If the words “yacht rock” bring anything to mind, it’s probably the dulcet tones of Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, or West Coast-centric, boat-owning, soft-rocking, good time tunes.
“But more than that, yacht rock is a vibe,” Nicholas Niespodziani, who sings in the band Yacht Rock Revue, told GBH’s Morning Edition co-host Jeremy Siegel. “You know, you're drinking a piña colada on the beach, chilling out, this is the music to put on.”
Yacht Rock Revue, icons of the nostalgia-heavy soft-rock genre popular in the 1970s and ’80s, are in Hyannis Thursday evening and at the Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston Friday.
“The exchange of energy between the band and the audience is incredible at our shows, particularly in Boston,” Niespodziani said. “We recorded our first live album in Boston and there's just something about Massachusetts, Smooth-achusetts, if you will, that that really connects.”
Niespodziani and Peter Olson, who also sings in the band, met growing up in Indiana. They formed a band called Y-O-U in the ’90s and started playing shows in Atlanta.
“We had an indie rock band but never really made it, and we were kind of on the back end of that, in our late 20s trying to figure out what was next,” Olson said.
The band did a yacht rock-themed show almost at random, playing a one-off for one-hit wonders of the 1970s, Olson said.
“We did one show and it sold out, and then we did another show and it sold out. And then all of a sudden it's becoming more popular and we're quitting our jobs and getting an office and buying a van and becoming a real band,” Olson said. “And it's been a wild journey. We keep wondering, when is it going to fade out? But it's only getting stronger 15 years in.”
The band has since grown to 10 members who tour nationwide for much of the year.
In Yacht Rock Revue’s early days, audiences seemed to be drawn to the music a bit more ironically, Olson said. He’d see people elbowing one another when Rupert Holmes’ “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” came on.
"If you pay close attention, once you know what yacht rock is, you'll realize that it's everywhere."-Nicholas Niespodziani
But yacht rock’s power comes from its ever-presence, Niespodziani said.
“These are wonderfully crafted songs, and there's something about them that actually never left,” Niespodziani said. “It's almost like they'd been in the subconscious part of our brains in that they've actually been spinning in like, your grocery store and your dentist's office and at your hardware store. If you pay close attention, once you know what yacht rock is, you'll realize that it's everywhere.”
It’s also just fun, Olson said.
“You don't have to feel guilty about enjoying the songs,” Olson said. “They're fun to listen to. They're fun to vibe out to or to rock out to. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing to be ashamed of with that.”
