Captain Festus McBoyle is an exciting family entertainer and musician from New Zealand who combines storytelling and rollicking melodies, alongside a healthy disregard for musical convention. On stage, he delights audiences with stunning costumes, imaginative sets, and the antics of his colourful crew — including Miss Lucy Drawers and the world’s strongest man, Ebenezer Strong. However, Captain Festus is much more than a costume character. He is a fully realised persona: part sea shanty singer, part comic storyteller, engaging children by inviting them into a world where pirates sing, nonsense reigns supreme, and imagination is very much the order of the day.
Before children become aware that music has rules, they learn that it can also be heaps of fun. That includes loud fun, chaotic fun, silly — or even slightly unhinged — pirate fun. Captain Festus sails straight into that space, where rhythm, story, and humour collide, proving that children’s music doesn’t have to be polite to be powerful.
Rather than approaching children’s music as a teaching tool first, he always prioritises the performance itself. The songs feel closer to musical theatre or live storytelling than traditional ‘kids’ songs’, with exaggerated characters, narrative arcs, and copious playful asides. The music thrives on the unexpected: lyrics twist and turn, stories veer into absurd territory, and Captain Festus himself rarely behaves as a good role model — in the most likeable way. A true larrikin and master of the absurd, he brings music and mayhem to the masses, pushing boundaries while somehow always coming out on top.
Such irreverence is precisely what sets this artist apart. Captain Festus stands alone, breaking the usual rules of children’s music and providing a refreshing point of difference within the genre. The songs give permission to laugh, question, and delight in this theatre of the absurd, while remaining deeply engaged with language and story. Such a balancing act is no easy feat, but Captain Festus intrinsically understands his audience, cultivating both intrigue and fascination in young listeners along the way.
With his latest album, The Prose and Cons, he doubles down on what he does best: wordplay, theatrical delivery, and gleeful excess. The title alone sets the tone: clever, self-aware, and slightly cheeky. This is an album that revels in language, where lyrics spill over with absurd detail. Phrases twist unexpectedly, and songs feel more like miniature stage productions than conventional tracks. At the heart of each song is a story — whether spinning a pirate tale or plunging listeners into a nautical misadventure, the songs rely on narrative momentum, vivid imagery, and strong character voices.
Captain Festus is never happier than when telling a story, and he even opens the album with a poetic introduction. In the opening track, ‘Brand New Day’, he contemplates the day ahead and all its infinite possibilities. Children don’t just get to meet him — they engage with his infectious personality and look forward with anticipation to the incredible adventures that lie ahead.
The album features a variety of styles and sounds throughout this rollicking journey. ‘A Slight Snag’ is upbeat and lively, almost venturing into ska territory, with lyrics that celebrate repetition and absurdity. ‘Layered by the Plague’ incorporates flamenco influences, complete with Spanish guitar flourishes and theatrical sound effects. ‘Cat Be Free’ offers a slice of country, including yeehaws and cowboy flourishes along the way.
‘Boyle 'em Up’ dives headfirst into bluegrass chaos, including cannibal themes to boot, while ‘Mr Cheese if You Please’ features a piano accordion in full pirate jig mode. ‘Slug’ flirts with heavy rock, whereas ‘Sonnet of the Sad Seahorse’ descends into underwater ambience, complete with ocean sound effects that feel as if they’ve been plundered from a pirate’s locker by Brian Eno.
A personal favourite is the wonderful ‘BABY RAP’, a collaboration with Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. The track blends a noticeable country vibe with what sounds like hip-hop-style rhythmic vocal patterns and additional DJ scratching. Though I admit I’m not an expert in hip-hop — for me the music creates something of a genre mash-up that feels both unexpected and oddly fitting. The song is playful, rhythm-driven, and delightfully strange, with the Captain fully immersing himself in its chaos. A slide guitar competes with an unrelenting beat, where traditional rules are seemingly thrown out of the window. The song exudes a vibe slightly reminiscent of ‘Walk This Way’ when Aerosmith and Run-DMC shared the spoils in the 1980s.
Another standout track is ‘Holding the Baby', a rollicking glimpse into pirate domestic life — exaggerated, swaggering, and intentionally over the top. If you’re looking for political correctness, you won’t find it here. The song is acutely aware of its anti-feminist pirate bravado, but plays it for comic effect rather than taking a political stance. In contrast, ‘Full Sails, No Glamour’ presents a live rendition of a pirate’s lament, adding emotional depth and reminding listeners that even comic characters can possess dramatic nuance.
On this album, Captain Festus reminds us that children’s music can be strange, theatrical, and joyfully subversive. Always pushing the boundaries of acceptable entertainment, he succeeds because he is unafraid to experiment. Much like Roald Dahl, he recognises that children are more perceptive than often credited, able to understand both light and dark, and to appreciate the humour in each.
All in all, The Prose and Cons is an intriguing album from an unusual artist who manages to educate and entertain in equal measure. For young listeners, his story-driven songs foster listening stamina, comprehension, and imaginative thinking — without ever feeling like a lesson. Captain Festus exists outside any traditional music lane, unafraid to push the envelope and experiment where necessary. The arrangements are bold, the themes unconventional, and the humour aimed squarely at entertaining both adults and children alike. Self-deprecation is the order of the day, placing humour above protocol, where ‘there’s no glamour at all'.
Captain Festus McBoyle — always outside the box.
No comments:
Post a Comment