You can't keep a good ukulele band down for long, pandemic notwithstanding, and we are back with a bang, most certainly not a whimper. For our first public performance in the new Qukulele incarnation we ventured down to sunny Worthing where we entertained the Pride paraders with a carefully crafted selection of sing-alongs, belters and anthems. We had anticipated that it would be too noisy for the more gentle of our numbers and we soon knew we had made the right call with our song choices. We were reliably informed later that Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough seemed particularly to hit the spot and could be heard soaring above the roar of the crowd, various barking dogs and a nearby ice cream van. We'll keep it in our set list.
You can't keep a good ukulele band down for long, pandemic notwithstanding, and we are back with a bang, most certainly not a whimper. For our first public performance in the new Qukulele incarnation we ventured down to sunny Worthing where we entertained the Pride paraders with a carefully crafted selection of sing-alongs, belters and anthems. We had anticipated that it would be too noisy for the more gentle of our numbers and we soon knew we had made the right call with our song choices. We were reliably informed later that Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough seemed particularly to hit the spot and could be heard soaring above the roar of the crowd, various barking dogs and a nearby ice cream van. We'll keep it in our set list.
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Qukulele is now small but perfectly formed as a quintet. Every week we meet up to work on new material, polish up the old, make each other laugh and drink herbal tea. The youngest member of the Qukes actually drinks black coffee but she's hardcore.
We've played some cracking gigs so far this year including our debut as a smaller band at the lovely Al Start's birthday party, Kemptown Festival, Hove Seafront, Paddle Round The Pier, Pride Dog Show, The Write Release for Martin Fisher Foundation, Post Pride LGBTQ+ Spoken Word Celebration, The New Port Arms in Southwick and Southdowns Ukulele Festival in Bognor where we also held a workshop for budding ukers to learn a new chart topping song along with glorious harmonies and other odd songs mashed up and thrown in for good measure. We're now busy preparing for our festive tea party at The Brunswick, Hove on Sunday 15th December at 2pm, tickets on the door, £5. We've booked some great acts and a mystery MC, to be announced shortly. Next year we're looking forward to providing entertainment at Duckie's Posh Club Dance Club tea party, 12.45pm on Thursday 9th April 2020, at the The Ballroom, King Alfred on Hove seafront. We're available for birthdays, Bar and Bat Mitsvahs, weddings, charity and community events around Brighton & Hove and the south coast and look forward to making new uke friends and having fun. Contact us via Facebook if you'd like us to play for you or by email at [email protected]. ![]() I joined Qukulele about 9 months after its inception, which is now about 7 years ago. I was a bit shy in the beginning but am now happy to throw out the odd solo line or introduce a song. Other skills include wearing wigs and putting my hands in the air. I enjoy learning new songs and harmonies, and our weekly practices are a tonic after a hard week at work. The highlight of our year is the Christmas show, where we have other guest performers and some bants with our loyal fans. Although it involves a lot of pre-show practicing (and me barking at the rest of the band "let's do this one without the music") it's really rewarding when it all comes together. We’ve played a load of songs over years and probably have about 30 in our back repertoire now, given the speed we play most numbers we could almost fill a whole hour. My favourite right now is probably ‘I’m too Sexy’, not just because it was my suggestion to do or that it mentions sexy shirts! On the subject of which…my day job is making shirts that fit different bodies well. Although I do own a whole wardrobe of Hawaiian shirts I was pleased when it was suggested that it was time for a new look and perhaps GFW Clothing could supply the shirts. We choose a stunning black and white lips short sleeve shirt - the perfect outfit to perform our song ‘Lucky Lips’. SPOILER ALERT - shameless plug coming! Pop over to www.genderfreeworld.com and check out our fabulous designs! Lisa ![]() I’ve been in Qukulele since its start. I went with a friend to a back room in a pub in Hove and the rest is history! It’s been lovely getting to know new folk in the band and also playing with friends I knew before we formed. Three of us are in the same bookgroup. I really enjoy our practices, especially when we have been working hard on a song and it finally comes together and we can hear that the harmonies and arrangements are working well. But for me the best thing about being in the band is the performances. Each gig is different and each set list is different as well. We have played in some very different places: tiny tiny stages in pubs with sticky carpets, a dressing room with a dead mouse, dressing rooms that are toilets (literally), the stage at The Pavillion (one step closer to being at The Dome) and the dizzy heights of a dressing room with an iron and a shower (Ropetackle we want to come back!). We’ve had audiences that have loved us, danced to our music, sang along with gusto and others who have carried on eating and chatting to their mates (and in one case having a conversation across us). No matter – every gig is good fun, even when we outnumber the audience, and that’s happened a few times. My most recent memorable performance was when the band kindly came to play at the University of Brighton for the end of term lunch and my farewell as I have left my job there as a lecturer in education. I had arranged it as a surprise and we did a few numbers and got a fab reception. ‘Though it hurts to go away it’s impossible to stay’ – never were the words to our new Eurovision medley more true! I’m not the most adept player in the band (cough) but I love singing and performing and especially adding to the comedy and campness of the band. My current favourite is ‘Big Spender’ where I just play an assortment of percussion and get to wear long gold gloves. I was also the only skirt wearer in the band but now have a pal in Samantha. I think I still have the most wigs though! However I also like to sing ballads and especially ‘Dream a Little Dream’ with the lovely Ruth who has a great voice. Lizzie and I keep threatening to do a country duet together – suggestions gratefully received – please comment! ![]() My experience with Qukulele started after a night out drinking in the Shot Putter's Arms. One of the band overheard me say 'my Uncle is in Spain, but I can use his winnibago' and immediately asked me to join. There are still some members of the band who are suspicious of my tenuous entrance to the group and don't believe what I actually said was 'my ankle is sprained but I am used to lumbago'. Once I was in, no-one had the heart to boot me out. After all, I never needed any of the hard-to-come-by complementary Plus 1 tickets. Unlike most of the band, I don't have a Civil Partner, and I've been warned not to invite any of the uncivil ones. I had always wanted to be in a band, preferably The Jam, but back then I wasn't allowed out after 8pm, so they had to make do without ukulele solos on 'Going Underground', 'Start' (allegedly written about Qukulele's founder member), and 'Beat Surrender' (probably written about the come down after listening to too many ukulele tunes). I can't pretend that it didn't take me years to recover from the rejection of not making it into the Spice Girls. They did say that it wasn't because I was 10 years too old, nor was it because Mace, Wormwood and Old Thyme were not quite what they were looking for. Though Frumpie Spice had plenty of mileage in comfortable shoes, they insisted it was an inappropriate use of a boob tube. After months of pestering Girls Aloud I finally gave up. Apparently offering to change my name to Bianka Shardonay was unnecessarily tasteless tautology and even after immense work, the Shadows' dance routines were still not suitable. Qukulele though, is absolutely the right band for me. A reliable, down to Earth, consistent group of ladies. It is a great comfort to know, that every week at least one plucker can be counted on to ask; “How do you play a B minor, again?” Now at the pinnacle of my musical career, I can look sideways with pride at the assortment of intimate obscure theatres, fluorescent libraries, astonished audiences, and charitable congregations, for whom we have had the pleasure to strum, without the use of backing tapes. Sam ![]() What do you do in the band? I guess I'm sort of the MD - I work out a lot of the arrangements and try not to get too bossy at rehearsals! I like finding ways to layer arrangements with clever harmonies and little riffs here and there - we try to mix it up a bit and never just have everyone strumming the chords... I get to sing lead on a few numbers and have also been known to bust out a kazoo or glockenspiel moment as appropriate... I handle bookings and look after our website and publicity too and am rather proud of our new BADGES which have just arrived today! ![]() Why do you do it? Medicinal reasons. Uketherapy is great stress relief, and it gives me an excuse to be silly. And I've made some lovely friends in the band too - we have a real laugh and never take ourselves too seriously. Favourite song to play? Right now, I'm absolutely loving Stray Cat Strut! It's got a cheeky swagger to it, some sweet harmonies, and I get a couple of solo riffs to try not to fluff! I love reinterpreting 80s songs in particular... What's coming up? Paddle! We love playing at Paddle Round the Pier - this'll be our 4th year. Our former bandmate Nicola runs the Ukulele Stage all weekend, and we always have fun! Catch Qukulele at Paddle Round the Pier, Hove Lawns, Saturday 5th July, 1.30pm - more info here! ![]() What do you enjoy most about being in Qukulele? It’s something different, something I’ve never done before – I’d never played in a band, I never thought I was going to be a musician. Fave song to play? The riff on Tainted Love – that’s good fun. I like some of the songs – some not so much! I especially like some of the eighties stuff, the very old stuff like Doris Day… What’s been your favourite gig to play? The gigs are starting to merge into each other! The ones that stand out – it’s more for the backstage stuff… the things like hanging out with … what’s her name… rock chick… Ella Chambers! One of the most memorable moments was the dressing room jam of I Love Rock and Roll with her at the Komedia a couple of years ago. Has anyone ever recognised you on the street? Yes, a couple of times – that’s always nice – a moment of fame at last! What about your own musical tastes – the things you like to listen to. Can you imagine playing any of those artists on ukulele? My taste is – well, I would describe it as eclectic, though other people have described it as ‘dirgey’ in the past. I like to think of it as deep and meaningful, but, no, that doesn’t really go with the ukulele, so the uke is actually quite nice at balancing that out – I get a bit of ‘jaunty’ and a bit of happiness from that, which is good! Which of the new songs we’re currently learning are you having the most fun with? That would be Stray Cat Strut – without any hesitation! I like the groove of it, it’s good fun, a bit eighties (which dare I say it is kind of where I’m rooted!) And what upcoming gigs are you looking forward to most? I’m looking forward to the Ida Barr show- that’s going to be different from everything we’ve ever done before! Catch Qukulele performing with Ida Barr as part of Brighton Festival: Sunday May 18th, Dome Studio: full details here: Ida Barr's Mashup ![]() I was born in March. It’s a busy month. I know a lot of people with birthdays to celebrate. And there’s an anniversary or two as well. Pisces people can be indecisive. I know I am. Wine or water? Cake or rice cake? CD or DVD? Book or bath? I can go back and forth, this way and that. I played in my first Qukulele jam in a March. It was scary. I only knew 3 chords: C, F and G. Or was it D, A and E7? I’ve been playing with the band for a few years now and everything has fallen into place. But the decision making continues. High harmony, middle or melody? Strumming or picking, chucking or tapping? Play and don’t sing, sing and don’t play? Both? Parrot shirt or palm trees? Rat pack or rockabilly, ballad or blues? Classic pop or stadium rock? You get the picture. I’m sitting in a patch of sun looking through the window at the garden surrounded by trees and tall shrubs, a huge light sky above and a hazy sea in the far distance. Listening to a country/blues mix some new friends have given me for my very recent Oh! birthday. It’s joyful and melancholic, light-hearted and poignant, skippy and slow. All encompassing. Music is so important to me. It has been a good friend over the years. I had my first ever birthday party at the weekend. My partner said I had to celebrate the Oh! As I was sipping champagne and enjoying the hurly burly, one of my band mates told me that I was now officially an OWL - an older wiser lesbian. I’m not sure about the wiser part. Wider? It appears that I love performing too. No doubt. Later when we were playing to the adoring crowd, I remembered what I had been waiting for: that Qukulele moment! Lizzie ![]() What do you do in the band? I play the ukulele (funnily enough...), get very enthusiastic about mashups and am recently doing a bit more singing. But according to the pictures taken during gigs, my main role in the band is making hilarious singing faces. What's your funniest / best Qukulele moment? I think it has to be the gig we played for the charity Mind Out who are an LGBT mental health project in Brighton. Aside from it being a fantastic cause that is close to my heart, we were playing alongside some seriously talented performers like Dolly Rocket and Julie Jepsen. The set we played that night was full of great songs and I think we played it really well - and it was my first ever time being onstage without nearly passing out from nerves beforehand! As for my funniest moment, there are always plenty in the carpool ride home from practice for those of us that hail from Hove & Shoreham! Why do you do it? I originally joined because I thought it would be fun - that was pretty much it. But I find there's something very cathartic about singing and making music, and although I do have practices where I get grumpy and feel like I'm a terrible musician, most of the time I come away from practice smiling and feeling positive. There's a lot to be said for doing something creative and how it can help the rest of your life. Favourite song to play? This is a real toss-up for me between Tainted Dreams and Take A Little Chance - both great mashups of songs that I love. And I am really loving a new one we're practising at the moment, you'll have to come to a spring or summer gig to find out what it is! Listen to Elly singing lead vocals on Dream a little dream of me, over on the Watch & listen page. |