Light Up Electric Forest
The Crane Wives’ story is both charming and unlikely. Grand Valley State University students and aspiring musicians Kate Pillsbury and Emilee Petersmark worked at the same Chinese restaurant where they began performing on Friday nights under the moniker The Crane Wives. Soon after Tom Gunnels (banjo), Dan Rickabus (drums/vocals) and Ben Zito (bass) joined forces with Pillsbury and Petersmark, The Crane Wives as we now know them were formed.
According to Gunnels, at first the project was just an escape from school and a musical outlet. They started by playing open mics at venues like Founder’s in Grand Rapids and were met with an overwhelmingly positive response.
Even now, after having received attention on a national level from the likes of Paste magazine and having played several shows in many different areas, Gunnels says, “We have not played a show that compares to any show that we’ve played at Founders. The crowd and the energy is just amazing.” (His favorite beer? The Imperial Stout.)
Once forming, the five quickly began working on an album, which was recorded by Rickabus and Zito (both of whom majored in audio production at GVSU) and largely funded by fans through Kickstarter.
“We couldn’t have taken off as well as we did if it wasn’t for [the music scene] here in Grand Rapids,” says Gunnels. “Not only are the fans awesome here, but all the musicians are really supportive. They want other bands to succeed. They want to collaborate, and they want to make big shows happen. Grand Rapids is the perfect place for us to start off as a band.”
Often The Crane Wives are asked about their name, as it is somewhat unusual. Named partly after the Decemberists’ album “The Crane Wife” and partly after the Chinese story the album references, Gunnels says that at first Petersmark and Pillsbury considered renaming the band, concerned that the name might be too feminine for the guys, but, in the end, it stuck.
The group attempted to get on the bill to open for the Decemberists when they visited Calvin College but weren’t able to. But, ironically, it was Colin Meloy of the Decemberists who helped them break onto the national scene. Upon visiting NPR for an interview, he spotted a copy of The Crane Wives’ debut album and 2011 release, “Safe Ship Harbored,” and had his picture taken with it. The photo started a viral sort of effect that turned into Decemberists fans and local artists mimicking the photo – which, ultimately, raised a lot of awareness about the band and created a lot of new fans. By 2012, Paste Magazine had named them in their list of “12 Michigan Acts You Should Listen to Now.” They received “Local Spin of the Year” from Grand Rapids Press and won three WYCE Jammies (Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Listener’s Choice Award).
Gunnels says that the attention is “unbelievable.”
“I honestly don’t know if there are words to express how we have felt over the past year,” he said, explaining how he is still in disbelief about how a project that started pretty much for fun “took a direction that we did not anticipate.”
Now The Crane Wives have several exciting things on the horizon. They are currently in the process of completing their second studio album, which is set to be released in late September of 2012. They will also be performing in several festivals this summer, including Nor-East’r Music & Arts Festival, Wheatland, Sleepy Bear and Electric Forest. At Electric Forest, they have the honor of being one of the only Michigan artists performing as well as one of the only non-electric artists – but Gunnels doesn’t seem worried about this. “Our shows are pretty high energy. We’re pretty loud for an acoustic band, so I think it will be good.”
For more information, visit thecranewives.com or facebook.com/thecranewives.
