After nearly a dozen years confidently steering the S.S. Nostalgia, playing the beloved soft rock hits of the ’70s and ’80s to packed crowds wearing captain’s hats, Yacht Rock Revue are charting a new course by releasing their first album of original material. Hot Dads in Tight Jeans won’t be released until Feb. 21, but EW is bringing you the first single, “Step,” right here.

Yacht Rock Revue began a dozen years ago as a joke, a one-off show by an Atlanta indie-pop band called YOU, a Time-Life “Sounds of the 70s” CD package come to life, in mustaches and chest-hair-baring button-downs. But the bar quickly became packed with young people, as was an encore the next week.

With a big lake, a yacht club and a river cutting through it, Chicago is more boatin’ than most Midwestern cities, but that hardly explains what’s going on here in the coming days.

In the span of four days beginning Saturday, three nightclubs will feature cover bands playing what is billed confidently as “yacht rock,” on the assumption that potential ticket buyers will know exactly what that means.

Here’s a familiar story: Ace musicians can’t get work with original material so they start playing covers. Here’s where Yacht Rock Revue’s tale diverges from the typical: The Atlanta tribute to the sounds of ’70s AM Gold and ’80s Top 40 has become a sensation, regularly playing sold-out international clubs and cruises. On Sunday, Yacht Rock Revue drops anchor at House of Blues.

When your career has revolved around performing other artists’ songs for 13 years, songwriting seems like a far stretch. For soft rock, cover crooners Yacht Rock Revue, it’s exactly what they did on their first album of original material, HOT DADS in TIGHT JEANS, out Feb 21.

A good-time persona accented by tight jeans and mirrored sunglasses wasn't always a natural fit for Nicholas J. Niespodziani.