Yacht On The Rocks Straight No Chaser

• 1Escape (The Piña Colada Song)03:44
• 2Sailing03:40
• 3Toto (feat. David Paich)04:21
• 4Heart to Heart04:00
• 5What You Won't Do for Love / Just the Two of Us03:04
• 6Biggest Part of Me03:54
• 7Reelin' In the Years03:03
• 8What a Fool Believes03:44
• 9Lovely Day / Back Pocket03:39
• 10After the Love Has Gone04:14
• 11Ride Like the Wind / Steal Away03:51
• 12Easy Lover03:29
• 13Lido Shuffle03:13
• 14Taking It to (Dancing in) the Streets04:25
• Total Runtime52:21

Info for Yacht On The Rocks

"Yacht on the Rocks" is the new full-length album from RIAA certified Gold acapella group Straight No Chaser. The album is a trove of yacht rock classics like "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)," "Sailing," "After The Love Has Gone" and unique mashups including "Waves of Toto" featuring David Paich of Toto. Yacht on the Rocks is produced by Produced by Nicholas Niespodziani, singer, guitarist, and spiritual leader of Yacht Rock Revue. The band sets sail on The Yacht Rock Tour this summer across North America with chart-topping yacht rock pioneers Ambrosia ("How Much I Feel," "Biggest Part of Me," "You're the Only Woman," and "Holdin' on To Yesterday") appearing on select dates.

After years of deftly transforming holiday and pop songs, Straight No Chaser are setting sail into a new chapter of their career. The highly-acclaimed a cappella group, who recently celebrated their 25th anniversary, are branching out into yacht rock.

The nine-piece act – Walter Chase, Jerome Collins, Seggie Isho, Michael Luginbill, Steve Morgan, Jasper Smith, Randy Stine, Tyler Trepp and Freedom Young – came up with the concept for Yacht on the Rocks while on tour. Jerome frequently played yacht rock classics from his dressing room, blaring them into the backstage hallways. It occurred to him that these might be the right type of songs for Straight No Chaser to tackle next.

“I noticed that when most people walked by they were enjoying it and knew the words,” Jerome recalls. “We’d been talking about doing a themed album for awhile, and a light went on – we should make a yacht rock album. People have asked me, ‘What is yacht rock?’ And you’re going to have so many different answers: It’s a style, and it’s a vibe. You can hear yourself on a boat or on the beach, chilling. It’s good time music.”

“We were all singing the songs already backstage,” Seggie adds. “We thought, ‘Why don't we consciously put a track-list together and record this album?’ We want people to relax and have a good time. Listen to some good music and forget everything that's happening.”

Several of the group members – Mike, Freedom, Tyler, Walter and Steve – worked on arrangements for the album. The focus was on songs that evoked the uplifting spirit of yacht rock and that would be an apt showcase for the singers’ collective voices. The LP opens with “Escape (The Piña Colada Song),” which sets the tone for the rest of the album. Other highlights include “What You Won’t Do For Love,” “Sailing,” “Ride Like the Wind,” “Lovely Day” and “TOTO,” which features vocals from Toto co-creator David Paich.

“One of the songs we’re known for is ‘Africa,’” Seggie explains. “That’s a nod to our college days, where it was one of the first songs we’d do at shows. The song has become synonymous with Straight No Chaser. But for THIS album we decided to do a mash-up of Toto songs, which culminates in this big, surprising climax.”

To record the album, Straight No Chaser tapped Nicholas Niespodziani of famed yacht rock band Yacht Rock Revue as the producer. The songs were laid down in Las Vegas, Atlanta andNashville over the past year, marking the first time the group returned to the studio since the pandemic (their last album, Social Christmasing, was recorded virtually). “I don't think there's anyone out there that knows yacht rock better than Nick does, so he was able to really help the arrangers find the right groove for each song,” Seggie notes of working with Niespodziani.

Yacht on the Rocks may see Straight No Chaser embracing a new genre, but the album shares its upbeat vibe and fun, pop sensibility with their previous work. While they’re best-known for their holiday albums and tours, Yacht on the Rocks means they can perform sunshine-filled tracks during the spring, summer and fall.

“We hope this shows off our personalities a bit more, and shows that we listen to and perform more than just Christmas music,” Jerome says. “We love being part of that time of year, but now we're stepping out of our box to show people that now you can listen to us in every season. I can’t wait to perform these songs for both our longtime fans and new ones.”

Originally formed while attending Indiana University in the mid-‘90s, Straight No Chaser has built a flourishing career by focusing on connecting with fans and giving them moments of escapism. After going their separate ways, the group gained new momentum in 2006 when Randy uploaded their 1998 performance of “The 12 Days of Christmas” to YouTube. Over the next decade, the group surpassed a series of remarkable milestones while growing a devoted fan base through extensive touring.

To date, the band has sold more than three million albums worldwide, accumulated ticket sales of over 1.5 million worldwide, and earned 100 million-plus YouTube views and over one billion streams. Alongside their successful headlining tours, the group has performed dozens of major television performances and collaborated with everyone from Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John to Stevie Wonder and Kristen Bell. In addition, two of their eight LPs, Holiday Spirits and Christmas Cheers, have been certified gold.

Straight No Chaser plans to incorporate the songs from Yacht on the Rocks into their live setlists going forward, without forsaking the beloved tunes that have brought them here. The album represents a group of genuine friends who continue to love every moment of their unexpected musical career.

“I couldn't imagine wanting to do anything else and, hopefully, I don't have to imagine doing anything else,” Seggie says. “People have now been coming to see us for a decade and it’s a tradition in their lives. We’ve watched families grow. The fans are the reason we exist and the reason we get to try cool new things, like venture into yacht rock. We owe everything to them.” “The saying is, if you love what you do you never work a day in your life and we don’t take that for granted,” Jerome adds. “We're living a dream that we never thought would happen. And we’re just scratching the surface. We still have so much more to go.”

Straight No Chaser

Straight No Chaser
If the phrase “male a cappella group” conjures up an image of students in blue blazers, ties, and khakis singing traditional college songs on ivied campuses… think again. Straight No Chaser (SNC) are neither strait-laced nor straight-faced, but neither are they vaudeville-style kitsch. As original member Randy Stine comments, “We take the music very seriously; we just don’t take ourselves too seriously.” In the process, they are reinventing the idea of a cappella on the modern pop landscape.

Originally formed over a dozen years ago while students together at Indiana University, the group has reassembled and reemerged as a phenomenon - with a massive fanbase, more than 20 million views on YouTube, numerous national TV appearances, and proven success with two holiday releases, 2008’s HOLIDAY SPIRITS and 2009’s CHRISTMAS CHEERS as well as WITH A TWIST, released this spring. In an era when so much pop music is the product of digital processing and vocal pro-tooling, Straight No Chaser is the real deal - the captivating sound of ten unadulterated human voices coming together to make extraordinary music that is moving people in a fundamental sense… and with a sense of humor. WITH A TWIST marked Straight No Chaser’s first full-length departure from holiday music, and marked the group’s highest debut on the Billboard 200 to date, at #29. Christmas, however, has been good for SNC. The group's 2008 debut, HOLIDAY SPIRITS, hit No. 4 on Billboard's Top Holiday Albums chart and spent two weeks in the No. 1 slot on Amazon and five days atop the iTunes sales chart. Its version of "The 12 Days of Christmas," which incorporates Toto's "Africa," went Top 5 on the Adult Contemporary chart and was Top 10 on the Christmas radio chart. The subsequent CHRISTMAS CHEERS in 2009 was No. 6 Top Holiday Albums and rolled into the Billboard 200 at No. 38, while "The Christmas Can-Can" kicked its way to No. 18 on the Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.

This fall, Straight No Chaser bundled the albums HOLIDAY SPIRITS and CHRISTMAS CHEERS with a never-before-commercially released DVD, “Live In New York: Holiday Edition” to create ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS, a 2-CD and DVD box set.

On the road, Straight No Chaser has built a reputation as an unforgettable live act. By the end of 2010, the group will have sold more than 225,000 tickets to 160 shows, more than half of which sold out in advance. Over the summer, the group held a hugely successful residency at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, where they performed 40 shows in 8 weeks. Although the constant traveling takes its toll, the members of SNC maintain that every night, the direct connection with their fans reinvigorates them.

Even after all the success, the members of Straight No Chaser don’t take anything for granted: “To think that the ten of us could go our separate ways after college, start professional lives, and then commit to putting SNC back together after all these years is nothing short of a minor miracle,” said original member Charlie Mechling. “With each opportunity to perform that comes our way, we are reminded of how fortunate and blessed we are to be able to do what we love to do."

The group originally came together in the fall of 1996 at IU, basically as "10 guys who happened to be good friends who also liked to sing." Choosing the members carefully for personality as well as vocal talent - Stine, Mechling, Jerome Collins, David Roberts and Walter Chase remain from the original lineup -- SNC set itself apart from other a cappella groups with its contemporary repertoire and dynamic approach, quickly headlining concerts both in Bloomington and on road dates. SNC recorded three independent albums, and John Mellencamp even invited the group to his home for a private performance.

When the founders began graduating in 1999 and went on to jobs mostly outside of music, they chose replacements and established SNC as an ongoing group on campus with future generations of ambitious IU undergrads. More than 50 members have passed through the group's ranks so far. Such was the impact SNC made at IU that the school hosted a 10th anniversary reunion show for the original lineup in 2006, and when Stine posted clips from a 1998 concert on YouTube, SNC's fan base grew exponentially. In 2007 alone, the group's version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" was viewed more than seven million times. Today that number has surpassed 11 million, and the group’s cumulative YouTube views clock in at more than 25 million.

Among those viewers was Atlantic Chairman/CEO Craig Kallman, who found SNC's music "brilliant, fresh and totally compelling." Kallman e-mailed Stine, who initially thought it was a prank but thought otherwise when he was whisked to Los Angeles to meet with the label chief. A few days later, the entire group was in New York City to sign its recording deal. The current incarnation of SNC includes later members of the group, including Michael Luginbill, Seggie Isho, Don Nottingham, and Tyler Trepp. "A music career was definitely not on my radar; getting the guys back together, not just for someone’s wedding or bachelor party, but to spend the majority of the year together touring and recording, is a dream come true." Stine says. "I pinch myself all the time and hope it continues and becomes a longstanding career."

This album contains no booklet.