Official Pictures from Castle Rock (DE) (Patreon)

Hello there!

Here are beautiful shots by Santana Raus who was with us for the 2 first release shows!

It was great to be back inside the walls of this castle, the last time we played there was 2015!

We had a great time despite the fact that the audience of this festival isn't 100% a metal audience. A lot of more gothic bands play there as well and we can tell that the feeling from the crowd isn't exactly the same as for more traditional metal festivals.

But the great part was that there were pyros that we were allowed to use and I'm sure you can guess on which song we made an extensive use of them hahahah! This was so much fun and so empowering! Even if I had the feeling my eyebrows caught fire! I can't wait for more opportunities to use such special effects! 🔥

Santana and I made some photos that I will share with you very soon!

During the evening we had a nice chat with Orden Ogan who were playing right after us and headlining the festival. They were releasing their album on the same day as us! But the great thing with them is that they are really kind and down to Earth. They didn't see us as competition but as brothers. On stage, they invited the people going to the merch to get a copy of their album but also of ours since it was both our release party! Not every band would have done that. On my end I said that "it's going to be a great party tonight as not only do we release our album today, but so does Orden Ogan!" We took a picture together, holding each other's release and posted it the next day. This happened so naturally, it was really refreshing. A lot of bands are just so tensed, putting pressure on everything and seeing other acts as competitors... I think it's so wrong of a starting point. Every band can exist and be loved by people. Bands are supposed to be unique and therefore incomparable. You can compare how much you like two different bands, you can compare their sound and the objective overall quality of what they deliver, but you can't really replace one band with another. That's my point of view. And we were really much on the same page with Orden Ogan, we were relaxed, not feeling threatened by each other.

They made it at the 3rd position in the German charts, we ended #5 was which was beyond our expectations!! Last time, Pirates reached the #17 position. We thought that it was good the moment in which we could reach the top 15! Making it to the top 5 was unimaginable!

But the beauty of our music is that it goes way beyond the German borders and we have better charting positions in Austria, in France, in the UK...than Orden Ogan and Kissin' Dynamite who also dropped their album on the same day. That's the power of an international, solid, ARMADA!!

Thank you all so much again, it's wonderful to share this with you, feeling you're always here in every situation: shows, live streams, album and merch sales, Meet&Greets, social media, hang outs, and here for me on Patreon! We feel escorted by the strongest fleet which keeps growing!

Talking about growth, I want to officially welcome some fresh blood in here :D Francis, jens, Nimo, Annika, Allyssa, Valentine, Elizabeth, Peder, Mateusz, Robson, Kevin! Welcome on board!

Big hug,
Clementine