Boat

"Boat" is the name of several rock bands: a Seattle indie-pop band (BOAT) and a Japanese post-rock band (BOaT).

1. BOAT is a band about stories. BOAT is a band about stories about dinosaurs, quirk, real-life, baseball, blisters, punctuation, and the ferocious sounds of lobsters and snakes. See, these things are all details that make up the boys of BOAT, a band begun as a basement dream of one David Crane (let's call him D.) that spiraled into one of the most resourceful, most imaginative bands in Seattle. And details count.

D. Crane moved to Seattle in 2004 after a miserable stint as a schoolteacher in Chicago, a life nugget that introduced many of the memorable BOAT songs to the world. Armed with stories from his inside scoop of the windy city, D. Crane rounded up good friends, cheap equipment, a few burritos, plenty ofdiet soda, and set off, full-steam ahead.

BOAT began taking shape with the release of "Life is a Shipwreck" and "After All", two albums with handmade art that provided the band with papercuts and many trips to Kinkos. Worth it. The band started selling out of their personalized records once they started playing shows around the northwest, and folks from Vancouver, BC to San Francisco started to take notice.

The band then released two full-lengths, "Songs That You Might Not Like" in 2006, with the follow-up being "Let's Drag Our Feet" in 2007, to critical acclaim. A 7.4 on Pitchfork.com here, a song on NPR's "Song of the Day" podcast there. Things were looking up for BOAT.

Enter the present day. In June 2008, BOAT released "Topps", a 7-inch EP of sorts, dealing with issues of, you guessed it, baseball. The band decided to go old-fashioned on us with this one, including a piece of chalky bubble gum and hand-drawn baseball cards in every package. The release was a success, even garnering a mention on majorleaguebaseball.com. Root for the hometeam!

Although D. Crane is the mastermind of this mighty vessel, he has some solid mates to back him up these days. Jackson Long resides behind the drum kit, only to pop up and surprise you with his recording and producing skills—he produced "Topps" and this latest LP "Setting the Paces." Next up we have Mark McKenzie, a man of mystery who plays McCartney-esque bass and guitar while doing little jigs. And then there's Josh Goodman. You name it, Josh plays it: tambourines, shakers, bells, keyboards, and guitar hooks. While the lineup shrinks, divides, and grows at times, these four fine men make a heck of a team.

What's next for the band? The release of "Setting The Paces" October 27th on the Portland label Magic Marker. D. Crane says it best in a song from "Topps": "I've got ideas that no one's even dreamed yet." Lucky us. We're along for the ride.



2. The Japanese band BOaT combined various musical styles such as post-rock and punk. After the release of the critically acclaimed record “RORO”, they disbanded, with several members going on to form the instrumental progressive hardcore jazz rock group Natsumen.


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