the sons of pitches is an all-male a cappella group formed in october 2010 by mark nathan. in 2011, they took part in the inaugural birmingham semifinal of the voice festival uk. in 2012, they won the birmingham semifinal of voice festival uk, and competed at the final in london. they returned to the london finals again in 2013 where they received more awards than any other group in the competition, being recognised for 'outstanding arrangement', 'outstanding vocal percussion', 'outstanding choreography/stagecraft' and 'outstanding performance', but ultimately lost overall to vive from guildhall. however, just a few weeks later the sons of pitches won the 'international wildcard round' of the international championships of collegiate a cappella (icca), and competed in the international finals at the town hall, new york city, on 20 april 2013.