News Release

Annapolis Maritime Museum / 723 Second St / Annapolis, MD 21403
Contact: Jenny Kottler / 410 295-0104

What:      Concert – Pyrates Royale
When:      Saturday, January 12, 2013 
Time:      7 - 9 p.m.
Admission: $15/museum members; $20/advance; $25 at the door
Where:     Annapolis Maritime Museum, 723 Second Street,Annapolis, MD  21403
More info: www.amaritime.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Dec. 12, 2012

Pyrates Invade Annapolis Maritime Museum

You’ve seen them swaggering through the Maryland Renaissance Festival or across the stage of First Night Annapolis, all swashed and buckled and storming around like they had something to burn besides time. Yes, we’re talking about pirates, but not the foreign-bred sort. These are the local and lovable Pyrates Royale, still trying to find their way back to the high seas and offering up a tune or two in exchange for good beer and a biscuit. 

Reliable sources tell us they plan to overrun the Annapolis Maritime Museum on the second Saturday of the year for their fourth annual Not-Quite-First-Night-Concert—January 12 at 7 p.m., to be exact. 

“As pirates, we seldom get anywhere on time,” says the flamboyant Captain Fletcher Moone (a.k.a Brad Howard, born and raised along the teeming wharves of Crisfield, Md.). “So missing New Year’s by a week or so is just part of who we are and what we do.”  Tickets can be purchased at www.amaritime.org.

As ever, they’ll leave you laughing—not shaking in your boots. Generally speaking this band of not-so-nefarious marauders offers an evening of maritime merriment and mayhem instead of the standard looting and burning.

The Pyrates Royale, who also appear at the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival as well as the Virginia Renaissance Faire, have been singing together in one form or another for more than two decades, entertaining their audiences with raucous renditions of classic maritime chanteys as well as what those in the nautical know call chantey nouuveax. This isn’t your mother’s “Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum,” and parents should be advised that sexual innuendo is part of the act, as are frequent references to violence and periodic shakedowns of the audience (don’t wear your Rolex).

“We can’t remember the words to the yo ho ho bits,” says Moone, “so we focus on devilishly clever lyrics, brazen instrumentals and fiendish harmonies. That’s fiendish in the good sense, of course.” 

Those fiendish harmonies have won praise from the likes of Steve Winick, contributing writer at the now-defunct (alas) Dirty Linen, the magazine that chronicled the world of acoustic folk music.

“The group’s usual high-spirited hijinks,” he writes about one of their albums, Black Jack (April/May 2008), “mix comedy and showmanship with solid singing and playing and a dollop of creative arranging.” Their most recent album, Keep Calm and Seek Revenge, was released to wild acclaim (they say) at this summer’s run of the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Meanwhile audiences voted them second-best Ren Faire group in the country.

“Second best isn’t bad,” says Captain Moone. “We just have to pillage a little harder next time. Perhaps take captives.”

Captives aside, the Pyrates Royale are nothing if not captivating, with their youthful good looks, swashbuckling charm and exuberant showmanship. Of course, they aren’t all that youthful... Costumes do a lot to cover up the paunchy bits.

For more information about the Museum: www.amaritime.org

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