With the release of their new single “Sierra,” out Friday, July 11th via Punkerton Records, folk-punk legends The Dreadnoughts deliver a haunting sea shanty soaked in longing, lore, and a hint of vengeance. The track is the second single from their upcoming full-length album Polka Pit, due out September 19th, and continues their tradition of masterfully blending folk storytelling with riotous punk energy.

“‘Sierra’ combines two of the greatest musical genres: the sea shanty and the murder ballad,” says vocalist Nicholas Smyth. “It’s a tale of a lovesick sailor who makes a very bad decision.”

The song’s rousing chorus and gritty narrative beg for pub-wide singalongs, making “Sierra” an instant classic in the band’s growing catalog of maritime punk anthems.

• Stream “Sierra” Single: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/thedreadnoughts1/sierra
• Pre-Save Polka Pit Album: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/thedreadnoughts1/polka-pit-2
• Polka Pit Vinyl Pre-Order: https://punkertonrecords.com/products/the-dreadnoughts-polka-pit-vinyl

The Dreadnoughts—now based in New York but with deep roots in Vancouver—have spent nearly two decades fusing sea shanties, polkas, tarantellas, and street punk into their own explosive brand of folk-punk. Their upcoming album Polka Pit is a defiant celebration of resistance, tradition, and chaos—a soundtrack for the end of the world and the beginning of something new.

“Polka Pit is a tribute to the magic of punk rock and the power of traditional polka,” says Smyth.

Known for their electrifying live shows, the band will celebrate the album’s release with a blowout performance at Skully’s Music Diner in Columbus, OH on September 19. Tickets on sale now, here!

UPCOMING SHOWS:

• Thu, Jul 24 – Connolly’s – New York, NY (“Sea Shanty Night”)
• Thu, Aug 21 – Music Room @ Broken Goblet – Bensalem, PA (w/ Apes Of The State)
• Fri, Aug 22 – The Met – Pawtucket, RI (w/ Apes Of The State, Consuelo’s Revenge)
• Sat, Aug 23 – Deep Cuts – Medford, MA
• Fri, Sep 19 – Skully’s Music Diner – Columbus, OH (Album Release Show)
• Thu, Dec 11 – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, Canada

ABOUT THE DREADNOUGHTS:

Formed in 2006, The Dreadnoughts have performed in over 30 countries, earned a devoted global following, and released genre-defying albums like Polka’s Not Dead, Foreign Skies, Into the North, and Green Willow. Their high-energy shows and deep respect for traditional music have set them apart as true torchbearers of modern folk-punk.

FFO: The Pogues, Stan Rogers, Gogol Bordello

More information: https://linktr.ee/thedreadnoughts

THE DREADNOUGHTS have just announced their new single Problem to support the release of their upcoming full length out June 24th on Stomp Records. The new album “Roll & Go” was written primarily by singer/guitarist Nicholas Smyth in his one bedroom apartment in New York City at the peak of the first wave of the pandemic, with a newborn infant, during lockdown. With band members based in New York, Vancouver, London, and Edmonton, the band decided to record in the unlikely location of Norwalk, Connecticut at the Factory Underground Studios. After ducking and weaving through countless travel restrictions, the Dreadnoughts managed to learn, record and mix an entire album in nine days. It was a harrowing, intense experience, one made even more intense by the fact that six guest musicians were recording their own parts in six different cities around the world, and that all of this had to be coordinated with virtually no time.  But they got it done! The result is Roll & Go: the Dreadnoughts fifth, and possibly finest, studio album.

Problem on all Streaming Services, here. Order New Color Vinyl LP “Roll and Go” at this location.

Reflecting on the meaning behind the advance single Problem, Smyth remarks, “This song is about our love-hate-mostly-love-but-sometimes-really-hate relationship with Poland, a country we’ve toured many times.  In particular, it’s about a winter tour we did where everything just kept breaking and going wrong, and we kept fighting it and raging against it until we realized that this was normal in Poland, and that you needed to just do what everyone else did: sit back, have a beer and a smoke, and say “to hell with it.” The Poles are amazing at this, it’s actually a really healthy attitude to have in a lot of situations.  The song’s title comes from a word that means the same in English and Polish, and we quickly realized that we were going to hear it from our tour manager (who spoke no English) about 18 times a day.  ‘Ah…’ he would say, his face scrunching up and worry-creasing his forehead… ‘Problem’.”  

With over 80 MILLION streams on Spotify alone, The Dreadnoughts are the biggest band you’ve never heard of. Formed in the dirty and violent back rooms of Vancouver’s infamous Ivanhoe Hotel back in ’06, they’ve been on a cider-fueled bender across the globe bringing their furious brand of celtic polka punk klezmer mayhem to an ever growing legion of obsessed fans.