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The accidental success of Yacht Rock Revue
One night in 2008, singers Nicholas Niespodziani and Peter Olson and drummer Mark Cobb, then members of the Atlanta-based indie rock band Y-O-U, showed up to their weekly residency at 10 High with an unusual set list. “As a gag, we thought we’d play cheesy soft rock hits from the 1970s, stuff that you’d hear in the dentist’s office,” says Niespodziani. The fans ate it up, so they did it again. And again. It wasn’t long before Y-O-U had given way to Yacht Rock Revue.
Today the Atlanta tribute band/comedy troupe has become a booming business. On August 22, the act returns to Piedmont Park for the fifth annual Yacht Rock Revival, where thousands of so-called Nation of Smooth faithful sing along to hits from Hall & Oates, Steely Dan, and other soft rock icons—some of whom show up to play alongside the band. To keep up with booking demands, they’ve even spawned Yacht Rock Schooner, a second cover act. Recently Niespodziani discussed their career trajectory.
On playing alongside recording artists like Robbie Dupree, Firefall, and Journey singer Steve Augeri . . . They come and they realize that while we’re not taking ourselves seriously, we are taking the music seriously. We approach Little River Band as if it’s AC/DC.
On accidentally reuniting the Atlanta band Starbuck . . . Jimmy Cobb, the bass player in Starbuck, played with us a few times, and we put him and another former band member on the poster for the 2012 show. Before the gig, the band’s singer, Bruce Blackman, showed up with our flyer in his hand, asking, “What is this?” He was a little pissed. Backstage, these guys talked for the first time in 30 years. Bruce came on stage that night, and the next year they got the whole band back together.
On being named both “Best Overall Music Act in Atlanta” and “Best Place to Get Drunk With Your Dad” . . . We’re pretty proud of the “Drunk with Your Dad” distinction. We actually had a fan in Charlotte who came up to us with his pregnant wife and said, “Oh man, we got pregnant the last time you were here. We went in the club’s bathroom while you guys were on stage!” Clearly, we’re setting a mood.
On the calendar: On August 22, coast to the smooth sounds of easy-listening at Yacht Rock Revival at Piedmont Park. pleaserock.com
This article originally appeared in our August 2015 issue.
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‘People Don’t Let Go of These Songs’: The Surprising Evolution of the Yacht Rock Revue
By Joseph Hudak
Joseph Hudak
“If you asked me five years ago to do a full original album with this band, I’d say, ‘Tear my heart out and leave it on the floor,'” Yacht Rock Revue singer Nick Niespodziani says.
It’s hard to tell if he’s being hyperbolic.
The 41-year-old frontman of the Atlanta-based tribute band has always been conflicted about his gum-chewing, polyester-wearing, hair-feathering throwback group. In his eyes, it was a way to make a living, not a serious creative outlet. Besides, he had other projects to flex that muscle, like the psychedelic and experimental rock of Indianapolis Jones. But as he slowly came to accept, nothing had the reach of Yacht Rock Revue.
Since forming in 2008, the seasoned party band has graduated into a national touring act, packing clubs, anchoring corporate events, and setting sail on themed cruises with their note-perfect re-creations of soft-rock’s smoothest jams, from “Brandy” by Looking Glass and “Lido Shuffle” by Boz Scaggs to Ace’s “How Long” and Toto’s irrepressible “Africa.” (Yacht Rock Revue cut it well before Weezer did .) Their crowds are far from passive too, buying tickets in advance and showing up in boat shoes, ascots, and aviators to recite aloud the sacred texts of saints Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald , and Robbie Dupree. Captain’s hats are ubiquitous.
It’s not an oldies fan base either. “Kids, young people, are the ones who have adopted this music, and they’re there to have a good time,” says Dupree, who often performs his 1980 hit “Steal Away” with the band at their all-star “Yacht Rock Revival” shows. “The audience looks like they used to [when these records first came out] — only you got older. But it’s more exciting now because these people know every single song in the show.”
Still, Niespodziani could never fully get on board the boat he helped build. When he and the band took a stab at releasing original material in 2012 with the on-the-nose “Can’t Wait for Summer,” they did so sheepishly. “Our hearts weren’t all the way in it,” he says now. “We were kind of apologetic about it.”
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As pop music evolved over the past eight years, however, so did Niespodziani’s perception of Yacht Rock Revue. The songs that make up the band’s set lists are now celebrated, “Yacht Rock” has transcended its gag tag to become a legitimate subgenre, and the icons of the scene are getting long-overdue recognition — in May, the Doobie Brothers will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Most important, Niespodziani peered over his onstage shades and recognized the happiness that he and his group were bringing to their crowds.
“When we started out, I wasn’t super proud of being in a cover band,” he says, “but as we’ve done this, I’ve seen that joy in people, which changed my thinking and changed my heart about it, and made me open to the vulnerability of doing an original album.”
In February, the seven-piece band of fortysomething musicians — along with Niespodziani, there’s fellow vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Peter Olson, bassist Greg Lee, sax player Dave Freeman, guitarist Mark Dannells, drummer Mark Cobb, and keys man Mark Bencuya — released its first full-length album of original music, Hot Dads in Tight Jeans . Like their live show, which features a vintage boutique’s worth of loud shirts and the titular constricting denim, there’s an element of humor to the record. But the 10 tracks aren’t parodies or goofs.
Songs like “The Doobie Bounce” and “Step,” with their layered production and Niespodziani’s sky-high falsetto, transform the staid notion of yacht rock — or, more broadly, soft rock — into something immersive and, dare one say, hip and cool. These are tracks that could slide in comfortably next to anything off Tame Impala’s latest, The Slow Rush . The sounds and tones employed by Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker actually served as validation for Niespodziani.
“We finished recording this album and were mixing it in spring and summer, and that’s when Tame Impala started to leak tracks from their new album,” he says. “They were really similar to the sounds we had on our record, and that made me feel really encouraged, that the sound that we had was not going to be throwaway or irrelevant.”
Olson, Niespodziani’s onstage foil in choreography (they’re experts at re-creating Paul Simon and Chevy Chase’s “You Can Call Me Al” routine ), says the band aimed to expand the boundaries of what yacht rock is, or could be, while in the studio.
“We felt free to redefine the genre a little bit, as more of an attitude than a sound,” Olson, also 41, says. “We weren’t tied to just having Rhodes pianos and super-lush harmonies and sax solos, but there are elements of that. We weren’t afraid to sing about something meaningful and not just piña coladas. Although there is a song about tequila, so…”
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“Bad Tequila,” with its pithy, made-for-merch payoff line — “when life gives you bad tequila/make a good margarita” — is insanely catchy but modern, more in line with something by Portugal. The Man and Daft Punk than Seals and Croft or Loggins and Messina. Yes, it has a yachty sax breakdown, but the woodwind fits in just as naturally as one of Lizzo’s flute solos .
The band credits producer Ben Allen with helping them connect the dots between yesteryear’s soft rock and contemporary flourish. The track “Another Song About California” opens with a synth line that nods to Hall and Oates’ “She’s Gone” before spiraling off on its own psych-pop journey.
“Ben has been instrumental in finding the middle ground between staying true to what the band has always done in the yacht-rock vibe, but not being afraid to make a record that could fit in a playlist with Justin Timberlake or Lizzo,” says Niespodziani, who also challenged the way the band approaches its lyrics. He used yacht-rock buzzwords (think “sand,” “ocean,” “sun,” and “girl”) as a gateway to convey deeper thoughts and mindsets.
“I’d take little nuggets of the yacht-rock vibe or culture and look at it through my own lens,” he says, citing “The Doobie Bounce.” “That song sneaks in little nods to nihilism and things that have meaning to me.”
Currently on a U.S. tour with gigs scheduled at the Wiltern in L.A., Webster Hall in New York, and the House of Blues in Boston, Niespodziani, Olson and the band are hopeful that their core fans will embrace the “new” yacht rock. They’ve already been slotting “Step” and “Bad Tequila” alongside perennials like “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” and “Baker Street.” Who knows — perhaps their own 21st-century yacht jams will one day become a part of the genre’s core canon.
After years spent wondering and worrying when the yacht-rock wave would crash, Niespodziani and Olson have come to just enjoy the ride.
“We always thought the fad would end. But people don’t let go of these songs. It’s evident in the way that doctors’ offices, Home Depots, and Bed Bath & Beyonds haven’t let go of these songs either,” says Olson. “These are the playlists of public areas.”
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Yacht Rock Revue. 56,310 likes · 126 talking about this. We're the smooth you're looking for #yachtrockforever
Yacht Rock Revue is hard to define—they're part fandom, part joke, part self-promotion, and each element is infused with irony. But when they take the stage at Old Fourth Ward's Venkman's, the ...
Who knows — perhaps their own 21st-century yacht jams will one day become a part of the genre's core canon. After years spent wondering and worrying when the yacht-rock wave would crash, Niespodziani and Olson have come to just enjoy the ride. "We always thought the fad would end. But people don't let go of these songs.
On August 22, Yacht Rock Revue returns to Piedmont Park for the fifth annual Yacht Rock Revival, where thousands of so-called Nation of Smooth faithful sing along to hits from Hall & Oates, Steely ...
After nearly a dozen years confidently steering the S.S. Nostalgia, playing the beloved soft rock hits of the '70s and '80s to packed crowds wearing captain's hats, Yacht Rock Revue are charting a new course by releasing their first album of original material. Hot Dads in Tight Jeans &
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Embark on a journey down memory lane through radiant musical waters with Yacht Rock Revue.Today, these masters of smooth grooves unveil their live album, Between the Moon and New York City.The new 15-track collection is the audio companion of the band's recent PBS Special that graced the airwaves on November 24, 2023.Captured on the Rooftop at Pier 17 in New York City on July 7, 2023, this ...
Long-time cover band, Yacht Rock Revue discusses their decision to write original music and how playing covers gave them an appreciation for pop anthems. ... 303 Magazine: I know that you ...
Granted, the members of the Atlanta-based Yacht Rock Revue never set out to become the legends that they are quickly becoming. Originally, Niespodziani, drummer Mark Cobb, and co-frontman Peter Olson were simply an indie rock band from Indiana University by the name of Y-O-U that got their start back in the early 2000s playing everything from pop to psychedelic music, but they never found the ...
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But Yacht Rock Revue isn't just a tribute band; they are musical alchemists, seamlessly blending their own unique style with the iconic yacht rock vibe. Their original compositions are a modern ode to the genre, capturing the essence of those bygone days while infusing it with a fresh and invigorating twist. Their first original record, titled ...
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Yacht Rock Revue were revered and well-compensated! Their life was a tenor sax solo! This is what every musician wants. But even as YRR was sailing the smooth seas of tribute-band superstardom, and the band members all became dads, Niespodziani was still writing original songs. These new tunes had the spirit of Yacht Rock, but were more modern ...
The 127-foot yacht is under construction now, with delivery planned for 2024. Van der Valk Is Building a Custom 112 Known as Project 111.11, the yacht is designed by Guido de Groot.
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Tragic accident - single-handed sailor goes overboard. In distress in the Pacific. First the rudder stock breaks, then the Arcona sinks. Ocean Globe Race. Water ingress on "Translated 9" forces the crew to abandon the race. Distress at sea. Thunderstorms and foehn winds cause difficulties for Easter sailors.
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