Get to Know: Creaky Boards
Creaky Boards creates catchy vaudeville pop and argues with Coldplay. What else do you want?
New York is considered to be one of the hippest states in the US, and for good reason. From trendy stores and restaurants to a consistently creative atmosphere, it seems like the state is unstoppable. The band Creaky Boards embodies that same determined spirit of their state. Creaky Boards began in 2004 within the New York antifolk scene and evolved into the melodic, sanguine act that they are today. The band has gone through many transformations in line-up and sound, but Andrew Hoepfner has always been the rock within Creaky Boards. From folk-punk to vaudevillian garage rock, Hoepfner has never been afraid to experiment with his sound. Creaky Boards' 2005 release Where's the Sunshine? features the band playing between their antifolk roots and their new direction of 50s and 60s pop rock. Their current sound is a little Brian Wilson and a little vaudevillian piano rock which is featured best on future release Brooklyn is Love, set to debut in October. The tracks, which are available to prSeview on the band's MySpace, profile their love for Brooklyn and New York City with such poppy goodness that it makes even the most dangerous neighborhoods seems like Candy Land.
Creaky Boards sprouted up on the music blog circuit in recent months because of a certain incident with Coldplay's Chris Martin. On Brooklyn is Love there is a song named "The Songs I Didn't Write", which has an uncanny similarity to Coldplay's "Viva La Vida". The Creaky Boards song, about the great songs that we listen to that we wish we would've written, was created and performed previous to anything recorded for the new Coldplay album Viva La Vida. The situation is fishy at best and of course Chris Martin's people have denied any similarity, but if you play each song side by side, the resemblance is definitely there. Hoepfner's response video to the incident, which can be easily found on YouTube, not only highlights this but is also quite funny. No offense to Mr. Martin, but the Creaky Boards version is musically more interesting and not about the Crusades, giving it some bonus points. Who really cares about the Crusades anymore?
This week's single "Brooklyn", off of Brooklyn is Love, is the perfect ode to the New York borough. With old-fashioned trumpets ushering the song forward accompanied by a vaudeville piano, the song makes Brooklyn sound like the best place to live. It's a great representation of Creaky Boards as well with its upbeat tempo and old-school influences. The breakdown within "Brooklyn" has this swing music quality to it, low trumpets and snaps bringing the song to Hoepfner's question to Brooklyn "Will you love me forever or will you kill me now?" Let's hope for love.
Posted by Amy Dittmeier on Aug 12, 2008 @ 11:06 am
