After Alestorm finished their tour with Kamelot and The Agonist, they held a one-off headliner with Blackguard — the last remaining band from the tour’s lineup — at the small, dim, grungy bar called Brass Mug in Tampa, FL. Although these swarthy Scots are not dressed up in pirate garb, their shenanigans are unmatched on stage. Despite the fact that this “Yo-ho”-ing group of pranksters seem ridiculous, they are genuine guys pronouncing excellent musicianship, visible in their songwriting and conversation.
Chris, the lead singer and keyboardist for Alestorm, chatted with us on a dirty stairwell behind the bar before their act began. The jokes rolled nonstop during our interview with Alestorm’s singer Christoper Bowes, where we chatted about on-stage pranks, pirate costumes, side projects and Scottish beef.
Brass Mug is quite the small venue, especially compared to Firestone in Orlando last night. What do you think of this place?
I like venues like this. This is always a good way to end a tour, because you can be a stupid asshole on stage.
Is that the plan once again? Last night, during the encore of Captain Morgan’s Revenge, everyone [from the other bands] came out on stage and sort of…“chipped in.”
Right. There were a few …extra guitarists.
A few?
Ten or twenty.
And tonight?
Well, it’s always normal to do certain things. This is Blackguard’s last night with us, so we might invade their stage wearing thongs or something like that. We’ll see how we feel. Alcohol will help decide.
Decide? You mean, decide on the red thong or the black thong?
Shall we say: every man must make his own.
Did you grow closer to [Kamelot, The Agonist, Blackguard] as the tour went on, or did you start with the antics right from the beginning? Or is that just something you just do — hop into a tour and throw shit to the wind?
It kind of just happens — we click with some bands. You quickly learn that you’re always there to take the piss from them. Some bands are into being stupid; some bands aren’t. But this tour was full of antics, definitely.
By the way, was that you guys behind taking the cymbals [last night]?
Yeah, that was our guitar player Danny and a couple of guys from Blackguard that attacked The Agonist and replaced all their cymbals with three really small ones. It was quite fun. It’s a classic.
Any one that really stood out that you did or somebody else pulled on you?
I think the last night was definitely the worst of it, or the best of it, depending on how you look at it. It’s kind of traditional, the last night of a tour just to get into being silly. That’s when it all comes out.
I’ve never seen it before, so I think that was pretty unique.
Really? It happens all the time. Even the road shows.
Maybe it’s just you guys.
Maybe it is. Maybe that’s why we got all these funny looks from people. I thought it was normal. I don’t know.
Where do you get your inspiration from to write your pirate songs? Do you watch pirate movies, or do you just…
Nah. Some things kind of write themselves, you know. “Questing on a boat for treasure!” [He punches his fist into the air.] A few “yo-ho’s” and “ahoy“s, and it’s pretty easy stuff.
Do you still find it to be a challenge?
It’s always a challenge to write a good song, whether it’s about pirates or not. Writing a crap song would take seconds, but if you put enough time into it, then the song sounds natural.
Do you like writing/singing about pillaging, wenches, or drinking the most?
I think the drinking songs are the best. People seem to relate to those more. There’s not many people doing the whole wenching and pillaging these days. But everyone likes a good drink, so.
So, where are you from again? Because you sound like you naturally have an accent. Are you from Scotland?
I am. Do I…I don’t sound Scottish, do I?
(Stephanie): A little bit, yes. Yes you do.
Do I? Wow. I am from Scotland, yes. From the wee town of Perth. Cold. And wet.
(Stephanie): So do you have to tell people Perth, not Australia. Scotland?
Often. It gets confusing when we tour Australia. “Hey, where you from?” “Perth.” “Oh, me too!” “No, the other one.”
Alestorm’s music is really well composed, but still “silly” in its own way, as we spoke about before. What has the reaction been from the metal community, positively and negatively?
The people who get it, love it. The people who don’t, hate it, basically. It’s as simple as that. Of course we polarize fans, because we ARE a bit silly. It means that some people don’t like that – they take their music a bit too seriously. They think we’re somehow mocking something, or ruining the legacy of Running Wild, or whatever band you think sounds a bit pirate-ish.
Has someone compared you to Running Wild?
All the time.
What do they say?
“So, do you guys like Running Wild?” “What’s your favorite Running Wild song?” “So, do you know you’re copying Running Wild?” I was like, no – we don’t even listen to them. It’s rubbish German heavy metal. Nothing to do with what we do. It’s just because of the whole pirate thing. Like I say, there’s thousands of bands that sing about Vikings, but no one says, “Oh, you’re all just copying Bathory.” It’s like, somehow become accepted that you’re allowed to sing about Vikings, but if you sing about pirates, you’re just a novelty band.
[Chris throws his hands up in the air, a bit exasperated, then chuckles.] It’s a hard life.
(Stephanie) [laughs]: I can imagine it can get frustrating.
Yeah, but it’s all right.
As a musician and composer, do you ever have any inspiration or desire to write things that aren’t pirate-y? Do you turn it into pirate music, do something on the side, trash it? What do you do with that inspiration?
Yes. I write a lot of things that aren’t pirate-y. I’ve got three million side projects going on right now of every single genre ever.
Wait. How many?
Billions of side projects.
Really? Billions?
Literally billions.
You probably have more side projects than anybody I have ever met.
More side projects than people on earth. One band per person. I individually tailor bands to each personality. I’ve gone that far. This last one ranging from synth-pop to electronic to weird ambient nonsense.
Really? So you do electronic music production as well?
I try to. I’m not very good at it, but yeah, I try. It’s something I wish I was good at.
What is your favorite side project? Is there anything that you feel might take you somewhere?
The new one that just got going is a power metal band, like ___. You know, unicorns and dragons and wizards power-metal band, called Glory Hammer.
(Michelle) Glory Hammer. I will remember that.
Glory Hammer.
For the record, that is Michelle’s excited face. She will be your number one fan if this ever takes off.
There are big things happening. It’s not just me and the internet. You’ll be hearing more of this, I promise.
Is it with people [from Alestorm] or different people?
All different people. People I know from home, and some hired mercenaries. It’s going to be magical. It’s basically this fantasy metal album that’s set in medieval Scotland, but with dragons. And wizards. [Chris lowers his voice to a whisper.] It’s very silly. Very, very silly.
But it’s all good music. It’s like a classically perfect power metal album about wizards.
So, these different people. Were they people you met on tour, or…?
They’re just friends I’ve known from over the years who are into metal. I was like, “Let’s try to be in a band and we’ll go round the world. It’ll be fun!” And they were like, “Yay! Let’s do it!”
h4.: Do you keep any of them private, like, not have your name on them? Or is your name on everything that you do out there?
I did…actually, you know, there’s another pirate metal band I’ve got, called “Rum Ahoy.” You know: “Rum” and “Ahoy!” With some friends of mine. Some good, good friends of mine.
How is Rum Ahoy different from Alestorm?
Umm…
Let me guess: Is it not about wenches, and only about mead?
Chris [laughs]: It’s…it’s just the same thing.
It’s just different people?
Yeah, of course. Different people.
(Michelle) So would that cause you conflict? Do you ever want to write something and say okay, which band should I pitch it to?
Basically, it’s even sillier than Alestorm. I’ve said too much already!
(Michelle) So if it crosses the silly line, then you’ll pitch it to Rum Ahoy?
(Stephanie): There’s a line of silly. He’s drawn the chalk in the sand.
I think the other one’s more serious, actually. Pretends to be. I think Alestorm wears its silliness on its sleeve. You know we’re silly. I like convincing people we’re not being silly even when we are. That’s fun. It’s always fun — the fans take it far more seriously than you do. It’s a laugh.
At the last two shows I’ve attended [of Alestorm’s], people have been dressed up in pirate costumes – some very elaborate. Have you ever dressed up as pirates for the stage? Why don’t you?
I think I once wore a frilly shirt, but it got really sweaty and smelly, and I threw it away. It’s difficult to parade around stage with a keyboard, a silly costume, and a pirate hat on. You kind of feel a bit stuck in place because you want to run around a lot, and it’s just not possible when you’re wearing doing frilly, bulky pirate costumes. We like to think the music speaks for itself; we’re a band, not a bunch of children’s entertainers. Not that there’s anything wrong with dressing up, but people shouldn’t be angry that we don’t.
I’ve seen a couple of bands do it really well, but you all definitely run around stage a lot more than them – and that’s what makes your show fun. On top of that, you can’t go out and steal cymbals from the other bands in costumes — your frills would get caught in the cymbals.
Exactly. Really, we don’t have the facilities to do all the laundry every night. The stuff we wear on stage right now smells. But imagine wearing a coat and a pirate shirt – that is going to smell toxic after two days.
We spoke with Turisas about it, and as you know, they’re in full garb.
Yeah, we’re touring them this week.
They have handmade uniforms that are barely semi-washable. Their last set they hadn’t washed in three years of touring. He said that they reeked so bad, and that it wasn’t a rarity that one night their uniforms would be soaked with sweat, and the next day when they’d have to put them on, they wouldn’t be dry yet.
See, that’s not fun.
That makes the road life even harder. I appreciate you answering the question, because I think it was one worth asking.
Of course.
(Michelle) I noticed that there was a key missing on your keytar. Please tell us the story of your missing key.
I think at the start of the tour it was a bit wobbly, so I tried not to hit it. So I’ve kind of worked out how to play not hitting it. But then last night I did hit it and it just came and fell off.
(Stephanie) It’s kind of like a loose tooth.
Yeah, and it just eventually fell out.
(Michelle) You’re not going to get it repaired?
I might. I’ve got another keytar at home I could salvage, but it’s a conversation piece, having a missing key. So I might just leave it.
(Stephanie) It adds a lot of character. It’s like when you go pillaging, shit happens.
Chris [laughs] It’s like a peg leg.
So, before we wrap this up, is there anything you want to say to fans?
I want to tell our fans to eat Scottish beef. I’m very proud of my beef.
About the Author: Stephanie (a.k.a. Steph Rose)
Steph is a tea-drinking, metal-obsessed resident of South Florida. She programmed this site in the name of metal, she travels cross-country (and hopefully internationally eventually) in support of metal, and she should probably be in Manowar because she sure as hell would die for metal.