5 Isle of Wight friends who describe themselves simply as ‘five mates, drinking beer and singing shanties’ are preparing to release their debut album after building a growing following at pubs, festivals and events across the Island.
East Cowes Shanty will release Ales & Sails on 20th September, bringing together traditional sea shanties, maritime songs and more contemporary material – including a track with a distinctly Isle of Wight flavour.
The group is made up of Pete Badham, Bob Irvine, Ian Carrington, Dusty Cheverton and John Luckett.
What began as 5 friends enjoying singing together has developed into appearances at folk clubs, pubs, festivals, community events and charity fundraisers on the Isle of Wight and further afield.
Despite their growing following, the group has retained the informal and audience-friendly style which has become central to its performances.
The decision to finally put their music onto an album came after the friends had discussed the idea for some time.
Pete Badham, of East Cowes Shanty, has said:
“We’d talked about recording our songs for ages.
Article continues below this advertisement “Eventually we decided we’d better actually get them recorded before one of us dies! We weren’t trying to reinvent sea shanties – we just wanted to capture the sound of the five of us doing what we enjoy.”
Ales & Sails was recorded with sound engineer Stuey Heath at Hungry Hound Productions and aims to capture the group’s live sound, combining unaccompanied harmonies with the occasional use of a shruti box.
Traditional favourites featured on the album include Santiana, Paddy Lay Back, Three Score and Ten, Mingulay Boat Song, Rolling Down to Old Maui, John Kanaka and When Johnny Comes Down to Hilo.
Fiddlers’ Green, written by folk songwriter John Conolly, also features, alongside The Last Leviathan, with lyrics by Andy Barnes and an arrangement by East Cowes Shanty.
One of the tracks has a particularly strong Isle of Wight connection.
This Is My Island is Pete Badham’s adaptation of Harry Glasson’s Cornwall My Home, rewritten with Glasson’s permission to celebrate the group’s own Island home.
Northern Tide also features as the album moves between traditional working shanties, reflective maritime songs and the big choruses familiar to those who have attended an East Cowes Shanty performance.
The album will be officially launched at Quay Arts in Newport on Sunday (20th September), when the group appears as part of the venue’s regular monthly folk night.
Ales & Sails will be available on CD and as a digital download, including directly through the East Cowes Shanty website. It is also expected to be available on major streaming platforms in time for its release.
For the 5 friends, the record is more about capturing their enjoyment of performing together than chasing chart success.
Pete added:
“It’s something the five of us can be proud of.
“If people put it on, sing along, have a beer and feel a little bit like they’re at one of our gigs, then we’ve done what we set out to do.”
