02 July 2013 - 1 Comment

"What comes first, the sea or the shanty? For some, the shanty is their only way to relate the un-relatable: the foam of days – a life at Sea. For others, a shanty may transmit a maladie, something the sea alone can cure. Since time immemorial (1804), members of the Wellington Sea Shanty Society, however, have known there is no separating the salt from the spume.

It’s not often a group is at once our heritage and our future. With a shanty there’s a way to find freedom, on the waves of the great open sea...” - Lin Seal | Wellington Nautical History Monthly

The Poor Sailors Arts Collective are proud to present the Wellington Sea Shanty Society's debut album: Now That's What I Call Sea Shanties - Vol 1. Nine odes to the men and women of the ocean! Pay what you want download here (CDs can also be ordered): http://wellingtonseashantysociety.bandcamp.com/album/now-thats-what-i-call-sea-shanties-vol-1

New Zealand's Most 'Sea Worthy' Shanty Group™ have been belting out traditional sea songs from New Zealand, and around the world, for nigh on two years. Sailors and landlubbers from across the country have been battered by the rousing chorus of this two-man tempest of pure shanty. The W.S.S.S believe that 'a shanty shared is a shanty savoured', so this July they will be taking their shanties North and South where song sheets will be provided for one and all!

Tour Dates:

Sat, July 13, Interislander Ferry, COOK STRAIT, 9am, FREE
Sat, July 13, Tommy Chang's, LYTTLETON, 9pm, $5
Sun, July 14, New Edinburgh Folk Club, DUNEDIN, 7.30pm ,$10 ($5 members) 
Mon, July 15, Pog Mahones, QUEENSTOWN, 9.30pm, FREE 
Wed, July 17, Blue Duck, MILFORD SOUND, Times TBC
Thu, July 18, Cadrona Hotel, WANAKA, 3pm, FREE
Fri, July 19, Cadrona Hotel, WANAKA, 3pm, FREE
Sat, July 20, Hilltop Cafe, BANKS PENINSULA, 8pm, FREE
Sun July 21, Cassel’s Brewery, CHRISTCHURCH, 8pm, FREE
Mon July 22, Interislander Ferry, COOK STRAIT, 1pm, FREE
Thu July 25, Craic Irish Bar, WHAKATANE, 8pm, FREE
Fri July 26, Biddy Mulligan’s, HAMILTON, 8pm, $5
Sat July 27, Golden Dawn, AUCKLAND, 9pm, $5
Fri Aug 2, East by West Ferry, 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington Harbour, WELLINGTON: Tickets (limited to 50) $24 (+booking fee) from http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/2013/wellington-sea-shanty-society-album-release-tour/wellington (includes rum + nibbles + cruise)

The W.S.S.S comprise Vorn Dont le Père Etait Marin, from the indie-pop band Vorn (http://www.vorn.co.nz/), and Lake Davineer, from the electro-pop band Urbantramper (http://www.urbantramper.com/). Vorn is on squeeze box duties, while Lake strums the git-fiddle. Rousing harmonies and raucous foot-stomping abound! The group owes their existence to French groupe de chants de marins Croche Dedans. 

Now That's What I Call Sea Shanties was recorded in the galley of an old abandoned barque by Lake.

Credits:

Vorn: Squeezebox, Bass, Vocals, Log Drum, Mandolin
Lake: Guitar, Vocals, Percussion
Ben Wood: Kick Drum, Tom Drums
Su Keates: Violin
Mike D: Double Bass

Links:

http://wellingtonseashantysociety.com/ 
http://www.facebook.com/WellingtonSeaShantySociety
http://wellingtonseashantysociety.bandcamp.com/

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