Editor’s Note: This interview with Pirates of Panama was conducted via email. Questions and answers may have been cleaned up for grammar and clarity, however the content has not been altered.
[Samantha Warren/AltWire]: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me today. For our readers who haven’t heard of you guys yet, can you tell us everyone in the band, and anything you’d like us to know about you?
Pirates of Panama: Thanks for having us guys! Yeah sure, so the band consists of Louis Collins on vocals / bass and Ed Egan on guitars. As well as being musicians we are also huge Football [soccer] fans! When we aren’t performing or writing we are watching football, which tends to surprise people!
[AW]: You guys are based in the UK. What’s it like for you coming to the states when you tour? What’s one main difference you notice between the two counties, and is it hard to adjust while on the road? What has been your favorite place that you’ve seen in the US?
Pirates of Panama: We love coming to the states when we tour everyone is always so welcoming to us and very kind. Our music is really well received whenever we come out to the states. The hardest thing to adjust to is the time difference of 8 hours as we always hit the ground running as soon as we arrive in the USA. Our favorite place so far has to be Los Angeles! We can’t wait to tour different parts of the country.
[AW]: You’re also in the process of moving to L.A. What are you most looking forward to moving to the states?
Pirates of Panama: We have actually arrived in LA this week which has been fantastic. We are really looking forward to working with some house hold names here in LA such as Mikal Blue who we will be working with on some upcoming tracks and continuing to build as a band!
[AW]: Can you tell us about your new single and musical influences? Who are they and how have they affected your sound?
Pirates of Panama: We would love to chat about our new single. Been There Before has always been a personal and crowd favorite of ours and a really popular song in our live set. We felt this track was a true representation of what we are about as a band. We decided this would be the main single on our EP The Chase due to demand which is always craved for this track!
[AW]: You started as a 5 piece band, and now you’re a duo. What was that like adjusting from 5 members to just two? Has it made writing music easier or harder?
Pirates of Panama: It was such a natural transition changing to a duo, if anything becoming a duo has made us stronger as band. When we play live our sound is as good as it’s ever been. We are open to the idea of expanding the band providing we find like minded individuals.
[AW]: What’s the writing process like for when you write new music? Has anything weird ever happened to you guys when writing new material?
Pirates of Panama: Most of our material is primarily written by jamming out an idea which one of us has. This approach allows us to produce the most natural sounding songs without trying to achieve a particular sound on purpose. The songs on our EP the chase have been through there own transitional periods overtime. The end results are something which we are very proud of.
[AW]: Social media played a big role in getting the word out about your EP out. What would you suggest to upcoming musicians who are trying to spread the word about their music on social media platforms? What made you guys stand out?
Pirates of Panama: Everything you guys see about us on social media is very natural, we don’t try and be something were not we are just two guys having fun. The most important thing we could advise upcoming bands is to make your content relatable and natural to your own audience.
[AW]: Do you guys have any side projects in the works? What’s next for you guys?
Pirates of Panama: We are currently working on some collaborations with a great You Tuber “ The Soange “ and working on a few events here in Hollywood. We have some upcoming performances with some good friends of ours playing some British classics for you all!
In terms of what’s next, we are busy creating lots of new content for our fans which we can’t wait for you all to hear. We have a great publicist and team behind us so we are looking forward to creating amazing new opportunities for our fans new and old to hear.
[AW]: Any last words, or is there anything you’d like our readers to know?
Pirates of Panama: Thanks for taking the time to chat to us! It’s been a pleasure. Keep your eyes open for new videos / photos and music coming really soon.
