Pedals on our Pirate Ships finally sailed into Tampa on July 21! Which explains how I found myself out late on a Tuesday work night at Transitions Art Gallery to see Pedals on our Pirate Ships (Richmond), The Wild (Atlanta) and Regular Size People Fight (Tampa).

Pedals on our Pirate Ships

My friend Jeff made me some mix CDs last winter and the song that immediately caught my attention was “Peter Pan Syndrome,” with its chorus “Will you be my Wendy? Will you be my Tinkerbell? / Don’t be silly you can be my Tiger Lily still” and lines like “We don’t have goals but we have lots of fun” and “but secretly we all miss our mothers, we seek security in the arms of lovers.” When I couldn’t get the song out of my head, I looked up the band with a peculiar name, Pedals on our Pirate Ships, listened to the rest of the songs posted on their Myspace page, and was hooked.

Hailing from Richmond, VA, these folk punk rockers play extremely fun and catchy tunes with just a tinge of introspection. In “Reinventing Bryan Adams” Matt belts out “Why do they call it goodbye, doesn’t feel so good to me, why don’t we call a spade a spade, say what we really mean… look me in the eye and say loving you is fucking killing me” At the show, a small but enthusiastic crowd sang along at the top of their lungs to the crowd favorites, including “Peter Pan Syndrome” and “Night of the Living Wage.”

Originally, Pedals on our Pirate Ships was Matt Seymour’s solo acoustic project featuring an extensive guest and former member list including the following musicians: Michael Otley, Jameson Price, Tim Baker, Casey Martin, Lindsay Sisk, Tim Barry, Nick Bergheimer, Tim Carroll, Ian Cassidy, David Donaldson, Lindsey Driscoll, David Hughes, Joe Hunt, Joe Mager, Josh Small, Daniel Rickey, and Adam Thompson. It’s amazing how much more fun a show is when the band is having as much fun as the audience and that was certainly true at this show. Adding to the visual joy of Pedals on our Pirate Ships, the drummer uses a steamer trunk as a bass drum.

Pedals on our Pirate Ships currently are Matt Seymour (vocals/guitar) with Adrienne Brown (vocals/melodica/tambourine) and Louis Cyrtmus (drummer)

The Wild

We arrived during The Wild’s set. I liked them immediately and not just because they had a banjo in their punk rock band. Hailing from Atlanta, The Wild also plays music in the folk punk genre. Like Pedals on our Pirate Ships, they had a great time playing and as a consequence the audience had a great time listening. I look forward to checking out their recorded material.

The Wild is Kylee (drums), Ben (Bass), Dianna (Tambourine and vocals and more!) and Witt (guitar and vocals)

Regular Size People Fight

Regular Size People Fight features a group of talented Tampa musicians from Dukes of Hillsborough, Watson and The Tim Version playing post-punk. It was fun to see these guys doing something a bit different… I haven’t heard their record Yowza! (Fast Crowd Records) yet but No Idea Records describes it as “Smart lyrics and clever guitar riffs that will make you want to crack open a cold one and sing along.”

For more photos, please check out the following links:

A unique collaborative event transpired at the Orpheum to ring out September in style – an honest to goodness full on revival awakening the masses to the not so secret Americana wave. The Revival Tour featuring Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Ben Nichols (Lucero) and Tim Barry (Avail; pictured left) along with friends Todd Beene (Glossary), Jon Gaunt (Whiskey & Co), Austin Lucas, Bob Lucas (Austin’s dad), and Digger Barnes proves that hardcore kids can evolve while staying true to hardcore ideals. Back in the 90s going to shows at The Stone Lounge, and later 403 Chaos, along with the Hardback in Gainesville and many other venues up and down the eastern seaboard, I often wondered what would happen to all us hardcore kids as we got older. Local music fans already knew it was possible having witnessed the successful evolution of The Chase Theory to Have Gun, Will Travel. The Revival Tour reaffirms that transition while enabling us to hear new music discussing the issues of our day – war, economic crisis, etc. from a critical vantage. In traditional revival fashion, once the music started it kept on rolling as the musicians tag teamed in and out through each others sets until the final farewells rang out.

During Tim Barry’s set, a microphone outage, provided a glimpse back to the hardcore days:

Next Ben Nichols took the stage:

Mostly with Todd Beene:

There was a fun transition to Chuck Ragan’s set:

Chuck Ragan’s set contained the exuberant spirit you would expect:

Featuring Austin Lucas:

Jon Gaunt:

and Digger Barnes:

In these troubled times, the Revival Tour provides a welcome (albeit temporary) antidote to the uneasiness pervading the atmosphere and reinforcement for the hope that “The Times They Are A Changing.”

Special thanks to Ben for obtaining the critical photo pass for this event because without it you would not have been able to enjoy this blog.