Breaking: Bishop Allen

Who: A Brooklyn-based indie pop band fronted by two Harvard alums — singer-keyboardist Justin Rice and multi-instrumentalist Christian Rudder. The pair met in a mandatory English class in the mid-Nineties and formed a punk band called the Pissed Officers before starting up Bishop Allen, which they named after a Cambridge street. In 2006, the group put out an EP per month, and their third full-length, Grrr ... is due in March.

Sounds Like: A blend of Los Campesinos! and Yo La Tengo with a twee-folk vibe. The band's literary influences, like Jorge Luis Borges and G.K. Chesterton, is evident on songs like Grrr ...'s "The Ancient Common Sense of Things." "There's something cool about writing songs. You think, 'Yesterday, this song didn't exist but now it does,' " Rice says of the songwriting process. "But there's something gratifying about playing shows because that you think 'That thing I made in my room, these people appreciate it and they'll give me a high-five.' "

Vital Stats:

• Moviegoers might recognize Bishop Allen from their appearance in last autumn's hipstertastic Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist, where they performed their song "Middle Management." Rice and Rudder are no strangers to the silver screen: Rice recently starred in the indie film Let Them Chirp Away, while Rudder appeared in 2005's Funny Ha Ha.

• The band has been married to the road in recent years. Rice admits, "We make enough money if we play every night to just keep going, but if we ever stop we'll be broke." The band stopped touring long enough to record their new album, using obscure studio equipment like a 1950s Magnerecorder while recording with Bryce Goggin, who has worked with Apples in Stereo, Pavement and Luna.

• Bishop Allen have had their share of awkward concerts. "We've had a show where the band that played before us unplugged all the power in the club because they wanted to beat us up or something," Rice says. "They got evicted forcibly by the bouncers. Then we played a Christmas party in a guy's living room in Ohio that was for 55 year olds and their 12-year-old kids, and they were wearing holiday sweaters and eating pigs-in-blankets." While it took Bishop Allen 10 hours to drive to that ill-fated living room show, it was their highest-paying gig at the time.

Hear It Now: Grrr ... is due March 10th, but you can pre-order the album now over at the band's official site. In the meantime, check out our exclusive Breaking video with Bishop Allen playing their new cut "The Ancient Common Sense of Things" acoustic for the first time.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

More Song Stories entries »

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