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A POSSUM trapper, lawyer, teacher, real estate agent and policeman are singing in perfect, spine-tingling harmony.

And the immaculately dressed men, with shiny black shoes, aren't shy about their hobby - two of the Bays Barbershop Chorus singers break into song during an interview with The Nelson Mail.

"These guys arrive here after a day's work and are tired and hair extensions wholesale grumpy, but will skip out of here," the group's music director, Jeremy Matthews, said.

The group, which practises weekly at Club Waimea, Richmond, wants other men to join up. "We want 30 guys who enjoy singing, having a bunch of fun and drinking beer after the practice," Mr Matthews said. "It's like church, with none of the strings attached."

The group has 23 singers who each have a role singing either lead, tenor, bass or baritone.

"If you can go home and sing happy birthday in the shower, and stay in tune, you have the ear and the guns to be in the chorus and we teach the rest. It's about locking harmony and producing ringing chords."

Sergeant Mike Fitzsimons joined the group in 1997 when the chorus started up. He sings bass. "I sing in my office which is open plan."

Mr Fitzsimons, who is the Nelson alcohol-harm reduction officer and co-ordinates Nelson Search and Rescue, said people who thought singing was for sissies were wrong. "I have carried a pack to the top of a mountain, kayaked around D'Urville Island and biked from here to the bottom of the South Island and back. Real men Panerai Replica Watches sing."

Structural engineer Jeff Quartly, of Mapua, said chorus practices were like a breath of fresh air after working with hammers and grinders all day. "I like the fact that you don't really have to be able to sing a solo to be able to sing barbershop," the bass singer said.

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Lead singer Neil Henderson, of Ruby Bay, is a semi-retired engineer and said his favorite song was My Wild Irish Rose. "It's nicely full of vowel sounds that you can get the best out of."

The Bays Barbershop Chorus, which recently competed at the National Barbershop Competition in Wellington, is also deciding on a new name for the group. They're open to suggestions and have a list of around 50 possibilities, including Nel's Angels.

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