Pirate Radio is an indie rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Brentt Brown had been playing guitar and singing since his early teens when he met bassist & vocalist Ryan Keeley in Lewisburg, PA in 1996 when they were randomly selected to be freshmen-year roommates. Though technically under age, they played shows at local bars and managed to record an alt-country album direct to 4 track cassette in 1999. They moved to San Francisco the following year, recruited drummer Brian Stein, and released their first album as Pirate Radio - a garage power pop debut recorded at Tiny Telephone studios.
Oren Williams took over drumming when Stein left for graduate school. Ian Shaul (guitar, lapsteel, vocals) joined to help finish the band’s sophomore album. 2007's Welcome Home saw the band experimenting with a wider palette of sounds, including a number of country-tinged songs with strong harmonies and horns.
In 2009 the band recorded Fires in the Woods which proved to be even more ambitious. The cowboy reggae “Ride Wild Hearts’ epitomized a new direction for the band. As Brown says, “[Producer] J.J. [Weisler] really pushed us to play fewer notes and let the drums take the lead. It left us with a canvas of silence that we could paint on later.” Williams agrees, “It took like 30 takes but we got it. It was one of those nights where you couldn’t sleep afterwards because you were bouncing off the ceiling.”
Shortly after the release of Fires, Jarret Cooper (keyboards) joined the band to replace Shaul. “Jarret has helped us diversify,” says Brown. “He gave us the chance to return to more of a garage rock / single guitar sound, while also driving us in completely new directions with a bonafide keyboardist.” In 2013 the new lineup completed their 4th album, Plainview.
In 2024 Pirate Radio released Big Big Moon, returning to Tiny Telephone Studios with recording engineer Meric Long of Dodos. At 18 tracks, the double LP is sprawling yet cohesive. The stories are rich, the rhythms driving, and the atmosphere is vast and dusty. The album plays like a dessert road trip in which the sharing of childhood stories and personal confessions brings everyone closer together.
Big Big Moon is now available on streaming services, CD, and multi-colored vinyl.