"Peerless Pirtates were never ones for understatement and tonight they don't disappoint. From the instrumental surf rock intro, through their signature cover of "swords of a Thousand Men" and a Buzzcocksy "Man The Barricades" to the Tex Mex romp of "Salvador" via stop-offs at Dick Dale twang and even some Blueballs jangle. Frontman Cliff Adams has the voice to be able to belt out "To Cut A Long Story Short" with appropriate authority but he uses it best on set highlight "Where is Michael?", wherein The Pirates wear their love for The Smiths most firmly on their chests."

"Over the years Peerless Pirates have become as tight as well-kept rigging and as solid as a hundred year old capstan, and slowly, unobtrusively their indie-shanty schtick has become one of the best nights out in Oxford"

"From `Those Heady Days of Decadence’ through to `One Over The Eight’, the aim seems to be to party like the grog will never run dry to a rockabilly soundtrack that’s as old and solid as the timbers that make up the ship’s masts."

” By all that’s holy, wouldn’t it be great if more bands sounded like they were having as good a time as Peerless Pirates?"

"Oh that is beautiful, that is absolutely beautiful; the Peerless Pirates and Ghost of Captain Kid"

"They’ve provided us with consistently great tracks that we can honestly say we’ll be playing for many years to come."

"With really well-written songs and an almost perfect pop performance, Peerless Pirates will have audiences bouncing on the dancefloor."

.."the individual songs are all well-constructed, melodic and ooze character. The abiding image is of a bearded fellow running out of a Portsmouth tavern, trousers round his ankles, pursued by unpaid landladies, seduced floozies or enraged love rivals."

"Peerless Pirates are looking at the right map and appear to have a bit of the X-marks-the-spot-factor."

"The band were on effervescent form and even had the earnest post-rockers jigging along at the end. Above all, their songs were laden with killer hooks, which is appropriate, given their profession."

"The Crowdfunded follow-up to their self-titled 2016 debut, ‘Banquet for Bandits’ first and foremost shows Peerless Pirates have the songs to rise above the crashing waves of novelty, and in Adams’ spirited tenor, a voice to lead from the front, lending the likes of ‘Skeleton Lab Report’ an elegance to match their roustabout nature. That buccaneering spirit remains in the likes of ‘Red Admiral’, all flagships and contraband, cresting on a carouselling seaworthy jig that demands to be belted out after a few flagons in a disreputable Cornish inn. ‘Chez El Capitan’ is similarly debonair, a brandy and rum-infused kid cousin to Adam & the Ants’ ‘Jolly Roger’, while the bands’ main touchstones, The Smiths and The Wedding Present, continue to shine through in the effervescent guitar twang and lusty indie vigor.

"..it’s proof that Peerless Pirates are a band who can’t be so easily shoved into a pigeonhole (or crow’s nest), and on the strength of the songs here, theirs is a voyage that continues to search for farther horizons."

"Peerless Pirates give us what could be another take on alienation by barely talking during their headline set. But they communicate by getting people dancing as songs cascade rapidly, one after the other, ‘til they’ve notched up 15 in hardly the blink of an eye. Throughout the show singer Cliff Adams and colleagues are in fine form, whether making the familiar “Ghost Riders In The Sky” swing or coming on heavier as on “El Gringo”. In now being very professional perhaps inevitably they’ve lost the air of innocence they had when starting out. But by pirating quite a range of musical sources, including some Middle Eastern riffs, they’ve combined their instant appeal with a touch of musical class."