Biography
Pirate Dreams came together in name in May of 2003, when two music store schmoes,
Jim Jowsey and Justin Kubiak decided to put together an acoustic project for the beach bars
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up and down the Western New York coast of Lake Erie. The project featured the slacker
nation music of Jimmy Buffett as well as other stripped down versions of popular songs and
certain “blue” material. Jim called in a few favors from some booking agent friends and
before you knew it the boys had over 40 shows booked for that first summer, all before they
had their first rehearsal. They added Justin's old friend Johnny Panic on the congas and
were off, taking the beach bars by storm. It was a hell of a summer.
It was in that first off-season that Jim realized that a full band and sound might be in
order so when Justin took off to play some winter dates with another group, he went to work
building Pirate Dreams into the four piece phenomenon it is today. Starting off with local
country artist Jon Payne, Jim hooked up with bassist Dave Rennicks and an an old friend of
his, Dean O'keefe on the drums and the group was off for year #2, filled with more beach
bars, “parrot head” events, outdoor festivals and even a few private parties. A few personnel
changes here and there and the group settled into the lineup you see now, Jimmy on the
lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Dave on the bass guitar and backing vocals, Marty Peters
filling in the vast majority of the guitars and backing vocals and Buffalo music scene elder
statesman Bill Moore on the drums and taking care of auxillary percussion.
Going into their seventh year, the band has settled into a groove that is uniquely their
own in their home area, “Trop Rock”, a mish mash of Rock-n-Roll and Country sounds that
celebrate escapism, the getting lost on a tropical island variety. With local, regional and
national music festivals under their belt, a repertoire of summertime tunes diverse enough to
keep anybody dancing all night long under the stars and a disc of their own tropically
inspired creations helping to establish a name for themselves as songwriters, Pirate Dreams
is poised, locked and loaded to do what they do best. Take their tropical, laid back musical
vibe to the masses, mix up a boat drink or two and sail off into the sunset, with a few
thousand like minded friends trailing along for the ride.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.