We Were Pirates is DC-area native and multi-instrumentalist, Mike Boggs. Boggs writes and records his songs in his home-studio.
Boggs recently released the second We Were Pirates full-length record, Change, in January 2012, Change strays from the traditional straight-ahead indie-pop of 2009’s Cutting Ties and features a slightly more mature, aggressive sound. Fear not though, the new songs have the same trademark WWP catchiness that will cause listeners to curse the band while humming the infectious melodies over and over.
Change is the first We Were Pirates record to feature contributors Gabe Fry (The NRIs) on guitar and Kate Rears Burgman (The Alphabetical Order) on cello and bass. Also a departure, the mastering process was outsourced to the very capable TW Walsh (Sufjan Stevens, David Bazan, Ra Ra Riot).
2009’s Cutting Ties was fortunate enough to reach #41 on the CMJ Top 200 chart for college music airplay in 2010. That same year MTV featured “Don’t Forget” and “Settle Down”, two tracks from Cutting Ties, on “The Real World: DC”. Cutting Ties also features a 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.”
At the moment We Were Pirates live shows feature Gabe Fry, Kate Rears Burgman, and Pat Frank.
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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.”
