Three-cornered hats, skull-and-cross-bone-decorated clothing and black eye patches are all associated with pirates. Add some instruments, screaming fans and a temporarily stolen boat and you end up with the Pirates of the Scioto, a local band.
The Pirates have been playing together for five years around Columbus and recently moved to campus, where three of the band’s five members are students.
“The audience is crazy,” said Joe Rowe, a junior in strategic communication and bass player, as he described the wildly-jumping college students that now attend shows.
Rowe said the band does not tend to stick to a genre, labeling their music instead with the phrase “pirate music.”
When first heard, the songs have a contemporary rock feel with a slightly sardonic humor hidden behind their lyrics.
“We play rock ‘n’ roll, but kind of bluesy,” Rowe said after some contemplation. “We like to mess with tempo, throw in some progressive elements.”
According to the band’s lead guitarist Mike Gavazzi, the group created its identity one late night when the members “borrowed” a boat on the Scioto River – a memory the band likes to keep quiet and were not willing to share details about.
“The boat was returned,” Rowe said.
The Pirates of the Scioto consists of Rowe, Gavazzi, Ben Gard on rhythm guitar, Eric “Dean” Platt on drums and Tony Casa on vocals.
One of their favorite spots to play for sentimental reasons is the Scarlet and Grey Café on North High Street.
“They were our first campus gig,” Rowe said, “so we tend to keep going back there.”
The band was discovered by club owners listening to their music on Myspace, Rowe said.
At myspace.com/piratesofthescioto there are samples of the band’s first recordings, including the songs “No Clothes Blues” and “Red Hot Flash.”
“But it’s horrible,” Rowe said, laughing. “The sound guy was bad. Not all the microphones were on. We’re going to record the next show or two and put them on our site as well.”
The Pirates will participate in a version of Battle of the Bands on April 19 at Whiskey Dick’s on Dublin-Granville Road.
“People should definitely come,” Rowe said. “If they think they’re a pirate, they’d like us.”
Olivia Radcliffe can be reached at [email protected].
