Originally hailing from Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England, Paul spent his youth listening to punk rock and playing in bands such as the Sh1ts!, who were active in the early '80s and played a memorable New Years Eve gig at the Mayflower Club in Manchester.
Like many punk fans, Paul never lost his love for the music. "The energy and attitude always made it special and that's why there is still a massive punk contingent across the world, and always will be," he writes in an e-mail.
The Origins of the UkePunk
After many years of playing guitar at open mic nights and getting rather jaded with the sameness of it all, Paul found new inspiration in early 2009. He stumbled upon Danielle Ate the Sandwich, somewhat of a YouTube star in her own right who posts videos of her ukulele covers and originals, and he began experimenting with old punk songs on the ukulele for fun, uploading the videos to his own YouTube channel.
Ukulele Punk Rock Video
Since that time, the UkePunk has, in his own words, "ruined" a long list of classic punk tunes, from The Damned's "Love Song" and the UK Subs' "Stranglehold" to Buzzcocks' "Harmony In My Head" and the Stranglers' "No More Heroes." The results are upbeat, fun, good-time bubblegum tunes offset with spot-on unpretentious vocals perfectly suited to his song choices.
The videos are concise and are kept interesting by adding a little variety, shot occasionally in sepiatone, sometimes in black-and-white and others are in colour. Expect to see an occasional prop (as in the Dickies' "Banana Splits"), other instruments (Angelic Upstarts' "I'm An Upstart") and even some picture-in-picture collaborations with other musicians (Elton Motello's "Jet Boy Jet Girl"). He says, "It's all tongue-in-cheek and if it puts a smile on your face, all the better."
Punk Shows, Radio Appearances and The Future
YouTube has proved to be a great venue for the UkePunk, offering tons of exposure for his project. In fact, invitations for gigs and support slots have been unexpectedly rolling in, mostly from people getting in touch through YouTube and MySpace.
Although the UkePunk's first live appearance was, of course, at a friend's open mic night, he's since played live on Tameside Radio and at the Pudstock Festival in his hometown. He plans to just sort of go with the flow and see what happens, with the full intention of booking more gigs and introducing a few originals to his set. The UkePunk has particularly appreciated the opportunity to play shows, saying, "Live responses have been absolutely brilliant so far. Big smiles and a good old singalong, what more do you want from a night out?" Sounds like a blast.
Check out the UkePunk on YouTube for upcoming shows and new videos, updated often.
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