Pirate Second Album On The Way

Ladies and Gentlemen,

See: Our Second Album Crowd Funder Campaign

It is with great excitement that we can announce that The Pirates are currently putting the finishing touches to a set of new songs in readiness for the recording of our new album which is scheduled to kick off mid-January 2019.

In many promotional respects we have been very quiet since I last posted here over a year  ago. Back then we had just recruited a couple of new members of our crew and were looking forward to a solid year of rehearsals and gigs to get to know each other better. We certainly played a number of interesting shows – fuelled as usual by the mayhem and frenzied hopping about that usually accompanies our performances.

Now the new chaps are firmly bedded in we have turned our attentions to a second album that, to be honest, I never thought would come to fruition. Indeed, our gigging exploits throughout the last year have enabled us to raise most of the costs towards this new album but we are still some way short of where we need to be to get it over the line. Therefore, in keeping with the trend these days, we have started up a small Crowd Funder campaign to help us in our final push to get this album recorded, mastered and out the door. Some people have generously pledged so far and we are creeping up to where we need to be so if any of you kind folks wish to either donate anything or claim one of the listed rewards such as priority copies of the new album and posters etc then please check out our  campaign here and get involved – it would certainly be a big help to us if you wish to see us keep those Pirate tunes coming.

Aside from the forthcoming album and campaign, we are looking forward to next year with hopefully some festival dates on the horizon as well as some more local shows and any private shows anyone wishes to book us for!

Look out for news of the album and other Pirate related stuff either here or on our Facebook page.

Until next time!

Avast!

The Captain x

 

The Pirates are back and re-vamped!

When I last dropped in here to furnish you all with the goings on aboard The Good Ship Pirate, it was to reveal that we were taking some time out to find a new guitarist. At the time we were locked away deep in The Shires auditioning a number of applicants who wished to join our crew. We met a number of able bodied individuals who threw their weight behind the tunes with gusto. However,  someone had to emerge victorious and of course it is of no secret any more that that man was none other than Sir Owen Whitehouse. A stalwart of the front row at many of our gigs he seemed to have soaked up the set like a blessed sponge thus making it rather difficult to turn him down. Since then he has performed admirably with The Pirates at a few gigs and continues to do so. Suffice to say we are lucky to have him on board.

The brand new re-vamped line up debuted at Wychwood Festival in the summer and we have since gone on to perform in London and to headline a rip-roaring mash up at The Wheatsheaf in Oxford.

Looking ahead there are plans afoot. Forthcoming gigs include a quirky evening of Italiano mayhem at The Jericho Tavern in Oxford along with The Rabbit Foot Spasm Band, a headline slot at the soon-to-close Good Ship in London and some Halloween shenanigans. All of this whilst being ensconced in the studio rehearsing new material in readiness for a new EP which is just around the corner. Home demos of some new material can be found at our  website Music page or Soundcloud page. Some live audience video footage taken at our recent Wheatsheaf gig can be found at our YouTube page.

So, that’s the news and business side taken care of. As we look ahead to the remainder of the year and onto next we hope that the new stuff we have in the pipeline will continue to keep you entertained and that, in return, we continue to enjoy your madcap dancing and piratical fashion sense at some of the forthcoming shows.

For now, bless you all and Godspeed

Avast!

The Captain x

Pirate Ponderings…

Hello good people, The Captain here…for more musings on all things pirate.

We have been quiet by our standards. Very quiet. Some of you may have noticed. Others may not, but quiet we have been – but not through choice.

It was a good 6 months ago now that I last addressed you all with an announcement of a new drummer and a raft of good intentions to take 2017 by storm. As with all best laid endeavours, not everything always tends to go to plan and, at the turn of the year, we could not have foreseen another resignation in our ranks. This time it was the turn of our whirlwind of a guitarist Kyle Mundy who graciously gave notice of his intention to disembark our good ship and set off in search of something that didn’t involve thrashing 6 strings with his hair.

All of this irksome botheration has somewhat scuppered our plans to a) move away from the old set of songs or b) release any new material. With each departing crew member we have had to focus our attention on bringing someone new up to speed and that has meant a stay of execution for some of the old songs.

Still, it has to be first things first and to this end The Pirates are currently locked away in auditioning players for the now vacant lead guitar role. Once another guitarist steps into Kyle’s simmering shoes we shall be up and away once more on a trajectory to the nice new good stuff we hoped to release a while ago.

In an effort in keeping our toes wet, we do have a couple of shows coming up this summer which will be our first with whoever new happens to be occupying stage right. We have a nice little slot on The Hobgoblin Stage at Wychwood Festival on Sunday 4th June followed by an appearance at Heddstock Festival on Saturday 8th July.

Sometimes it is good to take a step back and re-group and after peddling our wares for a good few years now this break should do us more good than harm so we can return fresh as daisies to unleash some new and re-vamped piratical material on you all.

Stay tuned!

Avast! (for now)

The Captain x

“Searching For An Even Keel”- and a new drummer introduction.

Hello, The Captain here again…

It’s been 4 months since I last landed here and addressed you all with heady tales about our dashing new album and new plotting afoot with all things Pirate. And how things can change in the blink of an eye….

Unforeseen at the time was our then Pirate brother Barry Short harboring a desire to leave the crew, disembark from our ship and make his way into the night with a lantern and our best wishes ringing in his ears. After 6 years of Piratical mayhem he felt it was time to move on and notified us of his wanting to step down before the rum ran out…

Clearly this set the nautical bandwagon back a little – rocking on its axle even – as we retreated into the depths of Oxfordshire to ruminate on what to do next. With a fair number of rather sizeable shows on the horizon for the rest of the year we made the decision to try and find someone who would help us out in the interim until we could devote some proper time to searching for another Pirate – something involving a lot of time, rehearsals and a large stick.

And so, up stepped a rather tall (8ft?), affable man called Sam who nobly offered to help us out on our shows for the rest of the year but we decided that we actually quite liked him, and that he was quite good. We then set about some insidious mutual appreciation society murmurings until it became blindingly obvious that the feeling was mutual and an offer was made which thankfully he accepted.

AND SO LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE GIVE YOU OUR NEW PIRATE AND CREW MEMBER, SIR SAM SPACKSMAN, who takes over the drumming duties forthwith.

The decidedly uneven keel we had embarked upon about a month ago is now even once more and we can look ahead, not only to the remaining shows for this year, but also many more next year plus (and finally) some new material and a few more covers for shits and giggles.

And that dear hearts is where we are at. A little knock back in our plotting and machinations but now full steam ahead once more as the wind kicks back into our sails.

Keep checking this site or Facebook or anywhere else we pop up if you wish to follow our progress.

For now though…

Fond adieux!

The Captain x

Debut Album … Finally!

Yes folks it has taken its sweet merry time in getting here but The Pirates can finally proudly announce the release of their debut album. In reality this release is somewhat overdue considering we have been banging on in some shape or form since 2008 but, in truth, this current line up has only been performing in earnest over the past couple of years. Much has been achieved in that time with the bedding in of a new guitarist, the release of an EP, an official music video to accompany our El Gringo single, countless festivals and gigs and now, at last the album.

By stating that it was recorded and engineered by our guitarist and mixed and mastered by yours truly and our guitarist over the past 6 months I think you can see emerging the pattern I’m trying to get across. Only we would know how we are expected to sound above any other knob twiddler out there and to that end we vowed to record, mix and master the whole caboodle ourselves to present something that we believe is now totally “us” for reasons stated.

It doesn’t have a title because we felt it didn’t need one. It speaks for itself in being a documented line in the sand collection of most of the material we have been peddling live over the years. Tracks previously released on the Nelson’s Folly EP were not included on the album and neither was our single El Gringo which we felt offered an altogether alternative flavour to the one with which have become synonymous. There were 4 or 5 other tracks which didn’t quite make the cut but which will no doubt be released in some shape or form over the coming months. There’s no wastage from them thar Pirate stockpiles…

The album launch show at The O2 Academy in Oxford last Saturday (4th June) was an effort to make the big announcement in a way we like to think we do best – by making an unearthly racket of monumental proportions. And so it proved. The evening was healthily attended and well received and many left clutching their copies drenched in sweat. And that was that. The launch over we now have an album to push and push it we will, for if ever there was a definitive introduction to what we can deliver then this 14 tracker has to be it. Go and grab a copy at our store and become reacquainted.

Aside from album flurries we are now finally starting to tread the boards once more as we have a few festivals and gigs in the pipeline with more being added regularly. Keep tuned into our gigs section to keep up to date with where you can catch a pirate bash.

This here page only really gets updated every few months when I remember to tune in but if you wish to be kept abreast of more immediate happenings then the necessary evil that is the Facebook page is well worth liking and following. All associated pirate related stuff usually lands there first.

As for future plans – well, we will continue to push the album for a fair while before following with a new EP, new material and possibly, looking ahead further, another official music video….all enough to keep us out of trouble for a long time or deep in it depending on your viewpoint.

And on that wave of ignominy, I shall bid ye readers a fond adieux until I moor up here once again.

Love to all and Avast!

The Captain x

2015 Goodbye:Hello 2016

And there we have it – 2015 sails off towards the horizon leaving behind it a trail of piratical notoriety. And what a year it was – one that began quietly enough but ended up inducing a collective nosebleed.

Some of the year’s highlights could be said to be our first appearance at The Oxford Punt Festival, The Cursus Cider Festival in Dorset, Charlbury Riverside Festival, Norden Farm Arts Centre in Maidenhead (where nonplussed staff had to witness the first ever conga to swirl in and out of the auditorium), supports to the likes of The Monochrome Set and Big Country, and a couple of local “Pirate Soirée” evenings where we were the ultimate guests of dishonour.

A mention must also go out to our final show of 2015 at The Cellar in Oxford where, unbeknownst to everyone, an Oxford Pirate reenactment group (The River Rogues) decided to show up en masse replete with piratical garb, delicious armoury, and rum stained tankards waving in the breeze. Their appearance had nothing to do with us and yet highlighted the unrelenting progress we had made over the year in getting people to embrace what, let’s face it, resides deep inside the soul of every one of us – a liking for a good party. Where there is rum. Always where there is rum.

Now then, I feel duty bound to disclose that in October 2015 we embarked on an epic voyage of recording sessions that will eventually result in the release of our debut album around Springtime 2016.

To say this album is overdue would be an understatement – seeing as we have amassed a treasure chest of enough sonic booty to fill 3 long players and have been careering about like a bunch of seafaring dandy idiots for far longer than we’d care to admit.

And to claim this album is eagerly awaited would, of course, be a massive presumption. However, either way, you’re all going to get it – whether you decide to purchase it or not because it is something that will encompass the best of what we have been presenting over the past few years. Whether it proves to be a swansong or the birth of the second coming only time will tell. What we do know is that one and all will need to be strapping down their legs when they fire it up.

And so there is little left but to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and an even happier, healthier and wealthier New Year to come.

I’m now going to use the seasonal hiatus to create some more mellifluous seedy nonsense which will no doubt be dribbled out in demo form at some point in early 2016 followed by THE ALBUM OF DREAMS.

See. Capitals for emphasis…

Love to one and all

The Captain X

Sailing on…banging on…

Ahoy there Pirate followers,

It has been a little while since The Captain reported for duty on this here page. Usually coming armed with a swag bag of tales for all random things PP, this time it is but a vintage file, in bound dark brown leather.

The previous post had us entrenched in a quiet start to the year looking ahead to the arrival of May and the plethora of shows that came with it. Two major highlights of that month saw us take to the stage at The Cellar in Oxford as part of The Punt festival. A “grab-an-armband-and-race-around-the-city” kind of affair that had the tide of crowds swelling and subsiding in equal measures throughout the evening. We got up, started fast and got faster as one reviewer deliciously put it. I think we made our point.

Then we played a Sunday afternoon slot at The Cursus Cider & Music Festival down in Dorset. A cider festival in Dorset was always going to be what everyone would expect a cider festival in Dorset to be…more conga lines to “Bring Out Your Dead” and stray sheafs of hay making their way into your socks. Fair to say we did indeed have an absolute blast.

If we assumed that was the end to the mayhem we couldn’t have been more wrong. Next up was an appearance at a private little festival in The Malverns. The giant teepee was rocking on its ropes as we inflicted over an hour’s set upon a wild dancefloor of individuals already three sheets to the wind on this and that and great helpings of the other. I suspect we just about finished them off.

And then came the pirate party itself at The Corridor in Oxford. An excuse, if one was needed, to dress a little more flamboyantly and, more importantly, to bring along the fruits of some home baking in the form of pirate cakes. Is there no end to the talents of the Pirate crew? It would seem not. What else could we do but squeeze ourselves up one end of the bar and give them a frenzied Pirate set to send them on their way….

And so it goes on really. There has been an incredible amount of busyness in the form of shows of late with many more on the horizon that we can’t wait to get stuck into.

New material, rest assured, is on the way, albeit a little slower than planned due to all the gigs. As and when windows of opportunity present themselves then thy will be done and the pen of sordid adventures will be deployed once more to continue this rum sodden bandwagon.

Keep your eyes peeled for new stuff, gigs and general piratical ramblings on this site or via the many social media outlets we have gatecrashed of late.

Until the next installment!

Avast!

The Captain x

2015 – A Quiet Start

Hello again Pirateers,

The last contact with you was back at Christmas where we were ruminating on what had gone before in terms of gigs, single releases and videos. It was a busy close to the year and so we have fairly ambled our way into 2015 as the batteries get recharged and new guitars get bought and primed.

That’s not to say we haven’t got out of the Pirate bed to put in a few appearances so far. We’ve had a couple of shows at The Wheatsheaf in Oxford, the latest being an absolute stormer of a show for those lovely people at Klub Kakofanney earlier this month. It was touch and go whether I would actually make the gig as I was struck down with a seasonal virus powered by a cough and streaming head cold. Two solid days of Olbas Oil inhalation and I was able to make the show but with some trepidation. I needn’t have worried as The Pirates were at the top of their game – as were the punters who decided an impromptu conga to Bring Out Your Dead was the order of the day.

I promised back in December ye shall get some new material this year and new material ye shall get! – starting with our latest demo “The Hangman’s Moratorium” which can be heard on this here site or on SoundCloud. There will be more on the way too so stay tuned…

Gigwise, it looks like someone has got it in for us in May as that month is already pretty much full with dates (see the gig page for details) with some highlights being our appearance at this year’s Oxford Punt festival and the Cursus Cider & Music festival in Dorset – both of which should be an absolute hoot and an utter debauched mess if we’re lucky. Gigs are being added all the time so keep checking this site or our Facebook page.

As the weather improves and red wine is spurned in favour of white, The Pirates are busy rehearsing and writing and generally drinking too much in order to get themselves back on track.

Dust off your dancing trousers and get your backsides on the dancefloor. We look forward to seeing you again…

The Captain x

2014, A New Video & Christmas….

The Captain reporting for duty again good people!

Back in September, we were shouting loud and proud about the release of our single “El Gringo” as we are wont to do. It was mooted back then that a promo video may well be accompanying the single although at the time a date for recording hadn’t been set. Well, that date happened to be Monday 10th November where we and a whole host of our motley crew descended on Pachangas Mexican restaurant in Henley-on-Thames to cause much havoc and merriment. The day began with the band prancing around in our finery and staring meaningfully into the fish-eye lens before the ensemble moved outside to negotiate one of the busiest crossroads known to man. Later in the day, and after copious amounts of rum and sangria, our delightful extras were engaged in some frenzied dancing just to round off a rather hectic and special day.

The video was shot, produced, directed, spliced and diced by the indefatigable Jordan Grant so thanks must go to him for his relentless enthusiasm. Thanks must also go to our glorious hosts for the day, Carlos & Aishling from Pachangas for their unrelenting good humour and hospitality. And finally, thanks must go out to the extras who came dressed to kill to support us and make the video what it became – a mosh pit of rum drenched fun.

Want to see the video? Go here and enjoy.

As for gigs, it was a busy old year where we made a lot of new friends. There were certainly a greater number of tricorns showing up towards the latter part of the year as many more folks climbed on board. Good to meet you kind lads and lasses!

The last couple of gigs of the year were at The Good Ship in London and then The Cellar in Oxford. The Good Ship was quite a night as our forays into London were few and far between last year. The Pirate crew took over the dance floor and turned the gig into a right old sweaty shindig. We signed off at The Cellar with a lower key gig but no less frenzied than before.

And that was it. The guitar cannons have now fallen silent as Christmas hoves into view. A time for us to recharge our piratical batteries, repair floating bridges, oil creaking pots and moisten our necks….and tend to our instruments…

We’ll be back all guns blazing in January for more of this and that and a good helping of the other. Already, gigs/festivals are being booked in for May at apace (keep checking the gig page for dates or our Facebook page) and there will be more coming in for the first quarter so stay tuned.

Finally, there will be a galleon of new material released in demo form in the new year as The Captain takes out his anger, dismay and lewd misgivings on his poisoned pen.

Until we meet again at some rum sodden hustings, I’ll bid ye goodbye and a Happy Christmas to one and all

The Captain x

The New Single and all stuff Pirate..

Hello Pirate lads & lasses,

It’s high time I dropped in again to bring you up to date with the goings on in our world – not that we’ve been shrinking violets in that respect – having spread ourselves around a few festivals over the summer and keeping busy with gigs and single releases etc.

The latest single, “El Gringo” was born out of many a night falling over in my local Mexican restaurant after being smacked up on sangria. When something happens that often and leads to so much haze and bouts of amnesia then I am duty bound to write about it. So, it’s all shiny and new and available for download from the likes of iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. It can also be heard in full via Soundcloud (check out the various links across this site and Facebook etc). There will be a promo video to accompany this release in time although, as yet, no firm date has been set. No doubt it will involve a lot of sangria, rum and silly hats.

As things stand gigwise, September is a relatively quiet month with only a show next weekend at The Cellar in Oxford to scream about but, scream about it we are as we are expecting quite a packed and sweaty evening of the usual high jinks and mayhem. October/November is shaping up to be a busy time for us with a number of local shows on the horizon plus a trip back into London to play The Good Ship on Sat 15th Nov.

Apart from those shenanigans, there will be more new Pirate material on the way over the next 2 or 3 months from the Captain’s poisoned pen and no doubt other surprises for us and you.

Until then darlings you all take care now 🙂

Avast!

The Captain