Bishop Allen
Encyclopedia
Bishop Allen is an American
indie rock
band from Brooklyn
, New York
. The band's core members are Justin Rice
and Christian Rudder
, who are supported both on stage and in the studio by a rotating cast of musical collaborators. The band was formed in 2003 and grew out of Rice and Rudder's friendship; it takes its name from Bishop Allen Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts
, where the two lived together after attending Harvard University.
Bishop Allen has released three albums and 12 EP
s; their second album, The Broken String
, was released in July 2007 and their most recent album, Grrr...
, was released in March 2009.
's punk/indie program, Record Hospital
. The two formed a hardcore punk
band called The Pissed Officers and self-released two split records with the then Boston-based Casio
-core duo Gerty Farish. Rudder also played briefly in a Devo
tribute band with members of Gerty Farish, Fat Day
and Trollin Withdrawal
. Some years later Rudder and Rice took up residence at a house in Virginia
where they recorded the music for their first album as Bishop Allen.
and supplementary drums by Coll Anderson, all added in the album's final stages, completed the songs.
After the album was finished, Ms. Schiff-Glenn and Margaret Miller were recruited to play with Bishop Allen live, and their pictures were then featured on Charm School' s back cover. Jack Delamitraux and Christian Owens
later joined the band on the tours supporting Charm Schools release.
The record came out in May 2003 and received many favorable reviews, most notably from Rolling Stone
and NPR
's Weekend Edition. The album was released under the band's own Champagne School imprint.
The project began when Rice and Rudder stumbled upon a discarded piano, dragged it into their rehearsal studio and, refreshed by the sounds the keyboard added to their repertoire, put their old works-in-progress aside and began writing new songs. They soon began recording this new material, and by the time the January EP was completed on January 25, 2006, they had decided on doing one each month for the rest of the year. The January EP begins with the song "Corazon", celebrating the rescue of the piano, and features a piano on the cover.
All 12 EPs were self-released and sold primarily through the band's website. The covers of the EPs, which reflect the homespun aesthetic of the music inside, were designed by Darbie Nowatka, who also sang lead vocal on a few recordings and often joins the band on stage.
Bishop Allen collaborated with many musicians over the year, including the above-mentioned Delamitraux and Owens, Jon Natchez, and Kelly Pratt
. Cully Symington
began playing with the band in September and has become their regular drummer.
"History of Excuses" from the March EP was used in an episode ("My Turf War") of NBC's Scrubs
.
"A Tiny Fold" from the May EP was used in the April 28, 2008 episode (MoveOn.Cartwrights) of ABC Family's Greek
.
and Jagjaguwar
. They began recording a new record that January, at Blackwatch Studios in Norman, Oklahoma, and delivered it two months later. The album, Bishop Allen & the Broken String
, was Bishop Allen's first true studio recording and was released by Dead Oceans on July 24, 2007. It includes nine re-recordings of songs from the EP project, as well as three new songs.
, the film director, and they have both starred in his films.
Christian played the male lead, Alex, in Bujalski's first film, 2002's Funny Ha Ha
, and Justin starred in Mutual Appreciation
, in which his character, Allen, fronts a band called the Bumblebees and plays a Bishop Allen song on-screen. Rice also stars in the new indie film opening in several cities starting December 5, 2008 called Let Them Chirp Awhile
, written and directed by Jonathan Blitstein
.
The band appeared in the 2008 film adaptation of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band from Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The band's core members are Justin Rice
Justin Rice
-Music career:Since 2001, he has played guitar for indie rock band Bishop Allen. He also co-wrote the music for the documentary The Bully Project with band-mate Christian Rudder.-Movie career:...
and Christian Rudder
Christian Rudder
Christian Rudder is an American musician, humorist, and entrepreneur.Rudder is primarily known as the creative voice of TheSpark.com, which was the viral content arm of SparkNotes during the site's early rise to popularity...
, who are supported both on stage and in the studio by a rotating cast of musical collaborators. The band was formed in 2003 and grew out of Rice and Rudder's friendship; it takes its name from Bishop Allen Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, where the two lived together after attending Harvard University.
Bishop Allen has released three albums and 12 EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
s; their second album, The Broken String
The Broken String
Bishop Allen and the Broken String is the second full length album by the indie rock group Bishop Allen. It was released on July 24, 2007.Ten of the twelve tracks are re-workings of selections from the 12 EP project the band did in 2006.-Track listing:...
, was released in July 2007 and their most recent album, Grrr...
Grrr...
Grrr... is the third full length album by the indie rock group Bishop Allen. It was released on March 10, 2009. It is the follow-up to their 2007 album, The Broken String.-Track listing:#"Dimmer" – 2:46#"The Lion & the Teacup" – 3:01...
, was released in March 2009.
Pre-Bishop Allen
Rice and Rudder attended Harvard University where they were DJs on WHRBWHRB
WHRB is a commercial FM radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It broadcasts at 95.3 MHz and is operated by students at Harvard College.-History:...
's punk/indie program, Record Hospital
Record Hospital
Record Hospital is the underground rock department on the Boston-area radio station, WHRB 95.3 FM. Harvard undergraduates and alums serve as the department's DJs and hold administrative positions within the department such as Music Director. "Departments" at WHRB refer to a group of members who...
. The two formed a hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band called The Pissed Officers and self-released two split records with the then Boston-based Casio
Casio
is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
-core duo Gerty Farish. Rudder also played briefly in a Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
tribute band with members of Gerty Farish, Fat Day
Fat Day
Fat Day is a Boston-based noisecore band. Formed in Cambridge, MA in 1992 , they were associated with bands like Swirlies, Kudgel, and Trollin Withdrawal who formed the core of the Boston chimp rock scene. Fat Day released three LPs and several EPs on their own 100% Breakfast! label, as well as an...
and Trollin Withdrawal
Trollin Withdrawal
Trollin Withdrawal were a band from Boston, Massachusetts that existed between 1992 and 1995, whose lo-fi musical style had its roots in indie rock, classic rock and hip hop music...
. Some years later Rudder and Rice took up residence at a house in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
where they recorded the music for their first album as Bishop Allen.
Charm School
Charm School was Bishop Allen's first record. Recorded in fits and starts over two years, it grew song-by-song as Rice and Rudder wrote and played in their spare time. They recorded all the instruments on the album's 13 songs themselves, using drum loops to hide the fact that neither is a drummer, and almost everything on the record was recorded one track at a time in an ordinary bedroom. Backing vocals by Bonnie Schiff-Glenn and Kate DollenmayerKate Dollenmayer
Debuting as lead actor in the 2002 film Funny Ha Ha by Andrew Bujalski, Kate Dollenmayer also made a brief appearance in Bujalski's 2005 film "Mutual Appreciation".-External links:...
and supplementary drums by Coll Anderson, all added in the album's final stages, completed the songs.
After the album was finished, Ms. Schiff-Glenn and Margaret Miller were recruited to play with Bishop Allen live, and their pictures were then featured on Charm School
Christian Owens
Christian Owens is an English Internet entrepreneur. He founded the internet advertising network Branchr, in January 2009...
later joined the band on the tours supporting Charm Schools release.
The record came out in May 2003 and received many favorable reviews, most notably from Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
and NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Weekend Edition. The album was released under the band's own Champagne School imprint.
The EP project
In 2006, Bishop Allen recorded and released an EP every month of the year. Each record was titled for the month of its release (January, February, and so on), and, with the exception of August, which was a 14-song live disc, each contained four new studio songs.The project began when Rice and Rudder stumbled upon a discarded piano, dragged it into their rehearsal studio and, refreshed by the sounds the keyboard added to their repertoire, put their old works-in-progress aside and began writing new songs. They soon began recording this new material, and by the time the January EP was completed on January 25, 2006, they had decided on doing one each month for the rest of the year. The January EP begins with the song "Corazon", celebrating the rescue of the piano, and features a piano on the cover.
All 12 EPs were self-released and sold primarily through the band's website. The covers of the EPs, which reflect the homespun aesthetic of the music inside, were designed by Darbie Nowatka, who also sang lead vocal on a few recordings and often joins the band on stage.
Bishop Allen collaborated with many musicians over the year, including the above-mentioned Delamitraux and Owens, Jon Natchez, and Kelly Pratt
Kelly Pratt (musician)
Kelly Pratt is a multi-instrumentalist best known for his brass work in the bands Beirut and Arcade Fire.-Biography:Born in Lexington, KY, Pratt has been a member of Beirut since the band's relocation to Brooklyn, playing in the live band and on the recordings...
. Cully Symington
Cully Symington
Cully Symington is an American drummer. He currently plays for Okkervil River and Cursive.Additionally, he has toured and recorded with many artists such as The Gutter Twins, The Twilight Singers, Roky Erikson, Bishop Allen and My Jerusalem. He also can be seen playing the drums in the film Nick...
began playing with the band in September and has become their regular drummer.
"History of Excuses" from the March EP was used in an episode ("My Turf War") of NBC's Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
.
"A Tiny Fold" from the May EP was used in the April 28, 2008 episode (MoveOn.Cartwrights) of ABC Family's Greek
Greek (TV series)
Greek is an American comedy-drama television series, which follows students of the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University , located in Ohio, who participate in the school's Greek system...
.
The Broken String
In November 2006, Bishop Allen signed to Dead Oceans, a new sister label to Secretly CanadianSecretly Canadian
Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana. It was started in 1996 by Chris and Ben Swanson, Eric Weddle, and Jonathan Cargill. Their first release was a re-issue of an album by June Panic...
and Jagjaguwar
Jagjaguwar
Jagjaguwar is an indie rock record label based in Bloomington, Indiana.-History:In 1996, in Charlottesville, Virginia, friends of Darius Van Arman who performed in a band under the moniker The Curious Digit had just recorded a new album, but they were signed to no label...
. They began recording a new record that January, at Blackwatch Studios in Norman, Oklahoma, and delivered it two months later. The album, Bishop Allen & the Broken String
The Broken String
Bishop Allen and the Broken String is the second full length album by the indie rock group Bishop Allen. It was released on July 24, 2007.Ten of the twelve tracks are re-workings of selections from the 12 EP project the band did in 2006.-Track listing:...
, was Bishop Allen's first true studio recording and was released by Dead Oceans on July 24, 2007. It includes nine re-recordings of songs from the EP project, as well as three new songs.
Other projects
Justin and Christian's roommate at the Cambridge apartment that gave the band its name was Andrew BujalskiAndrew Bujalski
Andrew Bujalski, born April 29, 1977 in Boston, Massachusetts, is an American film director, screenwriter and actor, who has been called the "Godfather of Mumblecore."- Bio :...
, the film director, and they have both starred in his films.
Christian played the male lead, Alex, in Bujalski's first film, 2002's Funny Ha Ha
Funny Ha Ha
Funny ha ha, considered the first mumblecore film, follows the exploits of recently graduated protagonist Marnie as she tries to find a temporary job and win the attention of a college friend named Alex , while trying to cut down on her beer consumption...
, and Justin starred in Mutual Appreciation
Mutual Appreciation
Mutual Appreciation is an independent film by Andrew Bujalski who previously directed Funny Ha Ha . The script is primarily dialogue between a group of young people as they try to determine where they fit in the world. It is considered part of the mumblecore movement.-Plot:The principal characters...
, in which his character, Allen, fronts a band called the Bumblebees and plays a Bishop Allen song on-screen. Rice also stars in the new indie film opening in several cities starting December 5, 2008 called Let Them Chirp Awhile
Let Them Chirp Awhile
Let Them Chirp Awhile is a 2007 independent drama-comedy by Jonathan Blitstein, filmed in just eighteen days in New York during October 2006. The film was produced by Anouk Frosch and Jonathan Blitstein. It was photographed by Andrew Shulkind. The release began December 5, 2008 in select...
, written and directed by Jonathan Blitstein
Jonathan Blitstein
Jonathan Blitstein is an American playwright, and indie filmmaker. He is known for his indie film Let Them Chirp Awhile and his acclaimed play Keep Your Baggage With You for which he won the New York Innovative Theater Award...
.
The band appeared in the 2008 film adaptation of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Sollett and starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. Written by Lorene Scafaria and based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the story tells of teenagers Nick and Norah , who meet when...
.
In the media
- "Click, Click, Click, Click" (from The Broken String) was featured in the movie No Strings Attached, an episode of the short-lived CWThe CW Television NetworkThe CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
sitcom Aliens in America, in an episode of college drama/comedy GreekGreek (TV series)Greek is an American comedy-drama television series, which follows students of the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University , located in Ohio, who participate in the school's Greek system...
, and in a SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
camera ad. It is also featured as the song played during the credits in Burton Snowboards' 2010 movie, "The B" and one of Colton Killoran's longboarding videos.
- "Middle Management" is part of the Major League Baseball 2K7Major League Baseball 2K7Major League Baseball 2K7 is a Major League Baseball licensed baseball simulation video game developed by Kush Games and published by 2K Sports. Released on February 27, 2007, it is the only 2007 MLB licensed game available for the Xbox 360 and Xbox...
soundtrack. It is also featured in the trailer for Nick and Norah's Infinite PlaylistNick and Norah's Infinite PlaylistNick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Sollett and starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. Written by Lorene Scafaria and based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the story tells of teenagers Nick and Norah , who meet when...
, and the band is shown in the trailer and in the film.
- "Don't Hide Away" was featured on the episode of Chuck (TV series)Chuck (TV series)Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...
. "Chuck Versus The Ring: Part 2"
- "You'll Never Find My Christmas" was featured in one of TargetTarget CorporationTarget Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
's 2010 Christmas commercials for the season.
Discography
- Charm School (2003)
- 12 EPs (2006) (One for each month)
- The Broken StringThe Broken StringBishop Allen and the Broken String is the second full length album by the indie rock group Bishop Allen. It was released on July 24, 2007.Ten of the twelve tracks are re-workings of selections from the 12 EP project the band did in 2006.-Track listing:...
(Dead OceansDead OceansDead Oceans is an independent record label based jointly in Bloomington, Indiana and Austin, Texas. The label has a small, but powerful roster of well-known acts including Akron/Family, John Vanderslice, Califone, Phosphorescent, Bishop Allen, Casey Dienel's band White Hinterland, Bowerbirds, and...
, 2007) - Grrr...Grrr...Grrr... is the third full length album by the indie rock group Bishop Allen. It was released on March 10, 2009. It is the follow-up to their 2007 album, The Broken String.-Track listing:#"Dimmer" – 2:46#"The Lion & the Teacup" – 3:01...
(Dead OceansDead OceansDead Oceans is an independent record label based jointly in Bloomington, Indiana and Austin, Texas. The label has a small, but powerful roster of well-known acts including Akron/Family, John Vanderslice, Califone, Phosphorescent, Bishop Allen, Casey Dienel's band White Hinterland, Bowerbirds, and...
, 2009)http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/146789-bishop-allen-plan-november-tour-new-album