You’re doing Nerdapalooza this year. Tell us all about that?
Nerdapalooza is a festival that lingers around nerd culture. It’s one of the few events I’ve been to where you can find anything from sword fighting to nerd shirts. All of the biggest nerdcore acts in the U.S. and even some from abroad including: The Protomen, Metroid Metal, Captain Dan and The Scurvy Crew, which is the world’s only pirate rap group. There is also the Krondor Crew who are a group of rap ninjas. It’s got MegaRan who’s going to be doing video game style raps. It’s a nerd event that focuses on everything we love. It’s one of a kind.
Out of all of the acts on Nerdapalooza, is there an act that you’re really excited to see?
The Protomen are on the top of my list. They are a group of people who I’m definitely looking forward to sharing the stage with this year.
I saw the video for “Broadside” which is absolutely hysterical. Tell us about the concept of the song for those who haven’t seen it.
It’s a battle rap song first and foremost. That’s the platform of this song. If you take a pirate and if you figure who would be the most ideal for a pirate’s enemy, most would say ninjas. The most important person to battle is a British heap. This is a battle rap that focuses on me, the British heap, and one of our crew members. We go back and forth and that’s one of our arch nemeses. That’s what the video goes through and describes.
For those who haven’t heard of Captain Dan, why should they check you out?
When they look at something like pirate rap, they’ll be like “Wow, I never heard of that. It sounds interesting.” The thing to remember is Captain Dan and The Scurvy Crew is that we’re more than just a gimmick in a lot of ways. It’s more than what it is by face value. When you start listening to their songs, you’ll start to realize that we’ve taken it much further than just a gimmick. I’m talking about things that are very intense in the pirate lingo. We’ve done a lot of research. We know our history. We want to be funny most of all. The number one reason to listen to us is to laugh and enjoy.
Give us a sneak peek of what we can expect on your webisodes?
The webisodes are going to be touching on different things about pirates. We’re going to start about, how to rap like a pirate, what are some of the terms that Captain Dan and The Scurvy Crew uses. People who listen to our music may not know that there are a lot of parallels between pirate raps. We’re going to discuss some of that. We’re only going to take messages from a bottle that comes in from the shore. We talk about pirate news. We’re even going to be working on an anime that are going to have animations that are similar to “Broadside.”
Even though some of your influences are obvious, who were some people you used to listen to before you started making music?
Well, I’ve been a fan of rap music for a long time. It’s probably going to sound cliché, but my favorites were the O.G. rappers. I like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. More recently, I’ve gotten into Eminem. I always loved the West Coast flavor a little bit more than the East Coast flavor. I also like to bring in some Caribbean flavor so you might even hear a little bit of John Paul influence in my tracks. I also have influences in metal. One of my favorite metal bands is this band called Halestorm who’s one of my favorites. I also like Rakim.
As an off topic question, what were you like in high school?
The easiest way I can describe it to you would be a dork. I was a total nerd. I loved computers. I was also a pirate. I used to wear an eye patch in high school and see what people would say as I was walking down the hallway. I stick out like a sore thumb. It’s not easy to be a pirate in the 21st century.
For anyone that wants to be a part of the Scurvy Crew what can they do to join?
If you want to join the Scurvy Crew, we’re always looking for people to audition. If you got a good pirate voice and if you got what it takes to rhyme send me an e-mail at captaindanandthescurvycrew@gmail.com with your favorite track that you recorded as a pirate. We’re always interested in adding new crewmates. We’re also looking for anyone to perform with us live in the south Florida area who is interested in being a pirate rapper. We’re always having guests on our tracks so if you have any material that you think is funny even a song idea that you’d like to rap on, we’re always for it.
By Gerard Ucelli
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