As Promised, last night I went all the way up to Tuffnell Park to see a band called ‘The Pukes‘. Well, I say ‘band’ but that really does not do them justice. They are more of a ‘punk ukulele collective’ or, to use their own terminology ‘a ukulele anti-society for punks’.
I am guessing, but I would hazard a guess that there were around 15 or more people on that stage thrashing the guts out them little Ukuleles. Mostly ladies, mostly with different colored hair. Mostly tattooed. Totally a spectacle to be seen.
I have been talking to Clara from the pukes over email for a little while now. She sent me a list of their gigs a while back (see the events calendar for their next gig). Now there a few guys in my office over from New York for a few weeks running training courses. One of them asked me if we could go to a punk gig, and I remembered Clara had told me of this gig, so I took my New York workmates up to Tuffnell Park. They couldn’t believe what they saw. The pub was full of leather jackets, bright coloured mohawks and big boots, but my New York mates just couldn’t understand people looking like that but still able to ask them ‘scuse me, mate when they wanted to get past. Apparently, New York punks have much lower standards etiquette than London punks.
So the Pukes rolled through a great list of 2 1/2 minute punk standards that, although admittedly never written for ukulele, belonged on the 4-stringers, if they belonged to be played at all. Further more, every member of the band and the crowd enjoyed what was going on. If you play Uke yourself, you will most likely know that sub-conscious grin you get when you play a tune on it, and you know that by all the rules it just should not work, but it does. That exact same grin permutated through the crowd. Even the most hardened punks were bouncing.
Of course, if that wasn’t enough, to top my evening, I went back stage to meet the band, and I was also lucky enough to get a quick play on what we think might be the only solid body Kala U-Bass in Britain at the moment. It’s owner, Paris, was kind enough to let me take some photos of it, but I am going to save most of them for another day. These U-basses need further investigation, and I know just the website… stay tuned!
Want to try punk uke yourself? Download ‘The Pukes Punk Songbook‘ now!
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If your in London this weekend, don’t forget this gig tomorrow night, I will be there and so will ‘THE PUKES‘ :-
SUN 4 MARCH BOSTON ARMS, Tufnell Park
Winter of Discontent punk fest with SUBHUMANS/ PUKES’s on 7.30pm/ £12
The Pukes
WHEN: March 4, 2012 @ 6:30 pm – 11:45 pm
WHERE: Boston arms
Tufnell Park
London Borough of Islington,London N7
UK
COST: £12
Hey, we have just signed one of the brightest young stars of the electric ukulele scene and we are proud enough to let you know. Tibo is a 13 year old from Belgium and already he has built a great electric ukulele stratocaster, down below, and we thought you might like to hear more about what he is working on next. We are hoping he can bring some of the things he learnt along the way to http://ukeland.co.uk and he is happy to talk about the work he has done with you all.
King Julian strumming away on his Electric Ukulele
What do you get if you cross ‘King Uke’ and ‘julesd’ ?
That’s right, it’s King Julian playing an electric uke! Amazing! He really loves that egg!
There is a kind of revolution occurring on the streets of Jakarta, where punk sensibilities, brotherhood, music, desire for freedom and ukulele’s have met each other in one place. I have been trying to write an article on this for quiet a while now but the subject matter has made it difficult for me to phrase the correct way. Luckily, I have found a friend, Ayumi Nakanishiwho, has first hand knowledge of the situation, and likes to document her findings with photos. The text and pictures that follow are hers.
Jakarta Punks by Ayumi Nakanishi
First arriving to the country 20 years ago, now the scene has grown as the biggest in Asia, the spirit of punk has perfectly fit in the Indonesian society, where there are reasons to be angry about. The gaps between poor and rich are huge, daily lives are surrounded by irrationalness. There were no human rights, no freedom of speech, or no freedom at all, especially during the Suharto regime for his 3-decade-long dictatorial presidency fallen in 1998. That was when student activists like Mike & Bob chose “punk” to fight for their “freedom,” and soon their loud voices began to reach out.
Formed in 1996 by Mike and Bob, Marjinal, a punk band from Jakarta, has not only helped uncountable numbers of street kids earn cash by teaching them how to survive on the streets by busking with ukuleles; affordable, easy and small enough even for a child to play anywhere, but they also sent their message with the true spirit of punk that is “punk is for everybody.” TaringBabi community ran by Marjinal, is the home to many punks of all ages for long, and opens for “anyone for sharing and learning together.” They give free music lessons and art workshops such as screen-printing, and give away their music, logos and artworks for reproducing for survival. Those who reside at TaringBabi, learn how to survive by caring and helping each other.
The residents include the youngest, a 12-year-old, Ucil, who is from a broken home. “TaringBabi is my family,” said Ebet, 20, whose parents had passed away and has been living there for years. Mike, 33, and Bob, 32, who take care of all, try to make their living by selling their paintings or tattooing that they sometimes exchange tattoos for rice. Living on the edge, they still keep going.
Their activities, and poignant & powerful messages in their songs about the suffering and struggles, government corruption and injustices in Indonesian society made them so charismatic that those followers who have now become the messengers of the band, sing their songs on trains, buses, streets of Jakarta and throughout the country. “It’s about how we take care of our friends.” “We survived until now, it’s not because of the band, but because of the community. We have the mission. It’s about life. We have the reason for that, and the band is a tool. We never stayed until now without our friends,” said Mike on their 14th anniversary in December 2010. They do what they do for so long “to make the revolution for people in Indonesia.”
The Marjinal guys have now been facing a crisis of survival to keep their home “Taringbabi” community because of the economical issues, trying to take care of many punks living there as well as maintain their activities, which are always operating in the red, as it all comes to depend only on Mike and Bob. Marjinal guys have always been struggling though they still let anybody in, let them stay, feed them and give them education, those include street kids living on the streets.
At the moment, their financial condition is quite serious, and the best way to support them now perhaps is to buy their artwork or products for them to earn some kind of cash to survive. So that they can eat and keep the home then go back to their activities. ukeland.co.uk and Ayumi Nakanishi are trying to work together to establish a way that we can support Marjinal by selling their artwork, products/ band merchandise which include their woodcuts prints, T-shirts, pins, patches which are all made by hands. It is not proving easy at the moment as Ayumi is back in her home country, Japan, trying to help people there recover from the natural disasters that have happened over the last year or so, and the Marjinal / TaringBabi team are difficult to contact due to their economical issues.
If you have any ideas on how you can help, please contact any of the following :-
Us: electricukuleleland@gmail.com
Ayumi: photo@ayuminakanishi.com and at her website www.ayumi-nakanishi.com
Bob Marjinal: dosakoe@gmail.com
While we work out how we might be able to sell merchandise for them, please think about raising money and awareness by writing and recording a ukulele punk song, donating some proceeds from a gig, or simply just sharing this story on your social networking sites
“For around $5, every street kid in Indonesia can have a ukulele and sing.”
You probably already know Daniel Hulbert from this amazing interview we did with him. When we did that interview we were surprised at how much time and effort Daniel puts in, and how much he loves electric ukes. So surprised in fact, that we asked him to join us and write up some of his next builds. We are glad to announce that Daniel has accepted this offer and is now officially one of the Electric Ukulele Land writers.
Thanks Daniel, I know already you have some very exciting stuff lined up for us and we all welcome you to our great rock and roll show!
Ok Go are a quirky rock band from Chicago. They just made this video on a 2 mile stretch of road in the desert and it seems to me that the only instrument the band play is a Ukulele… everything else is played by the Chevrolet they drive!
On Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting John T’s Music Shop in Carshalton, Surrey. John’s a nice bloke, loves his banjo’s and uke’s and took a fair amount of time out of his day to show me around and chat.
It’s a bit tricky to spot, but I have added a map to the shop page here.
John has a large stock of ukuleles in all sizes, from sopranos, concerts, tenors and baritone’s as well as u-bass and banjos. He does also stock some guitars and amps.
The shop also stocks tuners and strings, and even have their own line in banjo strings.
While we were in the shop, John’s friends were sat up one end of the shop play guitars and generally adding a bit more fun to the environment.
John’s and his band are getting a gig together in May at the local football ground. I will add up details as soon as I can, but we do know the headline act is going to be
Oh, and I guess I should mention, he even has a picture George Formby in the shop!
