BY DAISY SCHMITT

In print | Published December 4, 2008

The stone-lined insides of Olde Club sparked alive two weeks ago with the vibrantly catchy sounds of Bishop Allen, the Brooklyn-based indie pop band whose music is infectious, youthful and intimately warm. Citing The Beatles, The Kinks and The Zombies as major influences, Bishop Allen values the beauty of well-crafted pop songs that rock hard—songs that are, in lead singer Justin Rice’s own words, “energetic, handcrafted [and] homegrown.” Incorporating less conventional instruments like the ukulele, xylophone and melodica into their sound, Bishop Allen’s songs are brilliantly short and sweet, evoking lovely imagery and good vibrations.

The success of the show came as no surprise to those in charge of its coordination. “Bishop Allen delivered the goods, as expected,” Olde Club Booking Director Charlie Decker ’09 said. “I watched most of their set from the balcony, and it was really great to see Olde Club so packed and everyone having such a great time.” As Rice wobbled on spindly legs and stomped his feet across the stage, his pseudo-dance moves inspired both long-time fans and newcomers to dance along with him. “Dancing to Bishop Allen, I was having the time of my life,” Molly Siegel ’12 said. “I had only heard one song by Bishop Allen before, but I instantly loved them in concert.” During the encore, Kate Dollenmayer emerged from behind her xylophone and took to the microphone, charming all with the darling and whimsical song “Butterfly Nets.”

A band that thrives on the camaraderie between its two core, founding members, Bishop Allen take their name from the street on which Rice and leading guitarist Christian Rudder used to live. “We lived together there with a lot of other guys, and it was really fun,” Rice said. “We actually named the band after we moved out, in honor of that place.” As undergrads, Rudder and Rice attended Harvard together, where the dynamic duo spun records as disc jockeys at the university’s radio station. “Christian and I were friends for a long time. We both worked at the radio station and had a radio show together,” Rice said, explaining the band’s beginnings. “And we were actually in a band together called The Pissed Officers, which was like a really fast punk rock band—we played 17 songs in seven minutes.”

Branching away from their punk roots and joining up with a rotating cast of collaborators, Rice and Rudder started off recording on four-tracks using an adopted shabby-looking piano that they rescued from a sidewalk. “There was something about it where it was kind of beat up, and it was a little bit … croaky, and just like it had lived through a lot. It was just sitting there and it was like, begging to be played,” Rice said. After wheeling it back to their practice space, Rice and Rudder set course to learn the ins and outs of the instrument that would soon drive the band’s melodies. “Corazan was the first song we wrote on the piano,” Rice explained.

Flash forward several years, Bishop Allen still has the piano but has grown so big that directors approach them for permission to use their music in films, as did Peter Sollet for his recent blockbuster “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” The band wasn’t expecting the grandeur of a real Hollywood film, assuming it would be more like Sollet’s less known indie flick “Meeting Victor Vargas.” “It turned out to be, you know, like, a Michael Cera comedy with a bigger budget and a broader field than we ever expected,” Rice said. “The actual process of filming it was great, and I think it just helps more people know who our band is.”

Hopping that their newfound fame will introduce even more music-lovers to the charming piano power pop melodies of Bishop Allen, the band is set to release their third full-length album, tentatively titled “Grrr…” this Februrary, so keep your eyes peeled, your ears opened and your toes poised to dance to the keys and strings of Bishop Allen’s shabby and intimate piano rock.

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