All aboard: Yächtley Crëw brings its smooth melody covers and laid-back originals to Revel ABQ

What began as a fun hobby soon surged into a full-fledged career for yacht rockers Yächtley Crëw.

The band, which performs yacht rock originals and covers that became popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, began as a tongue-in-cheek idea of playing a handful of shows at local lounges. Almost eight years later, the band is playing large venues around the country, including a residency in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band will play Revel ABQ on Friday, Jan. 17.

“When we put it together, we thought it would just be kind of a fun thing, because everybody else had other musical (or) different endeavors, you know, jobs,” said Rob Jones, who goes by Sailor Hawkins on stage and is the Yächtley Crëw drummer. “We had other bands that we were kind of doing or some people were doing some acting and so it was just a side thing now and then that quickly took off, and then everything else started to become a side thing. And now there’s no time for anything else, so now it’s our full-time thing.”

Yächtley Crëw “grew legs” stronger than the band could have imagined. The band’s first two shows were in moderate venues with a capacity of about 300 people. Each of the shows were sold out.

“People were drawn to the advertisement and the way we were dressed,” Jones said. “It wasn’t so much silly, it was serious, but there was a theme about it, and people started to embrace that, and they came dressed with captain’s hats on.”

The band’s fans are similar to Jimmy Buffett’s fan base, who call themselves Parrotheads, according to Jones.

“They’re all involved,” Jones said. “We were fortunate enough to strike that chord with so many people, and it continues to just grow to this day.”

Original yacht rock musicians have reached out and performed with Yächtley Crëw.

“A couple of the artists have come up and played with us that were in these bands or singers,” Jones said. “Peter Beckett, who was a songwriter and singer for the band Player, has come up with us a few times and sang. Elliot Lurie, the singer and the songwriter for the song, ‘Brandy,’ he’s come up on stage with us a couple of times and played with us. We’ve been pretty fortunate.”

Yächtley Crëw made an appearance in the recently released HBO documentary, “Music Box: Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary,” which features several yacht rock artists including Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross and some members of the band Toto.

“We were fortunate enough to be invited to the premiere of that just about a month ago,” Jones said. “We spoke and met with a bunch of these guys. A lot of artists of the genre (initially) didn’t really embrace the yacht rock term, and we didn’t create the term, but it certainly seems like now they’ve kind of embraced it.”

Most of the bands knew of Yächtley Crëw and what they do, according to Jones.

“They’re not mad at what we’re doing, I mean, we’re keeping the torch lit,” Jones said. “Other bands are doing it too. But I gotta say, we definitely started something and there’s a lot of copycats now coming down the tube. It’s crazy. It’s flattering, but it’s annoying at the same time.”

Yächtley Crëw is currently working on a new album and its past projects have seen success. It released its first album, “Seas The Day” on Jimmy Buffett’s record label and toured to promote the album for more than a year. The band recently signed with Earache Records and released the holiday tune, “It’s Christmas Time” a few months ago.

The band is currently in the studio working on its new album, “Seas The Night,” to be released in the spring. The band is working with Chris Lord-Alge, a Grammy Award-winning recording engineer and producer, as well as famous and multi-award winning songwriter, Diane Warren.

“We just actually cut (a song) called ‘Pain of Losing You’ that’s going to be on the record, along with a few other yacht rock classics, and it’s really exciting because we started this for fun, and now we’re fortunate enough to have this great team and other people that want to work with us,” Jones said.

The band recently played back-to-back sold out shows in Sacramento, California.

“Sometimes I wake up and I just look around and I think I can’t believe what’s happening with all of us,” Jones said. “We’re so fortunate with this team of people that we have. We have the greatest managers, booking agents, publicists. Our record company is so supportive. Our producers, songwriters that are working with us, we’ve had some special guests on our record that played with Elton John and a couple of others that want to be part of what we’re doing. It’s unbelievable. When I wake up, I can’t believe this is my life right now.”