The band was started in 2008 by Björn Malmros and Peter Mollwing, who gathered several other musicians with the idea of playing pirate folk music. They are based in Umeå, located in the North of Sweden. Today, the band has nearly 30 members.
Their first self-produced album, Songs and Curses, was released on 19 September 2012 for the International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Now a condemned pirate in Newgate prison in London awaiting his appointment with gallows, William Benton was once the boatswain on the pirate vessel Dream Chaser. Originally from Plymouth in Devon, the 35-year-old loquacious seaman and anti-hero is renowned for his biting wit and sarcastic humour, which on times made him extremely unpopular with the crew. At times self-serving and self-important, it is not unknown for him to surprise his shipmates with unexpected acts of fairness and compassion. He also possesses a strong sense of justice and refuses to submit himself to any master, making him a suitable candidate for a pirate crew.
Captain Björn Gunnarsson, more commonly known to his crew as Captain Ironside, is the captain of the pirate ship Dream Chaser. The thirty-eight year old seaman was born in the port city of Norrköping in Sweden. He is 6’2” tall with penetrating blue eyes, light brown hair, and a short beard. A veteran of the Great Northern War, he started his career in the Swedish Navy at a young age, but his career was cut short by a disaster on board the brig he was commanding, which exploded in 1713 off the coast of Porvoo in Finland through no fault of his own. A cursed crewmember was blamed for the tragedy. Nevertheless, Gunnarsson was discharged by Admiral Erik Johan, his aversion to authority probably not helping his case.
Real name Peter Thurlow, the 35-year-old seaman is the trusted quartermaster of Dream Chaser. The man from Spanish Town in Jamaica is known for his love of rum and beer. He is a personal friend of Blackbeard, whom he idolizes, even going as far as to imitate his appearance by growing a long black beard, which was unusual for the time period.
He is a close friend to Captain Ironside, to whom he is extremely loyal, and although taciturn in nature, he isn’t afraid to speak up when he feels a wrong decision has been made. The youngest son of a Jamaican plantation owner, he joined Dream Chaser looking for adventure after meeting Blackbeard in a tavern in Nassau.
Niamh (pronounced Neeve) O’Malley is a 29-year-old woman from Killadoon in the west of Ireland. She was a pirate long before reaching the Caribbean and joining Dream Chaser’s crew, having served aboard her unsuccessful uncle’s ketch for a year or more. When her uncle’s vessel was captured by a British warship, O’Malley saved herself at great risk by diving into the sea and swimming ashore. On learning that her uncle and his crew had been hanged and that the magistrate was looking to her, she fled Ireland on a ship sailing from Cork, which was heading for Jamaica.