I have been haunted by the accordion throughout my life. You see, my dad is the most famous accordion player in Iowa (I’m not quite sure that’s an accomplishment to be proud of?). Every single first day of school, every single birthday, every single anything… my dad was sure to be there with that damn accordion strapped to his chest. I dreaded it and often plotted how I could “lose” that beast of an instrument. Last night, I watched a man headbang and dance a jig as he played the accordion and I couldn’t help but smile as I remembered all of those years I dreaded seeing that instrument pop up in my life.

I could have spent last night locked up in my apartment afraid of the backlash from posting what I did about Wednesday night’s show but that’s just not my style. There was a show in town last night and I wasn’t going to miss it just because a bunch of Shining’s fans were trying to intimidate me. I did the only thing I know how to do. I got in my car and drove downtown to find solace in a good ole pirate metal show.

Don’t laugh, pirate metal is a serious thing and The Dread Crew of Oddwood are the best in the business (if you ask me!).

Pirate metal looks and sounds exactly like what you’re picturing in your head right now. It’s a bunch of grown-ass men dressed up as pirates, drinking out of wooden mugs, and singing jigs while swaying back and forth. The crowd is also exactly what you’re thinking, a bunch of grown-ass people dressed up as pirates, drinking far too much, and dancing their butts off. It may sound juvenile and straight up stupid, but when you’re at a show like the one I went to last night, you can’t help but get wrapped up in the whole thing.

There are actually a bunch of pirate metal bands out there… enough to make a whole tour out of them last year which was called “Piratefest”. That’s how I got thrown into this fantasy world. I had no clue what pirate metal meant but I went to that tour featuring Alestorm, The Dread Crew of Oddwood, Swashbuckle, and a few other bands and completely fell in love with the scene.

The thing that sets The Dread Crew of Oddwood apart from majority of the other pirate metal bands I’ve seen is the fact that they only use traditional instruments instead of modern day electric guitars and basses. Many of the bands in this genre use keyboards to emulate the traditional sound but these guys are the real deal… accordion and all.

I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched Captain Wolfbeard O’Brady (yes, that is his name) headbanged whilst playing the accordion. It was wacky, it was insane, and it was perfect. Boatswain Deckard Cordwain, who was on mandolin, had a hard time staying on the stage and often found himself dancing in the moshpit turned jig-dancing-pit. Bassist Smithy Crow seemed to have ants in his pants and couldn’t stand still to save his life. He swayed back and forth and at times, held his upright bass like it was an electric guitar.

The crowd that gathered for the show last night wasn’t big but it was perfect. With The Dread Crew of Oddwood being the only band on the bill, everyone who was there wanted to be there. This made the atmosphere one of the best I’ve ever been a part of. People didn’t care if you looked like an idiot with your eyepatch on. They didn’t care if you spilled your beer as you did the dosey doe with the person next to you. They didn’t care about anything other than having a good time and that’s exactly what we all had.

There was not a single moment during that show that I did not have a smile on my face and that’s exactly what I needed.

Line Up:

The Dread Crew of Oddwood

Venue: The Nether Bar

Sausage Fest Meter- 8 out of 10

Average Age of the Crowd- 35

Drink of Choice Throughout the Crowd- Surly!

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers-0

Jigability- High

Broken Bones- None

Drunkards Taken Out By Security- None

Celebrity Sightings-None

Overall Score- 8 out of 10

Show on Deck- MXPX with Masked Intruder