Dread Crew of Oddwood at Nether Bar, Minneapolis (25 Aug 2016)

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!).

The phrase "heavy mahogany" was coined by the band to be the style of music they play. As the singer explained to the crowd, it's like heavy metal, only wood, because pirates. Regardless of what you want to call the music of The Dread Crew of Oddwood, it's fun and different and more than worth your time to check out.

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.

The crowd smiled as they watched Captain Wolfbeard O'Brady (yes, that is his name) headbang 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 Dread Crew Of Oddwood is not a new band. They have four studio albums out and a couple hilarious music videos. They self-released Lawful Evil (a reference to Dungeons & Dragons game rules) earlier this year and seemed to play many songs off of the new album but they did not neglect their other releases along with a handful of covers (none of which they played all the way through). They ended their all to short set with a beautiful rendition of a portion of George Michael's Careless Whisper. Just take a second to imagine what that would sound like when played on mandolin, accordion, and everything else.

The show only lasted an hour due to The Dread Crew of Oddwood being the sole band on the bill but the crowd seemed more than okay with that and lingered after the show for a couple more rounds and a bit of socializing with the pirates.

There was no hint to any future tour dates or upcoming releases but I highly suggest checking out the Dead Crew of Oddwood if you are a fan of things such as the movies Hook & The Pirate of the Carribean, eye patches, and peglegs!