On October 13, 2024, owners of a 33-foot Chris-Craft Roamer called “Deep Thought” got stuck in a storm, ran out of gas, and decided to run the boat ashore between Bradford and McKinley beaches to retrieve at a later date. Almost three months later, it’s still there. And it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon.
Since it was beached, the “Milwaukee Boat” has become something of a local landmark. It’s gotten oodles of press, has been the site of countless photo ops, was extensively stickered and graffitied, and it was even put on a T-shirt…by us, but still! And now it’s the subject of a new song written by yours truly.
Yes, I wrote the lyrics and provide the vocals for a boat-inspired song called “The SS Milwaukee.” With the help of Derek Mantz (of Midwest Death Rattle, The Go Homes, and Telligent)—who graciously composed, played, and recorded all the music—we released the song under the moniker of The Roaring Dans, a nod to Great Lakes timber pirate “Roaring” Dan Seavey.
At 4:30 long, it evokes Gordon Lightfoot, except it’s about a boat someone spray painted “ALIENS” on instead of, like, the Edmund Fitzgerald. You can listen to/purchase “The SS Milwaukee” on Bandcamp now. It should be hitting other streaming services in the next few days as well. I hope you enjoy it!
Who knows, maybe it’ll inspire some more boat songs from local bands and we can put out a compilation of Milwaukee Boat songs or something. Yeah, let’s do that!