Press Gang, The (UK)

Do you like songs of the sea? Do you love Cornwall? The Press Gang was formed with you in mind!

We’ve been entertaining audiences and making friends around the county – and beyond – since 2012 when the group was formed with 15 singers, inspired by the tradition of Cornish pub singing and the songs of, among others, Harry Glasson, Tom Lewis, and the Fisherman’s Friends. Over recent years some of our original group have departed, and we are a now slimmer (not individually!!) group of 8. Audiences enjoy our relaxed and distinctive style, as well as the passion and humour in our performances, and the unique harmonies and arrangements of our songs and shanties.

We’ve sung in pubs, clubs and festivals all over Cornwall and at venues that have varied from a Greenpeace ship to Gatwick Airport. We have become regular guests at events such as the Falmouth International Shanty Festival, Perranporth’s “Loudest Shout” and Lostwithiel’s ‘LostFest’. And we’ve performed at Shanty Festivals as far afield as Harwich, Gloucester, Teignmouth and Bristol.

Pirate FM’s St Piran’s Day clip of us singing Harry Glasson’s ‘Cornwall my Home’ at Gatwick Airport notched 250,000 hits on ‘YouTube’, and our appearance on October 2016’s Poppy Appeal aboard the “Phoenix” in Charlestown was captured by BBC TV’s ‘Spotlight’.

Our first two CDs, ‘First Pressing’ and ‘The GangWay’ have been great successes, and now we have released our 3rd CD “Fiddler’s Green”. So far we have raised over £1,800 for the RNLI from our CD sales (£1 of the £5 price goes to the charity) and even more from our concert appearances around the county. Why not come and hear us, and join in the fun and the song?