sandiegopunk.com
Cut Throat Pirates
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A spectator usually goes out to a show planning to check out a specific band. Sometimes, however, we are lucky enough to discover a band we haven’t seen before that really rocks. That is what happened to me at Fannies’ halloween party, Saturday, October 28th, when I saw the Cut Throat Pirates for the first time. CTP played a great set; proof that San Diego has some young talent in their hardcore punk scene. |
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CTP got together in January of 2006 under its current lineup. Nate, usually a drummer but now a front man, supplies the vocals, Kevin delivers the beat, Danny furnishes bass lines, and Dane executes the guitar riffs. The band began when Kevin and Nate shared the idea of forming a band after Nate ended a relationship with his girlfriend. Kevin brought in his brother Danny, and Nate added his old friend Dane to round out the group. The members used to “self medicate” and go hiking in the wilderness, sometimes for the entire night. The adrenaline and primal fear they experienced while fighting their way through swamps in the dark, encountering packs of coyotes, snakes, spiders and even transients, are the inspiration for a majority of the bands’ music. (The remaining source of inspiration comes from the band name itself).
Kevin and Danny were born in Germany and raised from a young age in Vista; Nate and Dane grew up in Oceanside, where the band now practices in a garage at least once a week. 19-year-old Nate writes most of the lyrics for their songs and 20-year-old Kevin writes most of the music. Danny, 18, and Dane, 16, finish the songs.
CTP has a six-song demo (available for free upon request) and they are currently in the process of finishing their full-length album on Oceanside based Dead Records. Their raw, brutal sound and energetic live show brings punk back to its DIY origins. CTP cites D.R.I., Wanted Dead, Bad Brains, The Cro Mags, Suicidal Tendencies, Municipal Waste, The Misfits, The Dwarves, The Dead Kennedys, G G Allin, The Subhumans, Crass, Discharge, Adolescence and Rudimentary Peni as their professional influences. Says Kevin, “CTP is about the raw, primal energy, fear, anger, and adrenaline that punk should be. There are too many mediocre emo-pop bands that call themselves punk because they have mohawks and wear studded belts... or maybe because being ‘punk’ is ‘cool’. Punk is really a point of view, a music, an energy, not a style. We’re here to eviscerate, and to start a revolution, destroying political, religious and social class segregation. The Cut Throat Pirates are here to play real punk rock for the working class.” The guys of CTP are much more than just ambitious musicians in their quest to rectify what they see as wrong with the world.
One night shortly after CTP got together, they witnessed a woman being chased into her apartment by a man, who then proceeded to break a kitchen window and climb in after her. Knives and beer bottles in hand, Kevin and Nate raced to her rescue, and made sure the woman was okay. Nate had broken his bottle to be used if necessary as a weapon, but failed to realize that the broken glass had impaled his bare foot until the commotion was over. The guys left when the police arrived, but Nate was unable to work for several weeks following the incident, and subsequently lost his job. The glass remains inside his foot to this day.
Not to be mistaken for being serious all the time, CTP likes to party, too. Nate, I’m told, is a hit with the ladies, while Danny is the biggest drunk. Being comprised of underage members, however, puts a damper on the band’s admittance into bars and they’re often forced to wait outside before and after their sets. Not long ago, CTP was outside a bar, waiting to play, when someone helped the members acquire beer. Drunk and anticipating playing, somehow they let a dog out of someone’s yard. They tried to catch it, but eventually gave up. CTP went on and played the show, but they still don’t know if the dog was ever caught.
CTP is all about having fun, and taking punk back to its roots of anti-establishment rebellion. They’re not about being the biggest or the most famous- CTP promotes local bands getting along for the sake of the music, playing shows for the fun of it, and putting a stop to technological entertainment. “If we’re not careful, technology will destroy music as we know it,” Kevin remarks. He adds, “Take your T.V. and smash it in the street. Stop watching what the government wants you to see: the propagandistic media and the mind rotting television shows they call entertainment, or you will be a mindless aphid, without your own opinion.” True punk ideals, the original movement that began in response to an ignorant conformist society, are a major motivating factor for CTP’s music and energetic shows. You might find them playing venues in North County, and other bars in San Diego County, or “wherever possible,” says Nate. CDs are available upon request, and they have t-shirts for $10. Check their website for upcoming shows, and support local punk!!
- Molly
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