Biography:
The Pirate Ship Quintet were originally formed in early 2004 from the remnants of two musical entities. From Bristol based 'We Were Nice Today' came guitarist Alex Hobbis and drummer Jonathan Sturgess. Through several interesting and accidental stories, they had congealed in Bournemouth along with local cad and second guitarist Terry Smith - fresh from Bournemouth based 'Fashion Police Brutality', where he had done guitars and vocals. Into this gloop of musical ability and idealistic fornication came Moo, who played trumpets, and bass player Matt Fernandez.
In this incarnation, known simply as 'Pirate Ship', the band began shaping their sound, with many different musical tastes and genres being subtly added to the group's post-rock backbone. After several successful gigs in both Bristol and Bournemouth, it was decided that a more eclectic edge could be brought into the mix. Pianos and keyboards were incorporated, played by Gwyn Williams, who had previous experience of such machines from his time with local rockers Guerilla Tapestry. With the addition of the extra acoustic/ambient sounds, the band's music could be coerced into something far more emotive - a blend of delicate, almost ethereal soundscapes and voluminous, thundering walls of sound.
Now known as The Pirate Ship Quintet, the band played regularly in and around Bournemouth and also began travelling further afield. During this time, Terry briefly left the band before rejoining with a large smile, and Matt left for good - moving to a place called 'Lon-don'. Into the gaping, bass shaped hole stepped John Ziapour, a man.
After several months of gigging and reworking the tracks, the début three track EP was begun. At the early stages of recording, the group swelled once more with the addition of cellist Sandy Bartai, a real musician. In recent years, Sandy has worked with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, as well as playing with the London Symphony Orchestra and working with several local acts around the Bournemouth area. His ability to play his instrument well has helped The Pirate Ship Quintet not only musically, but on a personal and financial level.
The Pirate Ship Quintet has shared a stage with the likes of Cult Of Luna, Noxagt, Rose Kemp, Blueneck and Red Paper Dragon, among many others.
Press for 'The Pirate Ship Quintet'
Exposure feature in Rock Sound (UK)
7/10 - Rock Sound (UK)
Press for The Pirate Ship Quintet
Boring Machines Disturbs Sleep
Not really a 5 piece band, but more of a 14 legged army of musicians, The Pirate Ship Quintet are another young British band intent on creating lavish instrumental soundscapes. This is all getting a bit tedious, isn't it?. Not if TPSQ have anything to do with it. Like Yndi Halda a few years ago, these young upstarts are dragging a stagnant post-rock scene out of the mire of mediocrity using their raw materials to meld something new. They have big ideas, bucketloads of ambition and most importantly the charisma to pull it all off. Witness the jaw-dropping "Pirate Ship", the final track of this ep. A dynamic mix of brass, string arrangements and distortion. It is dramatic and euphoric music, that summons the spirit of the much missed Godspeed collective.
"I Kina Spiser De Hund", meanwhile, comes across like a classically trained Red Sparowes. Maintaining their American conuterparts metallic edge, TPSQ add sombre piano lines and layers of heart-breaking violin, to create a mini-symphony that explodes like a volcano. There's plenty on offer on this 30 minute, 3-track Ep to suggest TPSQ are here to stay. Huge expectations have been placed on this band by those left disappointed by Explosions In The Sky's return earlier this year. If this Ep is anything to go by, this young septet have the abiltity to take instrumental music into uncharted territories.
Rating - 87%
The Silent Ballet
The past couple of years have seen the emergence of a whole host of exciting post-rock bands from the UK, such as Yndi Halda, From The Sky, and Mt. In fact, there seems to be a new British group worth listening to every week. However, few of these acts cross the arbitrary boundary between ‘good’ and ‘great.’ For me, Yndi Halda’s Enjoy Eternal Bliss was the last truly mind-blowing release, ostensibly breathing new life into the genre. That was, however, before I had listened to the crushing eponymous debut EP by South coast-dwellers The Pirate Ship Quintet.
Despite their name, The Pirate Ship Quintet is in fact an eight-piece, although some cunning logic on their MySpace clears up any confusion – “Ziapour + Moo + Jona + Gwyn + Terry + Alex + Sandy + Martin = 5” – which thankfully saves me the hassle of having to explain it. They’ve been playing their trade for a few years now, having spent that time gigging and perfecting their thirty-minute, three-track EP. Signing a contract with Sound Devastation Records at the start of 2007 marked the beginning of what promises to be a fulfilling year for the octet.
There are certain similarities between Yndi Halda and The Pirate Ship Quintet, it must be said. Both make beautiful music, undoubtedly. Guitars and strings play an integral part in the music of both acts, but orchestral instrumentation takes much more of a central role in TPSQ’s songs, with brass and piano often rising to prominence. TPSQ’s music is darker, less melodramatic and more restrained than Yndi’s, at times even verging on minimalism. On actually hearing the EP, you certainly won’t be under any illusions that you’re listening to Yndi, that’s for sure.
All three songs on the EP demonstrate the quite-loud dynamics that drew many of us to the ‘post-rock’ genre in the first place, but The Pirate Ship Quintet show more originality in creating these than many of their peers. The first track, ‘Lost Science,’ blends layer-upon-layer of blissful instrumentation, with piano, violin, guitar, bass and drums fusing as a deliberate, insidious crescendo and eventually giving way to a crashing wall of sound. Blissful serenity ensues before the process repeats, and the song finishes in a flourish of frantic bowing and strumming. ‘I Kina Spiser De Hund’ (the title of which is also an obscure Danish film meaning ‘in China they eat dogs’) takes a slightly different route, with loud, crunching metal riffs being used to sandwich some insistent piano chords and nimble fingerwork by the band’s cellist (from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, no less). ‘Pirate Ship’ – the last track and longest on the EP at over 11 minutes – calls to mind The Evpatoria Report at times. A catchy repetitive riff is played over sweeping cello and piano, and occasionally the violin and trumpet join the affray, tantalisingly threatening to take the song to explosive new levels of sound before fading out again. Then, the real crescendos appear – not once, but twice, for your listening pleasure. Simply spectacular.
2007 may have barely started, but The Pirate Ship Quintet has released an impressive EP of such magnitude that it should undoubtedly be considered for record of the year, let alone debut of the year. Potential opposition might as well just walk the plank now.
Rating - 8.5/10
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