We Were Pirates is DC-area native, Mike Boggs. In 2007 Boggs set out to record a few songs that had been playing in his head for quite some time. Armed with an electric guitar, a casio keyboard, a sparse drum kit, and his trusty old iBook, he crafted a five-song EP, entitled, “The Wolf.”
Some people liked the EP very much. So he kept making music and started playing shows here and there with good friends sitting in as the backing band. Since the release of “The Wolf,” Boggs has been hard at work building a new home studio and recording a whole bunch of new songs for a full-length record.
Nearly two years later, Boggs has released We Were Pirates’ debut LP, “Cutting Ties.”
As with the EP, every instrument on “Cutting Ties” was performed and recorded entirely by Boggs in his home studio. The new songs are something of a departure from the quieter, more subdued style of the EP. “Cutting Ties” is louder, poppier, and catchier than the catchiest dog-catcher.
“Cutting Ties” features 10 brand new songs, including a new version of “The Three of Us,” a cover song that Boggs recorded which was featured on the Chicago Public Radio show, This American Life. As a result, Chicago Tribune rock critic and co-host of Sound Opinions, Greg Kot, heard We Were Pirates’ version of the song and described it thusly: “Pure pop. This should be the next Fountains of Wayne single…genius.”
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PRESS:
“Nervous,” the third track from The Wolf, draws the listener in while Boggs emotes in a hushed tone through an entrancingly melodic, electronic soundscape. The song conveys an honesty that makes it feel epic, despite its soft simplicity.”
“Pure pop. This should be the next Fountains of Wayne single…. genius. Gets me every time.”
- Greg Kot, co-host of Sound Opinions and rock critic for Chicago Tribune
“Boggs’ carefully crafted songs are brimming with charming melodies and soft vocals that are, above all, undeniably catchy.”
“We look forward to hearing more from this boy genius and hope We Were Pirates will play in New York City. We’d love to see him live.”
“damned good—made more so when you consider that he recorded this stuff himself on his iBook. I can’t wait to hear more of this stuff—it’s great.”
“Boggs’ debut LP, Cutting Ties, features the same saccharine songwriting that made 2007′s The Wolf EP a local hit, but Boggs hasn’t wasted the last two years repeating himself. With Cutting Ties, he elevates his once annoyingly precious sound to an appealingly mellow—and occasionally bittersweet—pop-rock.”
“You could say the music is awesome, or super awesome. But my feeling on the matter is that We Were Pirates is a one man bandgasm of awesomeness.”
“We Were Pirates is quite possibly my newest favorite DC area artist, bringing you indie folk pop with a serious dose of cute.”
“Writing a pop song—a really great one — is a daunting task. And to not only come up with one, but many, and play every instrument on each … well, not just anyone can do it. So hats off to Mike Boggs. The DC area musician works under the moniker We Were Pirates, melting vintage rock ‘n’ roll nuggets into the ore of his indie pop, while posing a triple threat on guitar, keys and drums.”
“We Were Pirates indie pop is extremely catchy, and reminiscent of the Death Cab for Cutie, Mates of State school of pop, and that’s a good thing.”
