What exactly is The Pyrates Royale? An award-winning music group? A group of interactive comedians? A gang of consenting adults who dress funny and sing drinking songs?

After more than 28 years of noise pollution, money-grubbing and general delinquency masquerading as entertainment, nobody has managed to answer this question to anyone's satisfaction. What the group has done is carry on in its own inimitable style: combining seafaring history, music, comedy and reenacting.

The Pyrates Royale began as an improv comedy act in late 1988, when four character actors at the Maryland Renaissance Festival banded together as a merry crew of pirates. Surprisingly, nobody tried to stop them.

The act -- if one can call a quartet of strangely-dressed fellows having fun at each others' expense an "act," quickly won over an enthusiastic audience. Flush with victory (or drink), our intrepid crew returned to the Maryland Festival. They began to indulge their fondness for drinking songs of the seafaring, Irish, and rugby variety. The response was again tremendous (who knew?) and the group decided to officially expand the act to include music. After a few seasons of being known simply as "The Pyrates," a drastic change in the roster prompted the group to adopt a new name; The Pyrates Royale was established in 1991.

The Pyrates Royale has since evolved into a musical comedy act and one of the most popular groups to ever sully taverns and stages at music festivals up and down the East coast. The crew has played a variety of venues including renaissance, maritime, celtic, folk music and pirate festivals; ship excursions, private and corporate parties -- even weddings. (who knew?) Their recordings have been enjoyed by fans all over the world.

Armed with guitar, hammered dulcimer, bodhran, fiddle, and (unfortunately) concertina, as well as a hearty chorus of hale and harmonious voices, the group expanded its repertoire to include instrumental tunes, Gaelic, Tom Lewis and even a madrigal or two. However, the crew never strayed too far from its original purpose: to make people laugh. Now people also sing along. Maybe someday they'll stop throwing things. We keep hoping.

In the fine tradition of many renaissance festival performers, members developed their music, characters, and costumes by drawing from history and their own overactive imaginations. The crew played a wide variety of venues including renaissance, maritime, celtic, folk music and pirate festivals; ship excursions, private and corporate parties -- even weddings. (who knew?) The Pyrates Royale produced six full-length recordings -- Hello, Sailor, Lyve Behind Bars, Love at Fyrst Nyte, Tales of the Brigantine, Black Jack, and KEEP CALM AND SEEK REVENGE.