The Band
About
We are a Toronto band remixing the sea shanty. Tight vocal harmonies meet drum & bass, hip hop, reggae, dancehall and soca, with voices and production arranged together from the outset — the beats drive the phrasing and energy of the singing, bringing a new sound to songs built for collective work.
We've spent more than a decade exploring where these songs came from, who sang them and what they still have to say. That work has taken us to Barrouallie, St Vincent and the Grenadines, to perform at BAGGA Fish Fest, and deepened our interest in the often-erased contributions of Black sailors and Caribbean work-song traditions. Those histories inform our arrangements and collaborations.
Our third album, Departure (2026), features collaborators including Carl Harvey of Toots and the Maytals and reggae MC Sunray Grennan. Its single "Hill and Gully / Sally Rackett" earned support from 132 stations, programmers and syndicated shows across more than 30 countries. We took the album through 31 shows in 29 days across the UK in August 2026 — Sidmouth Folk Festival, FolkEast, Whitby Folk Week and Shrewsbury Folk Festival among them — selling every CD we brought.
We are James McKie, Stefan Read, Richard Kott and Josh Ludy — and we love singing together.
The Crew
Members
Richard Kott
Vocals, Guitar, Spoons
A lifelong singer with a deep love of vocal harmony and an eclectic taste in music — experienced chorister, a capella bass, soloist, and accomplished guitar and piano player. In Pressgang Mutiny, you'll find him hanging around a low C having basso profundo fun, or delivering emotional ballads about love and loss. Brings two decades of technology experience to the band's workshop and educational programme design.
James McKie
Vocals, Fiddle, Production, Rhythm Bones
Juno Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer whose career is defined by global cultural exchange and technical mastery. Has collaborated with the Cowboy Junkies, toured across five continents, and completed cultural residencies in Chile and Colombia. Holds an MA in Music and a BFA.
Stefan Read
Vocals, Concertina, Melodeon
A second-generation folk musician and dancer who has spearheaded multiple folk-related projects in Toronto and abroad, including cross-cultural performances in Canada, the UK, US, and Mexico. Producer of The Shanty Show. Also performs with Sweet Felons All and organizes Another Bloody Folk Club, Toronto's only traditional folk club.
Josh Ludy
DJ
Performs as DJ Trulii — the deck-and-production side of the band's live sound.
Why Shanties
A Deeply Multicultural Music
The sea shanty is often presented as a quaint British nautical tradition. That's wrong. Shanties were work songs sung aboard merchant and whaling ships crewed by sailors from every corner of the globe — West Africa, the Caribbean, Ireland, Scandinavia, the American South. The musical exchange was constant and deeply intertwined with the brutal economics of maritime labour.
We take that history seriously. It's why Departure sounds the way it does — why a group of shantymen from Toronto is making music with ska artists and hip hop producers. The tradition was always about drawing connections between the music sailors carried with them. We're just continuing that.
The Shanty Show — our video podcast now in its fourth year — follows the same logic: find the people who actually know this music, wherever they are, and ask them to share it.
Get in Touch
Booking & Inquiries
For booking, press, and general inquiries — get in touch directly.