Yächtley Crëw includes members (not in left to right order) lead vocalist Phillip Daniel (Philly Ocean), drummer Rob Jones (Sailor Hawkins), bassist Chaz Ruiz (Baba Buoy), guitarist Thomas Gardner Jr. (Tommy Buoy), backing vocalist Curt Clendenin (Stoney Shores), saxophone/flutist Paul Pate (Pauly Shores) and keyboardist Matt Grossman (Matthew McDonald). Courtesy photo.
The band Yächtley Crëw is setting sail for Texas and will dock at the Granada Theater for a show on Friday, Oct. 3.
The Crëw has played in Dallas before but not at the Granada Theater. Their stop in our neighborhood is part of the band’s “Seas The Night World Tour.”
You might have seen Yächtley Crëw on Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary or caught the band’s appearance on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live. Or this might be your first time hearing about the Los Angeles-based Crëw, whose members dress up in blue blazers, captain’s hats and sunglasses.
As you can imagine for a group of guys who have adopted punny stage names (see: Philly Ocean, Pauly Shores and Tommy Buoy), the band started for fun. Yächtley Crëw’s voyage began when drummer Rob Jones (aka Sailor Hawkins) and another member were looking for musicians to start a soft rock band with.
“We thought we would do maybe half a dozen shows,” Jones said. “At the time, it was really looked upon as guilty pleasure music. This is in 2016, so not a lot of stations were playing sailing and ambrosia songs on the radio unless it was a dedicated station, like on SiriusXM or something. Occasionally, you’d hear these songs on the radio, but they weren’t really mainstream.”
In the long run, there were wrong about only performing a handful of times. Jones said the band played 34 shows in the first year, more than 80 in the second year and 150 in the third year. Clearly, there was a demand for so-called yacht rock.
“It grew and grew, more than we expected by far, and here we are making records now and touring the world,” Jones said. “It’s bananas.”
But it was difficult for Yächtley Crëw to book performances in the beginning since yacht rock wasn’t popular at the time. Venue leaders didn’t think the Crëw’s sound would work with their audiences. Jones recalled trying to book a show at The Viper Room in West Hollywood and having to wait for six months to perform there. But once they did, they were a hit and continued to play there to sold out crowds as a residency act until they outgrew the space.
Yacht rock tunes tend to play well to those familiar with the music as well as audience members finding it for the first time. Jones said younger people are especially being exposed to yacht rock via social media and the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, which has featured that kind of music.
“There’s a genuine love for the music,” he said about why Yächtley Crëw became so popular. “There’s not a lot of people that perform it. It’s also new to a lot of people. The music is good. I think it brings back memories and good times for people of when these songs were released, and I think that the show that we put on is entertaining.”
Most of the songs Yächtley Crëw performs are covers, but the projects the band puts out tend to have one original song for each. The band’s first full length album, Seas The Night (which is coming out Sept. 19), includes the song “Pain Of Losing You” written by legendary songwriter Diane Warren. The song, despite its mournful title, is a smoothly-produced upbeat bop. Yächtley Crëw’s manager ran into Warren, who pitched what she described as the perfect song for the band, according to Jones. And buoy (pun intended), she was right.
“It really fits with the rest of the stuff that we do,” Jones said.
Jones said the band is looking forward to playing a show in Dallas again and seeing the Yächtley Crëw fans in our area.
“For the fans that haven’t seen us, I think it’s definitely worth coming,” Jones said. “If you like the music, you like the era and you like to see a good, fun show, it’s definitely worth the evening. We’ve never had anybody ask for their money back from coming to see our show, and our numbers continue to grow as far as our audience. I can definitely tell you that I think people have a great time coming out and spending the evening with us. It’s all the songs you know and love, and it’s a feel-good time.”
The doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. Granada Theater is located at 3524 Greenville Ave. The total cost of general admission is $41.09, and tickets can be bought here.