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Contributed photo.
By Kate Watkins, Contributing Writer
HAMLIN TWP. – Don your favorite boating shoes and grab your captain’s hat because Yachtley Crew is coming to perform some of the most popular yacht rock songs at Stix Bar, 1963 N. Lakeshore Dr., Saturday, June 28.
The seven member group is currently touring the United States and its members are excited to bring their show to Ludington.
“When we got together, we weren’t sure if we’d play three songs and be booed off stage,” guitarist Thomas Gardner Jr., aka Tommy Buoy, said. “We really didn’t know how the audience would take us, but our love for the genre was confirmed when we saw how other people also had a love for this music.”
The band started when two of the members, drummer Rob Jones, aka Sailor Hawkins, and bassist Chaz Ruiz, aka Baba Buoy, were sitting in a hot tub with their wives, listening to the Sirius XM Yacht Rock station and thought it would be a fun idea to start a band dedicated to yacht rock and the yacht rock genre.
“The guys put out an ad on Craigslist and I answered it,” Gardner said. “I typed in ‘yacht rock’ just seeing if anyone was doing anything in the genre and their ad came up and the weird thing was they were holding rehearsals within walking distance from my house. The two other guitarists who were supposed to audition were no-shows, so I took it as the universe saying this was your gig.”
Gardener’s sister was friends with vocalist, Phillip Daniel, aka Philly Ocean, so he was recruited, and an ad was put on Facebook, looking for a saxophone player. Paul Pete, aka Pauly Shores, answered.
“We basically all met through the Internet,” Gardner said.
Backing vocalist, Curt Clendenin, aka Stoney Shores, rounded out the original six members.
The band has been performing since 2017 with six of the current seven members. Keyboardist Matt Grossman, aka Matthew McDonald, then joined the band three years ago, making Yachtley Crew the seven members it is today.
“We’re not just a bunch of dudes on stage playing these songs,” Gardner stated. “There are a lot of great musicians out there and anyone can go up play the songs. We really focus on putting on a show.”
Bassist, Chaz Ruiz, aka Baba Buoy, is a huge fan of the rock and roll band KISS. Gardner said that Ruiz always said they needed to be the “KISS of soft rock.”
“This really means we need to be larger than life, having the lightning,” Gardner said. “We do banter and we have choreography. It’s really a rock and roll show and we do try to amplify the songs as well, while also staying faithful to the originals.”
Yachtley Crew just returned from its first international tour, where the band traveled to Australia to perform a series of shows. The band also performed on Bravo TV’s “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen”, has a residency in Las Vegas at the Palms and has appeared on the HBO documentary, “Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary.”
The band’s new album “Seas the Night” will be released on Sept.18, 2025 and its new, original single, “Pain of Losing You” was just released June 18.
“People who are thinking about coming out to the show need to come out and see one of the best shows you’ve ever seen in terms of entertainment and faithfulness to the original songs,” Gardner said. “You’re going to need to be doing your vocal warmups because you’re gonna be singing along to all of the songs that you didn’t even remember you knew all the words to.”
The band members encourage audience members to come dressed in yacht rock attire, whether it be a captain’s hat or a full pirate costume.
“The audience is really part of the show, Gardner said. “We’ve had people come dressed as the cast of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” and we even had some people show up as a lobster and a shrimp. It’s just wild to see what people come up with.”
Tickets to the show are available through the Stix Bar Facebook page and prices start around $33. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m.
“We always say we take the music seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously,” Gardner said. “We are really paying respect to all the legends who wrote all of these great songs.”
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