Ukulele Death Squad are taking Essentially My Life is a Disaster from a Collingwood studio to east coast Australia and beyond.
Cooee, the recent folk-soul single from Adelaide-founded octet Ukulele Death Squad, includes a video clip that mixes the drudgery of office life with the escape of nature (the song was written on Kaurna Country and filmed on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and the lands and waterways of the Dharawal people).
Multi-instrumentalist Reuben Legge, the band’s drummer and saxophonist, and Cooee’s co-songwriter, with vocalist and trumpet player Alice Barker, says it looks relatable because it’s inspired in part by the band’s own lived experiences in day jobs; the office scenes were filmed in the office one of the band members works in.
Ukulele Death Squad
- Saturday, May 16 – Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide (with Laura Hill & Bromham)
- Saturday, May 30 – Metro Social, Sydney (with Redfern Sea Shanty Club & Ashkan Shafiei)
- Saturday, June 13 – Howler, Melbourne (with Loz Irwin-Ray & Charlie Needs Braces)
- Saturday, June 27 – Crowbar, Brisbane (with Jam and Scones & Anjali Leonard)
- Tickets here
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“There’s this sense of a double life that we lead, because we go on tour and we play these amazing festivals in Europe, and just have these really great creative connections with people all over the world, says Reuben, “and then we kind of come back to office life and it feels very jarring.
“So we wanted to convey that sense that you can feel quite isolated in the workspace, even though you’re surrounded by people, and there’s this yearning to escape, and feel more connected and grounded in this nature environment.”
Ukulele Death Squad, the “most dangerous ukulele band on the planet” (you know it), has plenty exciting to escape to imminently, with extensive touring planned in support of their latest EP, Essentially My Life is a Disaster.
The EP was recorded (drums and vocals) at Collingwood’s Rolling Stock Studios, which was involved in mastering the band’s first EP and mixing the next.
Essentially My Life is a Disaster marks another chapter in a string of collaborations with the studio’s producer/sound engineer/musician Tomas Strode (Tomas Strode and The Tour Guides).
The relationships between the band and studio experts trump the sound of the room, and the gear that everything is running through in many ways, says Reuben.
“I’ve generally prioritised the vibe of it and making people feel comfortable,” he says. “So when I found a team that I worked really well with, and the creative ideas flowed, it seemed natural to keep working in that environment.
“That being said, it’s a very versatile space, the studio.
“The live is very modular – we can do isolated live sections; we’ve got a fair few options for tracking vocals and guitars, and it just seems like a really comfortable space to work in.”
The EP is stylistically eclectic. It marries Australiana disco, grungy blues, and Latin surf rock with Balkan-inspired ukulele, brass and vocal sound.
As Reuben observes, the band’s EPs mark switches between punkier folk-rock (Not Afraid), cleaner folk (Til the Death), and R&B (Baby Don’t F**k With Me) – before the eclectic approach of the latest.
With eight musicians playing a part in recording the band’s music today – and given the infinite magic of overdubs and multi-track recordings – there’s a lot to keep in mind when it comes to performing the music live, but the band has the musicianship and versatility to perform the songs in a fluid range of ways.
“It’s a very eclectic and morphable show that can change a lot depending on the context,” says Reuben.
“We’ve got a lot of great singers and lyricists in the band, so we have a lot of different feature lead vocalists…. I think featuring these a cappella numbers and these vocal-heavy numbers really is what ties it all together and brings the audience in.”
Ukulele Death Squad’s tour to support Essentially My Life is a Disaster kicks off on May 16 in Adelaide (Lion Arts Factory). The band will tour Australia’s east coast before heading to Germany and the UK for a run of shows and festivals leading in the middle of the year, performing the new recorded material and earlier releases in the live setting.
Reuben says preparing for the tour on the precipice has been all-consuming.
“I would say it occupies about 90 to 100 per cent headspace at the moment.
“I’m pretty unhealthily obsessed with all of the different spinning wheels.”
Ukulele Death Squad’s Australian tour begins on Saturday May 16. They play Howler on Sat June 13 (with Loz Irwin-Ray and Charlie Needs Braces). Find tour tickets here.
This article was made in partnership with Ukulele Death Squad.
