Tue 19th Dec | 10pm
Tickets: £8 Adv
Using just their incredible voices, Pete Truin, Jamie Doe and Sam Brookes explore ballads, shanties and seafaring songs that tell tales of whaling ships, lost loves and hardship at sea.
The Ballina Whalers (pronounced Bal-en-a) are Pete Truin, Jamie Doe and Sam Brookes – three musical barnacles clinging to the creaking hull of a musical tradition stretching back over hundreds of years. Using just their voices they explore ballads, shanties and seafaring songs that tell tales of whaling ships, lost loves, roaring storms and hardship out at sea.
Fast becoming one of the most sort after shanty bands around, known as much for their heart rending three part harmonies as their lusty approach to singing shanties, the last few years have been extremely busy for the boys, seeing them playing folk clubs, harbour sides, beaches, boat sheds and festivals up and down the country. Particular highlights include being invited to perform in Holland at the International Sea Shanty Festival in Appingedam and the Naar Zee, Naar Zee Festival in Leiden where they met and exchanged songs with legendary shanty men, Stormalong John, Andy Kenna from Liverpool and Les Souillés de Fond de Cale from Brittany.
“Definitely love at first hearing for me”
– Fiona Talkington, BBC Radio 3 Late Junction
“Stunning voices that blend so beautifully, a real knock out”
– Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2