Darbie Rice (Nowatka) (keyboards, stringed instruments) [1] Keith Poulson (bass) Bishop Allen is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, United States.
The band's core members are Justin Rice and Christian Rudder, who are supported both on stage and in the studio by a rotating cast of musical collaborators.
The band was formed in 2003 and grew out of Rice and Rudder's friendship; it takes its name from Bishop Allen Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the two lived together after attending Harvard University.
The two formed a hardcore punk band called The Pissed Officers and self-released two split records with the then Boston-based Casio-core duo Gerty Farish.
Backing vocals by Bonnie Schiff-Glenn and Kate Dollenmayer and supplementary drums by Coll Anderson, all added in the album's final stages, completed the songs.
After the album was finished, Ms. Schiff-Glenn and Margaret Miller were recruited to play with Bishop Allen live, and their pictures were then featured on Charm School's back cover.
The covers of the EPs, which reflect the homespun aesthetic of the music inside, were designed by Darbie Nowatka, who also sang lead vocal on a few recordings and often joins the band on stage.
Rice and Darbie Nowatka formed a musical side project, The Last Names, in 2011; they are releasing a free cover song every week through 2012 in advance of a full-length album.