. And the videos we have planned for all of next year and some of them that we’ve already shot ... and fans seem to really be responding. There’s just a real positive vibe around everything we’re doing. And so I think in the New Year, we just want to kick that into high gear. You kind of have to take a step back before you launch again.

You guys have had success in music, which is awesome to see. Eau Claire is known for its music scene, so what advice would you give to musicians trying to make a living off of their work?

For us I think it was, and still is, working. Sometimes we’ve had to start over, and we’ve had to reinvent ourselves, we’ve had to find different collaborators, and different people who believed in us. People see us and they say, “Oh, they did it totally on their own.” But it’s so much more complicated than that. It’s always a good story, just “Oh, this person is super popular,” but usually there’s a more interesting story behind it ... and that’s the work it took.

Tonic Sol-fa will be performing on Dec. 17 at the State Theatre, 316 Eau Claire St., Eau Claire. The show starts at 7:30pm; doors open at 7.  All ages welcome. Purchase tickets at www.eauclairearts.com or call (715) 832-ARTS (2787).