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While combining music and humour often leads to a short-lived career, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain have been putting their distinctive, satirical spin on pop classics old and new for more than two decades.
Since performing their first gig at a south London pub in 1985, the
seven-strong collective of George Hinchliffe, David Suich, Peter Brooke-Turner, Hester Goodman, Kitty Lux, Will Grove-White and Jonty Bankes have gone from strength to strength, releasing three albums and touring all over Britain and around the world.
"It was supposed to be a bit of fun," recalls bandleader Hinchliffe. "We played in a lot of pubs and more and more people came along so we thought this is fun, let's keep going with it. It all seemed to snowball. We did a few gigs, then got offered a radio show.
"Not long after that, we did the Womad festival, then we had a TV appearance and we used the money from that to record an album. It started out in a light-hearted way but very quickly turned into something serious."
When I catch the Ukulele Orchestra during the last of eight sell-out shows at east London's Toynbee Studios, it is apparent that while the emphasis is clearly on laughs, the dapperly dressed septet, who sit in a line along the stage, definitely know how to play the small four-stringed guitar, which originates from Portugal but first rose to popularity in Hawaii during the late 19th century.
"It started out as a gag," says Hinchliffe. "Playing rock music on a guitar and standing on a stage feeling like a rock god seemed totally corny and ridiculous in 1985. So we thought with a ukulele, it's already pretty ridiculous so that frees you up to do whatever you want to do.
"But the times have changed and the audiences have changed their attitude to the instrument. It used to seem amazing in those days but now it's just another fun instrument, let's give it a go. But we take the music really seriously, and, for us, the ukulele is invisible in a way - it's just the medium that we use."
Tonight the Ukulele Orchestra's repertoire encompasses old obscurities like Silver Machine by 70s prog rockers Hawkwind in addition to recent anthems such as Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs, who invited the seven-piece group to perform with them at last year's BBC Electric Proms.
Hinchliffe takes the lead vocal for a truly oddball rendition of Isaac Hayes' Theme from Shaft while Brooke-Turner - who towers over his band-mates at around 1.9m - performs Baccara's disco gem Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, complete with dance moves, without leaving his chair.
Most impressive is a supposedly improvised medley of everything from Hey Jude to I Will Survive and Hotel California that closes the first half.
"We've got a few new ones in this set," says Hinchliffe.
"Sometimes we go back to the old ones. Some people have been coming to see us for 10 years and they think we've got loads of new songs and we say no, we just went further back into our back catalogue for a few things that are old news for us, but you have never seen them before."
There is no method to the Ukulele Orchestra's madness.
"Sometimes somebody will say, 'Do you fancy doing this song?' and it seems like a good idea," says Hinchliffe. "Other times it's a trouble song that we kick around for ages until we find a way of making something out of it."
They are planning to include some Kiwi classics in their set when they play the International Festival of the Arts in Wellington next month although Hinchliffe won't be drawn on any specifics.
"We have been rehearsing a couple of New Zealand tunes , but that's top secret," he laughs. "We will also have some kind of light entertainment and toe-tapping music along with the rock stuff."
The Ukulele Orchestra has also inspired the formation of many similar ensembles around the world including the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra.
"A lot of people have said that they started playing because of us, so we have had an effect," says Hinchliffe, who is looking forward to meeting their Kiwi soul mates.
"We've had a bit of communication through email and I've seen some clips of their music, which is great. We might do something like a Mexican stand-off, where we say, 'Here's our song,' and then they'll go, 'Here's what we have got."'
* The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain will perform at the Wellington Town Hall from February 29 to March 2.
