THE PUKES EP (Damaged Goods)
Format: 7” & Digital
Release Date: 27th May 2013

Damaged Goods Records celebrates its 25th year in 2013. That’s 25 years of releasing glorious and riotous punk rock, new-wave, garage rock and vintage pop by all manner of mavericks, geniuses, odd-balls and lunatics…and this spring is no exception, with the release of The pUKEs debut EP on 7” vinyl with poster sleeve – all tracks exclusive to this single.

The pUKEs are a 20-strong (nearly) all female punk ukulele band based in London. They play songs by the likes of Dead Kennedys, Exploited, Xray Spex, The Clash, etc like you’ve never heard ‘em before. Their massive stage presence and raucous live show has landed them slots at Rebellion punk festival and Shoreditch 1234, as well as gigs with many of the bands who inspired them, including Sham 69, Bad Manners, Chelsea and Peter & the Test Tube Babies.  Around half the pUKEs were non musicians before they learned the uke, the others have been in bands such as UK Subs, Extreme Noise Terror and Lost Cherrees.

The EP, produced by Dick Crippen from Tenpole Tudor features one original song Will I Learn plus covers of Menace, Elton Motello and Cock Sparrer. The bands have lots of gigs and festivals lined up for the summer – including Rebellion punk festival in Blackpool.

The record release party is at The Dublin Castle, Parkway, Camden on Friday 24th May 2013 with CASE and B-Movie Britz.

http://thepukes.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/thepukes
https://twitter.com/thepukes
http://www.youtube.com/user/thepukes77
https://soundcloud.com/thepukes
http://www.damagedgoods.co.uk/

“THE ONLY (covers) BAND THAT MATTERS.” Fear and Loathing
“The pUKEs are just sheer genius – nuff said.” Louder Than War

MAKALA DOLPHIN

The perfect beginner’s ukulele, and for around £30 not too spendy either – result! For its price, the Dolphin has a remarkably good sound to it, especially if you can be arsed to upgrade the strings to Aquilas/your preferred string of choice. It comes with a rosewood fingerboard and bridge, and is available in a rainbow of painted finishes, so you can go seasonal and choose a love-themed red/sunburst pink, or choose a finish to match your Sweetheart’s eyes/favourite pants/knob colour. True romance.

(Available from most half decent music shops/online)

MYA MOE

The Taj Mahal of ukuleles. Loved by a lot of the US uke stars and Mr Eddie Vedder, the beauty of the Mya Moe luthiers is that if you have the wonga, you can specify everything  - from the wood finish on the body/bindings/fretboard/etc, to its signature chequerboard headplate. They also get their hands on some of the more exotic woods, including the sick-enducingly romantic-sounding Chocolate Heart Mango. Vomit. For the ultimate gesture you can add a Mother-of-Pearl inlay to the neck – hearts? You and your lover’s initials? The circumference of your inner thigh? It’s up to you. If you order a build today you are looking at a delivery time of October (eight months lead time), and with the average price for a concert-size uke with pickup at around $1,450, if that doesn’t keep you and your bird/bloke together, nothing will. (P.S: One of the pUKEs will be getting a Mya Moe delivered in September, so we’ll get to see if it really IS worth the cash – stay tuned!)
www.myamoeukuleles.com

JAR OF PICKLES UKULELE

What could be more arousing than a ukulele in the shape of a jar of pickles?  NOTHING, Dear Reader. The chap who runs this Etsy store has a selection of ‘unique’ stringed instruments, including a snail, an apple, and the rather alarming ‘Female Form’. In his own words: “ If you can dream it, let’s build it”. Knobulele anyone? Prices start from just under £300.
www.etsy.com/shop/celentanowoodworks

These fab pics are by Alexis Hughes – thank you!

JANUARY
We took our Iconic Punk Art exhibition to Norwich Arts Centre and played our first gig with our brilliant drummer Dazzle Puke Monroe at the Dublin Castle in London.

And Get Kebab Wear Kebab Cry wrote a song about us!

FEBRUARY
We played the (short-lived) Trash Bar in Stoke Newington…

MARCH
We went to Brighton, we went to Hastings, we went to London too! Pukes on tour!
Here we are having a ball at Winter of Discontent Festival (pic by Indre Cukuraite).

APRIL
We nearly made Gene October of Chelsea cry when we we mistook him for the cleaner at the Bridgehouse 2. Oopsies!

MAY
Johnny Takeaway dropped by to deliver a Hard Skin masterclass (thank you Johnny) and we performed a MASSIVE Cock Sparrer sing-a-long with the Hackney Secular Singers (pic by David Green www.davidxgreen.com). We were joined by Chris Lloyd of Noise Agents on bass, completing our awesome rhythm section.

JUNE
A busy month for the pUKEs – a mini-tour with Bad Manners and Max Splodge (we love those boys), a return to Hastings (where we are always made to feel very welcome), we broke the world record for the amount of players on stage at the 12 Bar (pic by Svenja Block), we played the now LEGENDARY Milton Arms gig when Punk by the Sea festival went tits up AND we recorded our original song Will I Learn with Dick Crippen.

JULY
A hilarious day shooting the video for Will I Lean with Pete Kyle. More of Angela Dee’s excellent photos here.

AUGUST
We played Rebellion punk festival and were totally shocked to find that we packed the Bizarre Bazaar stage to capacity!

We released Will I Learn on You Tube and got a couple of thousand views in the first week. Another shocker!

SEPTEMBER
We made merry mischief at Shoreditch 1234 festival. After enthusiastically embracing the free VIP shots bar – where Debs and Gareth won a pair of creepers each – we tried to meet the Buzzcocks. They weren’t in their dressing room, but they had very kindly left us a lovely bottle of wine. Thank you Buzzcocks…..

And we had a photo shoot with our good friend and photographer Diana More.

OCTOBER
We were honoured to be invited to play The Art of Punk book launch at the Tate Modern. An amazing if slightly scary experience. Thank you Russ Bestley and Alex Ogg.

And we were Ents 24′s most popular EVER ‘band of the week’!

NOVEMBER
We had a page dedicated to us in Mike Evan’s cute little book called Ukulele Crazy. We were right next to Amanda Palmer and only 11 pages away from the Beatles. Rock on!

DECEMBER
Another awesome mini tour with Bad Manners and Max Splodge as well as a fun night supporting the Members.

Who would’ve thought these tiny 4 stringed instruments would have brought so much fun to our lives. Can’t wait for 2013… We’ll be recording a covers EP for Damaged Goods records and making another video. Bring it on!

On the front of this utterly charming little book it says ‘Everything you need to know about the ukulele and how to play it’ and that’s pretty much what it does. Beautifully written and presented, it’s a gentle meander through the ukulele’s humble beginnings in Portugal, to King David Kalakaua of Hawaii’s epic all-night hula parties in the 1870s, to the global revival we are enjoying today.

The 20th century pages tell the story of legends such as May Singhi Breen (‘The Ukulele Lady’), ‘Wizard of the Strings’ Roy Smeck and that cheeky chappie George Formby – some of whose songs were banned by the BBC for his saucy lyrics. And there, in the ‘Modern Revolution’ section, right next to Amanda Palmer, and I kid you not, a mere 12 pages away from the Beatles are The pUKEs!

Good for beginners and certifiable uke obsessives alike, the book is packed with trivia, photographs, song sheets, chord diagrams, tuning advice, strumming techniques and tips on what to look for when buying your first instrument. There’s information on festivals, clubs, workshops, and well, most things you can think of from the amazing world of the ukulele.

At just eight inches square, it won’t quite fit into your soprano case, but Ukulele Crazy will look lovely on your bedside table and will make a delightful stocking filler for the uke fan in your life.

Ukulele Crazy
Mike Evans
Buy here from Amazon priced £6.99 

Instructions:
1. Click on the PDF link below
2. Print onto 12 sheets of plain paper or A4 stickers
3. Stick it on your calendar

Pukes calendar recycle 2013

The pUKEs by Diana More
www.dianamorephotography.co.uk/