Their bold and riotous modern folk rock is built for late nights and big stages... Hold on to your tri-corn hats and be prepared to stamp your wooden legs – Blackbeard’s Tea Party are in town!
Sea-shanties will be given a bombastic rock edge and folk instrumentals will become late-night floor-fillers when this raucous bunch of reprobates hit the stage. They have dirt under their fingernails and a twinkle in their eyes and you can expect fantastic musicianship, playful choreography and an unstoppable urge to move your body.
Blackbeard's Tea Party believe a live show should be a spectacle for the eyes as well as the ears. Outlandish outfits, costume changes, DIY props, unhinged stage antics and chaotic choreography all add up to an engaging, high-octane show that inevitably leaves audiences cheering for more.
Two drummers, electric guitars, fiddle, melodeon and 4-part harmonies combine to create music that is drenched in tradition, but filtered through a kaleidoscope of modern rock and pop. Established as the go-to band for folkin’ fun shenanigans, Blackbeard’s Tea Party have played memorable sets at Glastonbury, Cambridge Folk Festival, Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, The Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo and many many more.
The band celebrated a decade of ‘rocking the folk boat’ in 2019 and commemorated this with their Ten YAAR Anniversary Tour during the Autumn & Winter. They also re-released an updated version of their most popular track Chicken on a Raft to commemorate this milestone.
Their previous release, the 5-track EP Leviathan!, explores the romanticized glories and the full gruesome horrors of the 19th century whaling industry. The record brings with it a bigger, bolder sound and a revamped live show, employing a heftier rhythm section with their new double-drum kit set up.
During lockdown, the band began writing material for their fourth album Coats Off which will be released in the Autumn of 2022 and they will undertake an extensive UK tour to promote this.
The band members come from diverse musical backgrounds and their list of influences is eclectic. The decision on which songs to arrange as well as the writing of original material is usually lead by Stuart Giddens who is largely informed by folk influences such as Jim Causley, Eliza Carthy, Tim van Eyken, Stan Hugill, Cyril Tawney as well as groups such as Le Vent du Nord.
The contemporary twists that the band places on their arrangements come from a large melting pot of artists from the rock and metal genres such as Primus, Rammstein, Iron Maiden, Tool and Led Zeppelin. From further afield the band takes its inspiration from classic funk groups such as The Meters, the bombastic pop hooks of artists like Beyonce and the dark storytelling style of Nick Cage.
"Contemporary folk rock at its most infectious" - Radio 2
"York’s answer to The Pogues, but with cleaner fingernails" - The Telegraph
"Blackbeard's Tea Party restored my faith in foot-tapping, fun, energy-packed music recently. In short: they make shanties chic" - Huffington Post
"Gloriously wild, gamely OTT and sharp. This is convincing and essential" - fRoots
"Barnstorming buccaneers belting our riff-tastic folk rock" - Songlines
Event: Friday 16 December, 8pm
Tickets: £12
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