There Be Pirates!
There Be Pirates! Is a 10-piece (more or less), acoustically-based band that specializes in taking songs of the sea (many 150 years old or so), traditional irish songs, pirate ditties, originals & more, and performing them in an entertaining, accessible, and often danceable, format.
The crew are all accomplished musicians in their own right. They are led by Shanghai Brown, whose previous musical incarnations have been as a traditional shanty man in the Puget Sound area, as well as a singer and drummer in rock bands.
There Be Pirates! got its start in early 2006, with its first gig on St. Paddy’s Day that year. Since then, the band has performed at music festivals, concerts, and has opened for British folk legend, Richard Grainger, who sings on the band’s inaugural album, Drink & the Devil.
There Be Pirates! Was featured on HDnet TV’s national series, “Deadline,” with Katie Daryll (think vh1 and mtv hostette). They have performed frequentlyl for the Port Royal Privateers’ private party, Evening at the Drunken Mermaid. The Privateers bring them homemade rum and have declared them to be the “best pirate band.”
The band enjoys working with pirate re-enactors, and belly dancers. Pirate conga lines are heartily encouraged.
In addition to completing work on the album, There Be Pirates! has been booked in England next summer to headline a festival there. Possible tours of the Netherlands and Caribbean are being negotiated.
The band’s rendition of Derelict (the song the pirates sing in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island – you know, “Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum…”), is featured on Lafitte’s Return Vol II, a non-profit benefit album raising funds for musical instruments for New Orleans schools.
Recordings . . .
Drink & The Devil
Songs: High Barbary / New York Gals / Banshee’s Whale Solo / South Australia / Paddy Lay Back / Leaving Of Liverpool / All For Me Grog / The Bonnie Ship the Diamond / Sugar In The Hold / Fiddle Aire / Derelict / Haul Away Joe / Banshee’s Whale Reprise
 $9.99 |
 $14.97 |
