You can’t be too earnest with a ukulele, but we genuinely try to do the music justice with our limited resources. It wouldn’t work if either aspect were missing.”
Since The Re-entrants formed, the ukulele has undergone quite a revival and it has become something of an antidote to the over-produced X Factor model of making music. “There are more and more ukulele clubs forming” says Phil, “and it’s something pretty much unique to the instrument. People are gathering together to strum along and enjoy making music and socialising, which is wonderful. We have made a lot of really good friends all over the world through the ukulele. There are now several large ukulele festivals in the UK at which we have performed – we’ll be at The Ukulele Festival of Great Britain in Cheltenham in June, folks! – and as well as the concerts and trade stands, it’s lovely to see people of all ages joining in and making music together.”
They are often quizzed about their instruments after gigs, either by people not familiar with the ukulele, or those who have recently bought one. “As uke players we tend to immersed in the world of ukulele, and it’s easy to forget that in the ‘real world’ the uke is still something of a mystery to many audience members. We are often asked about our mandolins or tiny guitars. The nice thing is, of course, that they’ve had a good time and enjoyed the music without even being aware of the instrument we are playing, which is important to us. The ukulele isn’t the focus, the focus is being entertaining” insists Phil. The other questions come from fellow uke players who often assume they use effects pedals or have modified their ukes in some way to achieve certain sounds, though Phil is keen to point out that “We have some nice ukes, and some look very different such as solid body or triangular ones, but they are essentially simple, nylon strung, standard tuned
ukes with pickups fitted to them. We don’t use effects or backing tracks and are quite proud to say that we could perform our set right now on a couple of cheap soprano ukes pulled down from a music shop wall.” Those ‘nice’ ukes include several by UK luthiers Rob Collins (
www.tinguitar.com) and Pete Howlett (
www.petehowlettukulele.
co.uk) as well as the aforementioned signature model ukes produced by aNueNue (
www.anuenue-uke.com).
As well as playing at ukulele festivals (which are only a very small part of their schedule), The Re-entrants play a wide variety of gigs. “We’re not really a straight ‘covers band’, but we can
fulfil that role.” says Ian. “We’re not a comedy act, but we can play a comedy club. We’re not a folk band, but we play folk festivals. We’re just ‘The Re- entrants’, which happily means that we can find ourselves playing just about anywhere from a huge rock festival stage to a folk club to a theatre, to just about anyone of any age. All we really ask of an audience is that they’re willing to have a good time with us.”
This year will mark their third consecutive appearance at The Acoustic Festival of Great Britain (where they have been asked again to be the ‘last band standing’ on the Sunday night, bringing the festival to a close) and they will
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