A rag tag band of five Reading songwriters press-ganged into service as a functioning indie pop group after a gig down their local, Pete and the Pirates are presently leading a stealthy campaign to become your new favourite band. Melodic, upbeat, eclectic, distinctly English and prone to the odd sea shanty, they’re passionately championed by Maxïmo Park, Franz Ferdinand and Steve Lamacq, and have a debut album, Little Death, out now on Stolen Recordings.

Some background if you will please, guitarist and vocalist Pete Hefferan
After we all finished school we ended up hanging around together playing each other’s songs, and we’d all help each other recording. We would make these little CDs for each other, sets of songs that we really liked. We ended up doing a gig in our local pub and we were kind of a band from then on.

Five songwriters? Don’t too many cooks spoil the proverbial broth?
No, I think that’s the strength of it. We’ve all got different influences, different tastes. If someone thinks something’s shit we just get rid of it, if it’s good we’ve all got to agree and it must be really good.

Have you ever met a real pirate before?
Sometimes in the pub you get these guys coming around with little bags of DVDs. Do they count? I’ve never met a seafaring pirate, although I met someone who claimed to be a real pirate once. I think he was just drunk.

Pete and the Pirates play the Smirnoff Electric Cabaret at ABC, Glasgow, Thu 17 Apr.