Paul and Storm
Paul and Storm are an American, Arlington, Virginia-based comedic musical duo, consisting of Paul Sabourin and Greg "Storm" DiCostanzo. They are best known for their humorous songs about geek culture and for amassing an internet fan base.
Paul and Storm
They are favorites of Dr. Demento and regular radio guests on The Bob and Tom Show. They tour regularly with Jonathan Coulton, singing backup vocals for a number of his songs. Coulton has also appeared on stage to do backup for Paul and Storm's songs.
History[edit]
Formation[edit]
For twelve years Sabourin and DiCostanzo were one half of the a cappella comedy band Da Vinci's Notebook, but in 2004 the band stopped touring and regular performances,[1] so the two struck out on their own with Paul playing keyboard and penny whistle and Storm on the guitar.
Albums[edit]
Before releasing an official debut album Paul and Storm released a demo EP of songs that would eventually be re-recorded for their debut album Opening Band, as well as other songs that have yet to be re-recorded. The EP was titled Shame and Cookie Dough.
In 2005, the duo released Opening Band, their first album release. The title stems from the lead track off the album, an idea thought up by Storm after their experience as being the opening act. While they mainly perform live as a duo, they had the help of many guest musicians on the album, including Mike Clem and Eddie Hartness of Eddie from Ohio and Valerie Vigoda, Brendon Milburn, and Gene Lewin from Groovelily. Groovelily performed as Paul and Storm's back-up band at the 2005 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. The album features a number of "Rejected Commercial Jingles" as well as a commentary track for two of the album's songs.
Their second album News to Us was recorded week by week for The Bob and Tom Show as a featured weekly news segment. Many of the tracks on the album feature the radio hosts introducing each song; also there is the audible trademark Bob and Tom laughter on the tracks dubbed as the "On-Air" versions. At the end of the album, the duo placed the studio version of most of the tracks as well so that listeners could have a more traditional album experience. The song "Your Love Is" on the album was co-written by Jonathan Coulton.
In 2007 their third studio album Gumbo Pants was released. This album features their fan favorite, and often live concert closing track "The Captain's Wife's Lament" as well as other fan favorites such as "Count to Ten" and "A Better Version of You". It also featured a number of very short tracks that were titled "One Sentence Songs" and more "Rejected Commercial Jingles".
In 2010 after a three-year lapse between albums, the duo released their fourth studio album Do You Like Star Wars?. The album is a collection of songs that the duo had released one by one in the years following Gumbo Pants. It includes concert favorites such as "Nun Fight", "Cruel, Cruel Moon", and "Frogger! The Frogger Musical!". A number of the songs released on this album were written for Quick Stop Entertainment's Masters of Song Fu contest.