By Rachel Belle

Listen to Feature: Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers: Van Sessions

Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers are a San Francisco-based band who, like lots of bands, travel from city to city, show to show, in a big old van. Bored on the road and without a radio, they started to pick out old songs from their childhoods that made them smile or laugh, and performed them in the van with the help of an iPhone. In March, their cover of Hall and Oats’ “I Can’t Go For That” hit YouTube, and weeks later it went viral, racking up over a million hits; becoming the inspiration for our SUV Sessions. video

“I’m pretty sure John Oates, or his people, put it on their Facebook page,” Nicki says. “Twitter just picked it up and people from Cameron Crowe to Ryan Adams to Bette Midler to Wil Wheaton were all tweeting it. I think in today’s world of Twitter and Facebook, it was a big snowball.”

They also got the attention of a cop.

“We did get pulled over in Salt Lake City for not turning on a turn signal for long enough,” says guitarist Deren Ney. “We had just been learning “Material Girl” by Madonna. The cop looked around and we just sort of had instruments in our hands. He asked what we were doing, we said that we’re a band. He asked to hear a little bit of music. We played Material Girl for this cop and he sat, and dug it, and let us go.”

Nicki travels the country with four guys: Two guitar players, a bassist and a drummer. I asked her what it’s like being crammed into a van with all those dudes.

“It feels pretty natural, actually, I grew up with two brothers. I don’t think I’m a tomboy but I feel pretty comfortable with boys. It’s easy. They’re funny and there’s no drama, which I like.”

Four guys on a long road trip: Is there any peeing into bottles?

“Not on this trip…yet. We’ve been using the restrooms.”

Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers are playing at the Triple Door, in Seattle, May 23rd and 24th, 2012.

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