We had a great day at the Smack! Unfortunately, The Captain’s Beard were stranded in snowy Sussex and couldn’t make it, but local band Grand Reunion stood in at the very last moment. Not that they made it without mishap, as they were without their guitarist, who was, at that very moment, waiting for the paramedics after having a bad fall while loading his kit. A depleted Tempus Experientia, in the shape of “Sailor Sam” (Kevin Corcoran), provided the links and the Hoy Shanty Crew sang their hearts out for us.

Nigel Townend won the songwriting competition. The Cap’n is a hard-hearted blackguard and insisted that entrants had to be there in person and perform their entry themselves – and Nigel did exactly that.

We couldn’t have predicted that weather – it’s at times like that that a pirate sees the charm of the Caribbean …

Anyway – here’s a taste

Join Captain Morgan’s Rum Do for the Winter Pirate Gathering at Leigh on Sea – you know you want to be there!

You’ve written your new Pirate song, haven’t you?

You’re looking forward to seeing the Tempus Experientia performers, aren’t you?

You’re longing to hear The Captain’s Beard, aren’t you?

And you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else next Saturday, would you?

What a bunch of lazy pirates we have been, not updating our website!!

You have just missed us at Brixham, and we hope you won’t hold it against us. We’ve had one or two random problems with the website and haven’t managed to get our piratical acts sufficiently together until now.

But, be that as it may – photographs and videos of that stunning event are or will shortly be available on our Facebook page for your enjoyment. Here’s one which may encourage you to go and look …

Our only real excuses are that three of the band are in the middle of recording an album (that’ll be Triangle, then) and the percussionist is buying a boat. Which is, when you think about it, quite a reasonable thing for a pirate to do. We will be telling you more about that in the near future!

Here we are in 2016 already – it hardly seems possible!

There have been some big changes going on: the Captain has finally kicked the world of 9-5 into the briny, given up getting up early, and set sail into full-time musicianship (he should have done it years ago!) May we recommend that you check out his other projects on his website.

We already have 2016 bookings, but more details will follow over the next couple of months as times and dates are confirmed.

We’re all off to the Isle of Wight in the morning! Come and see us in action at the Yarmouth Old Gaffers Festival on Saturday and Sunday. We’ll look forward to seeing you there.

Why not order the new CD? Fifteen superb original tracks, written by the Cap’n and sung by him with the support of the rest of this scurvy crew! Order as many copies as you think you can manage through the Captain’s own website. The perfect Christmas or birthday present for the buccaneer in your life!

Despite less-than-ideal weather, we had a great time at Brixham. The music went down well, and the Captain told us he had more songs for us – how exciting! Thanks particularly to Louis (main stage) and Ian (family stage) for sound, John and Jean at the Smugglers Haunt for B & B (Jean’s fried bread is to die for!), the Smugglers Retreat for superb evening meals and an assortment of well-appointed taverns for liquid refreshment. We will be adding some photos to our site shortly, but, in the meantime, why not go to the Festival’s facebook page and have a look there.

As a footnote, John and Jean are planning to retire soon (which is why I haven’t put a weblink to the Smugglers Haunt) – here’s wishing them a good ‘un!

Less than a fortnight to go to our trip to the Far West – almost as near to the Caribbean as we can get without actually leaving the mainland of England! Catch us at Brixham Pirate Festival on Saturday 2nd May.

Well, it’s a bit nearer than Trinidad – and we’re back at the Elm Tree on Sunday 8th March. Please come and join us!