Sea shanties at full throttle: Pirates Of Rock'n'Roll debut with “Na setkę”

Punks with a shanty book

Pirates Of Rock'n'Roll is a side project of musicians from Tri-City band Lamia Reno: Marcin Nawrocki on guitar and vocals, Piotr Lewicki on guitar, Marcin Dutkiewicz on bass and Michał Skuza on drums, with roots firmly in the local punk scene. Even the title works on two levels. Among musicians, “na setkę” means recording the whole band live in the studio, the way it sounds on stage; at the bar, “setka” is simply a shot of vodka, which hardly seems a coincidence given the album opens with “Kolejkę nalej” (Pour another round).

The twelve tracks are built largely on songs anyone who has been to a Polish shanty festival will know, put through distortion. “Kolejkę nalej” is set to the traditional “Drunken Sailor”, “Hiszpańskie dziewczyny” and “Dickmann” to “Spanish Ladies”, and “24 lutego” is the Polish version of “24th of February”. There is also a punk take on “The Wellerman”, retitled “Eye Of The Wellerman”, alongside the band's own songs such as “Szanty A'La La”, before the album closes with the ballad “Pora już kończyć rejs” (Time to end the voyage).

A salute to the Battle of Oliwa, and a verdict

The band's Gdańsk roots are clearest in “Dickmann (Szanta oliwska)” and “Bitwa pod Oliwą”, both devoted to the greatest victory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's navy. On 28 November 1627, Polish ships under Admiral Arend Dickmann defeated a Swedish squadron off Gdańsk; Dickmann was killed in the battle, which remains a cornerstone of Polish naval tradition. Instead of another tale of distant oceans, the band tells a story that played out just offshore, and with the anniversary at the end of November, the album has a natural moment to be heard in its home city.

“Na setkę” is a record with a clear idea and plenty of confidence, opening the shanty repertoire to listeners who would never go to a shanty festival. Polish music portal Radio Cykcyk called Pirates Of Rock'n'Roll probably the only band in Polish history to combine punk rock and sea shanties, recommending the album to landlubbers and old salts alike, with reservations only about the artwork. The CD comes in a six-panel digipack with a 15-page booklet (Olifant Records, OR 228) and is available from the label's shop and on streaming services.