Brine and Bad Word

Shiver me timbers! Avast ye landlubbers! Prepare the futtock shrouds and batten down the mizzen! Get the powder monkey to holystone the poop deck! 

In case you're wondering, no, I did not just watch all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies back to back. Actually I just got finished listening to "Set Sail for Sodomy," the debut CD from Brine & Bastards.

In the age-old debate of Pirate versus Ninja, I always choose Ninja. That's not to say I don't love Pirates too, but I don't know anyone in a cool Ninja band. So here we are. Brine & Bastards formed their punk rock pirate band back in 2004. Original members "Skipper" Shawn "Short Dong" Dillon (The Rodneys) does vocals, "Handsome" John "Miserable" McGuire (Pencey Prep) on bass and George "The Fisherman" Collazo (Nancy Drew, Dead Go West) on guitar, are joined today by Dan "The Navigator" Peacock on drums. "The Mad Alchemist" Matt Dallow and "Dead Eye" Dave Trainer aid the crew on accordion and guitar. 

If ever there was a CD to drink to, it's this one. Not in the get-drunk-and-talk-to-strangers-about-how-depressing-your-life-is sort of way but in the get-drunk-and-sing-along-with-strangers-about-that-wench-you-met-last-night kind of way. It's just a really fun CD and very catchy. I wouldn't be surprised if B&B became the new pirate shantey standard.

"Set Sail for Sodomy" was released earlier this year by Refugee Records and has already garnered a lot of attention." 'Songs of the Siren' might be - hands down - the best punk song of 2008," says Life in a Bungalo author George Koroneos. He may be right. "Songs of the Siren" has now be played several times on GRock Radio's The Punkyard.

It's no surprise B&B are doing so well. Besides their raw talent, the CD was expertly and seamlessly produced by Strong Arm Studio and holds it's own with most, if not all, major label releases. The artwork by Stu Horvath at Borderland Design does the same. The cover shot here is just a tantalizing view of what awaits you on the rest of this 6-panel digipak. It would have been easy to dress a girl up in a slutty Pirate costume and be done with it, but Horvath doesn't do easy, he does glorious Pirate phantasmagoria.

Brine & Bastards put out a debut CD any Pirate would be proud of. You can order it directly from their Myspace and from Interpunk and Itunes as well. You can join their mailing list and street team over at Reverb Nation to keep up with their latest happenings and live shows, which, if you're in the NJ area, I highly recommend. Obviously they dress their parts and act like scallywags but the best part is, if they're drunk at a show you'd probably never know it because, duh, they're Pirates!