The Dreadnoughts are a Canadian folk-punk band from Vancouver, British Columbia, formed in 2006 in the city’s Downtown Eastside. The band combines a wide range of European folk music—sea shanties, polka, klezmer, Balkan dance music—with modern street punk.

Since releasing their debut album Legends Never Die in 2007, the band has produced eight full-length albums and three EPs, performing around 500 shows across some 30 countries. Their 2009 album Victory Square was written as a tribute to Vancouver. The 2017 concept album Foreign Skies explores themes of the First World War through a multi-genre approach, morphing from sea shanty to Balkan dance to symphonic ballad. Their 2023 release Green Willow consists entirely of folk-punk arrangements of traditional folk songs.

The band also performed before 2020 as a traditional polka group at polka festivals under the name “Polka Time!” Their live performances are described as “outrageous”—no scripted intros, no choreography, just six loud-mouthed extroverts aiming punked-up folk dances at the audience. As the MMDI puts it, “The Dreadnoughts aren’t really a band, they’re an advocacy group, ruthlessly promoting the idea that folk and punk music form a perfect union.”