Blackbeard’s Tea Party unleash their new album

Blackbeard's Tea Party

In early 2020, two founder-members of Blackbeard’s Tea Party chose to leave the band. At the same time, the coronavirus lockdown restrictions halted all the band’s gigs, rehearsals and plans to write a new album. After more than 10 years of gigging and recording, some bands might have seen these circumstances as a sign to call it a day, but not Blackbeard’s Tea Party. They recruited a new bassist and guitarist, and began writing new music, each working in isolation and using digital technology to stitch the parts together. Most of the tracks were composed before the new line-up had met together in-person. This was a far more critical writing process than on previous records, resulting in twelve lean, finely-honed tracks, instilled with a new creative energy. Kick The Curb is fun, modern and energetic folk rock designed for muddy festival dancefloors. Sea-shanties, instrumental jigs and reels, drinking songs, anti-establishment anthems and supernatural stories are all mill for the Blackbeard’s Tea Party grist on this, their first full-length album since 2015.

The past few years have seen Blackbeard’s Tea Party play at festivals as diverse as Glastonbury, Cambridge Folk Festival, Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, The Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo and many more.

Traditional songs and tunes are given a heavy rock edge with earth shattering riffs, playful arrangements and driving dance rhythms. Blackbeard’s Tea Party believes a live music 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 frequently leaves audiences cheering for more.

In 2019 Blackbeard’s Tea Party celebrated ‘a decade of rocking the folk boat’ with their ‘Ten YARR Anniversary Tour’, playing eighteen dates across England and Wales over the Autumn and Winter. They also re-released an updated version of their most popular track ‘Chicken On A Raft’ to commemorate this milestone.

The Singles

‘Old Dun Cow’
This story of a pub catching fire – and the regulars seeing the opportunity to drink all the booze on the premises rather than flee the flames – is a popular and well-known song on the folk-scene thanks to its bawdy narrative and catchy chorus. It’s been recorded by a range of artists, from Bellowhead to the Futureheads. It was a song calling out for the Blackbeard’s Tea Party folk-rock treatment, with a thumping riff and guitar solo to boot.

‘Roll And Go’
A sea-shanty like you’ve never heard one before. Blackbeard’s Tea Party captures all the excitement and optimism of setting off on an ocean adventure with this up-tempo, adrenaline pumping interpretation of traditional sea song ‘Randy Dandy O’.

Artists’ website: https://www.blackbeardsteaparty.com/

‘Old Dun Cow’ – official video:


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