Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
Join Cheryl Lee That Radio Chick on Still Rockin' It for news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
What are they up to at the moment? Let's find out .......
Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
What have the Ukulele Death Squad been up to lately? OR 8 musicians, maniacs and misfits wielding the ukulele as a weapon of chaos
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians
A riverboat singalong, a distillery by the sea, and a double single with bite—this conversation with Alice from the Ukulele Death Squad proves folk can throw a party and break your heart in the same breath. We trace the band’s leap from Adelaide origins to a national tour anchored by the Adelaide Fringe, sold-out Popeye sets, and a Port Adelaide performance that turns sea shanties into a communal rite. Alice opens up about joining mid-pandemic, when border chaos forced the group to reconfigure and keep the music alive, ultimately cementing her place as a vocalist, trumpeter, and keys player who writes and leads with story.
We dive into The Curse of the Nipple Tape, a double single that shows the Squad’s range. F%ck The Man winks as a cheeky shanty calling out everyday male misfires, while Lowlands Away pulls the tempo down to reveal a haunting, dreamlike narrative of love, loss, and fate at sea. Instead of leaning on a rousing chorus, the band chooses intimacy and clarity, letting the lyrics do the heavy lift. That same care fuels the live show: Latin percussion, soulful brass, and finger-burning ukulele leads, all woven by a cast that treats each set like folk theatre. The promise is simple—arrive as strangers, leave hoarse from singing.
There’s more on the horizon: a northern trek to Coober Pedy, plans for another international run after past tours across Germany, Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Belgium, and New Zealand, plus fresh releases mixing renovated older songs with brand-new material.
If you’re curious where to start, hit YouTube for live clips, spin the new tracks on Spotify or Apple Music, and visit the website for dates. And if you can make it to Port Adelaide, bring your voice—the chorus belongs to everyone.
Enjoy the conversation? Follow the show, share this episode with a friend who loves folk with teeth, and leave a quick review so others can find it. Your support helps keep the music moving.
What have the Ukulele Death Squad been up to lately? Let's find out!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
From the humble beginning of the Adelaide Fringe, band has evolved into a cold touring phenomenon - seducing audiences across Australia, Europe and beyond with dark humour, jaw dropping vocal dynamics. See them once and prepare to abandon reason, loosen the reins and unlock the boldest and silliest version of yourself for one unforgettable night. I'm talking about the Ukulele Death Squad. They release some new music and have a national tour to boot. We catch up with Alice. Let's find out all the goss. And I'd like to welcome into the Zoom room today Alice from the Ukulele Death Squad. You guys have got a new double single out, Curse of the Nipple Tape, a title and a half, and an Australian tour to go with it. So the first one's called F&ck the Man, and then the next one's called Lowlands Away. Tell us a little bit first, before we get into the new material, a little bit about Alice and how did Alice get involved in this eight-piece mayhem.
Speaker 3:Well, the band's been going for a lot longer than what I've been in it. I actually joined in the middle of COVID. Initially, the band was spread across Sydney, Melbourne, and originated in Adelaide. I used to be based in Adelaide. And during COVID, obviously we couldn't perform together, but also we weren't in the same state. So even when restrictions were lifted, we couldn't fly to each other to perform and we wanted to keep going. I was asked as a bit of a ring-in in South Australia by Ben Roberts, one of the founding members, along with my brother and our gorgeous singer Ash as well, and Matt's also one of the lead singers. I was brought in so that we could just keep performing once restrictions started to be lifted in South Australia. And then once COVID kind of finished, well, not completely finished, but once it was more safe for us to travel and whatnot, that's when they kind of asked, Oh, well, you may as well be in the band. You've learnt all the songs, you've contributed writing. You can stay. Yeah, you can stay, you've earned your keep a bit. Yeah, and I remember the first festival I ever did interstate was actually the National Folk Festival, which was a wonderful introduction to the world of music and touring. Yeah, so that's how I came to be in the band. I sing and play trumpet and keys.
Cheryl Lee:For those who aren't familiar with the ukulele death squad, you could perhaps quickly introduce the rest of the band and what they'd play.
Speaker 3:We have Matthew, who's our, I guess I would say our frontman and our lead singer, although we all sing. He is big, strong, belter kind of a singer, wonderful storyteller and performer. Ash has a very soulful, beautiful voice, and she also plays trombone to match that as well. Our lead euke player, Eamon, comes from a background of classical guitar, so he applies a lot of classical guitar knowledge to the ukulele and does these incredible shredding solos. Julian, who is a wonderful vocalist as well, but also plays the baritone ukulele and kind of holds down a lot of the key rhythms and kind of chord progressions within the band. And then we have Nacho, who is our percussionist and is from Argentina, so brings a lot of Latin influence to the music and is also an incredible dancer and an absolute eye candy. And then we have Ruben, who is our drummer slash saxophone player. He is also a general octopus, can kind of play anything you give him. Yeah, he holds down a lot of the, I guess, form of songs for us. And then there's Steph, who is our ukulele bass player. She brings in all the funky rhythms and also has a beautiful voice as well.
Cheryl Lee:Am I forgetting anyone? You guys are spread out all across Australia.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we're, although we started off in Adelaide and we actually have four members who are originally from Adelaide. So myself, Matthew, Ash, and Silky, slash Steph, are all from Adelaide, but we now are spread half and half across Melbourne and Sydney.
Cheryl Lee:You're coming home as part of the national tour to um perform at our fringe. So it'll be great to have you back.
Speaker 3:We're a big fan of the Adelaide Fringe. We've done it a few times both within this project and in our own solo projects, and so it's always a great time. Yeah, we love it.
Cheryl Lee:Adelaide fringe is the best, right? It is, it really is. You guys start your tour 7th of Feb and it goes through to nearly the end of March in Adelaide for the fringe on the 28th of Feb. This is really cool. Not only are you appearing gluttony, I think, also you've got two performances on Popeye.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. The two Popeye shows are completely sold out, but we're not playing at Gluttony, we're playing in Port Adelaide. That's right, you are, yes. Yeah, because the concept of the show is sea shanties. We thought that we'd do a show by the sea, and what better place than Port Adelaide at Millage's distillery. So it'd be a great place to get a lovely glass of whiskey as well.
Cheryl Lee:Good plan. Oh, you've got to be like me Hearties on the Popeye.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Cheryl Lee:It's like a bizarre thing show.
Speaker 3:It's definitely pirate inspired. I would say the Popeye gig, we're hoping for people to come along and to sing up with us, just have a lovely old time riding on a boat, singing with your friends, and really getting into the pirate spirit. There'll be some lovely slow ballads, there'll be some fast piratey, more instrumental stuff. It's gonna be sea shanties through the lens of Death Squad. Awesome. So I was gonna say there's two performances that day, but they're sold out already. Yeah, so there's two performances on the Popeye that are completely sold out, but there's still tickets available for our Port Adelaide show. I think last time we checked, we had about 40 or 30 left. So it's selling quick, but yeah, definitely still come to the one at nighttime. So we'll be doing three performances in one day. Any chance you can squeeze in a fourth. Listen, with the logistics in this band, I feel like we've done worse.
Cheryl Lee:You know, they're sold out already and people will miss out. But if you do miss out and you're in South Australia, you can still go to the Outback Bar on the Grill 21st and 22nd of March if you feel like a road trip to Coober Pedy.
Speaker 3:Exactly. We are so excited for our Coober Pedy trip. We've never performed, I think, that far north, and we're really, really excited about it. My parents have been to the exact venue that we're performing at, and they've said that it's absolutely lovely. And yeah, we're hoping for a really special night and a really special crowd.
Cheryl Lee:It'll be worth the trip. Before we get into the new double single, I don't even know if you can, Alice. Can you define the genre of the Ukulele Death Squad? Explain it to the uninitiated.
Speaker 3:I would say that because we all come from such different backgrounds of music, we are kind of genrales s. But I would say the main thing that sticks together all of our songs is our art in storytelling. Regardless of musical genre, every song has a story, every song has fun, quirky lyrics that draw you in. I would say one thing that we can always guarantee at a Death Squad show is that it'll be a party.
Cheryl Lee:Sounds a little bit like an an Irish party. An Irish gig a little bit.
Speaker 3:We have definitely some, I guess, we're definitely folk influenced, but there's a bit of Latin in there, there's a bit of RB in there, there's a little bit of Bulcan in there as well. But I guess it all comes down to folk, and we end the genre of folk significantly. Yeah.
Cheryl Lee:Who wrote these new songs that are being released for the dumb single? We've got Beep, the man. Who wrote?
Speaker 3:So my brother Matthew wrote that one. He wanted to write a sea shanty kind of poking fun at men a little bit in a very, in a very lighthearted, cheeky way. All of the things that men do that frustrate him. There's parts of the song that he's even written about himself.
Cheryl Lee:Unfortunately, I can't play that one on the radio. Meaning beep, beep, beep. But Low Lands Away. Now that's beautiful. I can play that one on the radio.
Speaker 3:That one's actually an old, old Scottish folk song. It was used as a sea shanty. It's a very well-known sea shanty. I'm singing that one on the track. We decided to do it because other renditions we've heard of it are always quite kind of robust and really kind of fast and wanting to rally. But the lyrics of it are quite delicate. And so we wanted to do a version of it out there, or throw a version of it out there where it brings a certain emotion to it. Because the story, it's been interpreted a lot of different ways. But the way that I interpret the lyrics, that it's about a person who is on a ship and they're fast asleep and they're dreaming of their lover or loved one back home, thinking about how beautiful they are and how they're going to get married. And then in the dream, he or she passes away. The person who's dreaming then wakes up and realizes that the ship's crashing and realizes that they're about to pass away. And that's the reason why they were having that dream. And so I feel like there's yeah, that's the meaning I get from it. And there's been there's been lots of other yeah, yeah, there's lots of things to take from it.
Cheryl Lee:So this is a more sort of thoughtful interpretation. Yes. I checked them out on YouTube. Where should the uh listeners go to have a little look before they connect to you know driving to Coober Pedy or Port Adelaide?
Speaker 3:I would say have a look on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, any of the streaming services that generate, I guess, cash flow towards artists is is great. Suspects. The usual suspects, or even I believe they're up on SoundCloud as well. So yeah, definitely check them out.
Cheryl Lee:And just ukulele death squad.com as well, your website.
Speaker 3:Yep. If you're keen on seeing any of our past performances, we have so many videos of us performing overseas in Germany in particular, and we've got lots of videos from our old Fringe show. So definitely look up Ukulele Death Squad on YouTube to watch those.
Cheryl Lee:You mentioned Germany, so yeah, not only have you graced all of Australia, but uh you have represented us overseas as well. Where else have you been showing off Australian talent?
Speaker 3:Well, last year we did a New Zealand tour and we played Womad New Zealand, which was very, very exciting. For us, we've showcased ourselves in Germany, of course, Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Belgium, all over the place. And we only hope to do more in the next year. We're definitely planning an international tour that will happen later in the year, and then hopefully a lot more Australian shows. So keep your eyes and ears peeled for more Australian shows that will happen after the curse of the nipple tape tour.
unknown:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Excellent. Keep your eyes peeled because we are also going to be releasing a bunch more music this year, which is really, really exciting. So in about a month or so's time, follow us on social media on our Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, all the above, and you'll get the latest, I guess, sneak peek of our new songs that will be coming out.
Cheryl Lee:And are they newly written songs or they new takes on some old songs?
Speaker 3:A bit of both. We're we've got a combination of songs that were written ages ago that we have made new into this new, I guess, EP kind of thing that we're releasing, but also just a bunch of newies as well. Yeah. Awesome.
Cheryl Lee:The ukulele death squad aren't your average ukulele ensemble. I think we've made that pretty clear. Eight musicians, maniacs, and misfits. You're described as wielding the smallest stringed instrument in the world. What is that? The ukulele.
Speaker 3:Is that the smallest? I don't actually know if that's technically the smallest, but but do you know what? For radio sake, we'll say it's the smallest. We don't let the truth get in the way of a good headline. We can't be asking those questions because I don't know the answers.
Cheryl Lee:But apparently it's been wielded as a weapon of chaos and an invitation to surrender inhibitions. The shows are equal parts, musical, odyssey, theatre, ritual, and late night fever dream. That's a explanation for you.
Speaker 3:I would agree with all of those. There's nothing quite like our live show. I remember a few years ago we played at Woodford and there was a live breastfeeding at one of our shows, which was very entertaining. So you never know what you're gonna get.
Cheryl Lee:Exactly. Well, that sounds like a whole heap of fun. So, Adelaideans, get onto the Google-O-Meter, get along to a show near you before it sells out, and I shall see you down the front. Yay! Can't wait to see you there. Thank you so much, Alice, for spending a bit of time in the Zoom room with us today. And we look forward to seeing you when you get to our town.
Speaker 3:Yes, thank you. I'm excited to come. You are listening to Still Rockin It, the podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee:As mentioned, the new double single, The Curse of the Nipple Tape. Oh, that still makes me laugh, features two live a cappella tracks. F%ck the Man, which I can't play for you, and Lowlands Away, which I can. So here it is, with our Alice singing.
Cheryl Lee:Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rockin It podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can, support Aussie music, and I'll see you down the front.