This winter, we are embarking on our most epic tour yet – a Tour of Wellington!
About time, too. We know we haven’t played around the Capital much lately, so we’ve decided to bring musical heat to the chilled bones of Wellingtonians by taking our bonsai instruments to six corners of the great Wellington region.
This exhaustive tour of our hometown will take in theatres and town halls in Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua, Paekakariki and Paraparumu, finishing with a standing rock’n’roll gig in Wellington City.
We are bringing home to Wellington some new and amazing on-stage tricks that are sure to inspire and delight. And for those contemplating which show to attend, our bandmate Andy Morley-Hall advises “Every show will be different, so come to all of them. But if you don’t like to stand for two hours, then come to the first five shows only.
What Andy means is that all the other gigs are seated extravaganzas ideal for families and friends, while the San Francisco Bathhouse is going to be one of those sweaty, standing affairs with a … Nudge nudge dance dance…
Porirua Monday
23 August 2010
Mungavin Hall, Porirua.
Doors 6.30pm/Show 7.30pm
41 Mungavin Avenue, Porirua East
Tickets from www.undertheradar.co.nz
Paraparaumu Tuesday
24 August 2010
Southward Car Museum, Paraparaumu.
Doors 6.30pm/Show 7.30pm
Otaihanga Road, Paraparaumu
Tickets from www.undertheradar.co.nz
Paekakariki Wednesday
25 August 2010
Paekakariki Memorial Hall, The Parade.
Doors 6.30pm/Show 7.30pm
98 The Parade, Paekakariki
Tickets from www.undertheradar.co.nz
Lower Hutt Thursday
26 August 2010
Lower Hutt Town Hall, Lower Hutt
. Doors 6.30pm/Show 7.30pm
Laings Road, Lower Hutt
Tickets from www.undertheradar.co.nz
Upper Hutt Friday
27 August 2010
Genesis Energy Theatre, Expressions, Upper Hutt
. Doors 6.30pm/Show 7.30pm
836 Fergusson Drive, Upper Hutt
Tickets from www.ticketdirect.co.nz
Wellington City Saturday
28 August 2010
San Francisco Bathhouse, Wellington
(R18. Standing only. Student discount applies.)
Doors 7.00pm/Show 8.30pm
171 Cuba Street, Wellington
Tickets from www.undertheradar.co.nz
Winter Workshops
Sundays
July > August
Back by popular demand! The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra (WIUO) are excited to announce our 2010 Winter Ukulele Workshop Season. Bigger and bolder than ever before and arriving just in time to warm your winter chills, the WUWs are here to help you take your ukulele playing to the next level!
This year for the first time we have an Intermediate Workshop Series (as well as our ever-popular Beginner Workshop).
Click on the PDF link to check out what’s new and what’s the same. You can purchase a season pass to our workshops now via www.undertheradar.co.nz so get in quick, there are limited spaces available! Download the PDF
Brand new tees in stock!
Adults:
Black and Blue for Fellas and Pink and Black for girls. Tees are $50 each. Grab one now! email us your order
Dick Frizzell Tees
Rumour has it that we are going to be producing some limited edition teeshirts designed by the fabulous Dick Frizzell. If you want to be notified of these the moment they are available, then email us to ensure you get in first.
Kids: We have kids tee's in stock with ACE in red and blue sizes 2,4,6,8! Email us if you wish to order a teeshirt!
Blue Smoke Vinyl On the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of New Zealand's first official pop single, the WIUO are proud to present a shiny blue vinyl release of our version of 'Blue Smoke', Ruru Karaitiana's wartime song of longing, with party hit 'That's Amore' on the B-side, and incredibly beautiful artwork by Stephen Templer, overseen by our own Francis Salole & Sam Auger.
The records were pressed at United Record Pressing in Nashville, USA (where Jack White gets his records made!).
The whole product is an artwork in itself but by all means, we encourage you to play the record. But if you don't have a record player, by golly it would look lovely framed on the mantlepiece!
Available exclusively through mail order and at our live shows.
Place your order now via ukemerch@gmail.com.
$20 plus p&p.
Contacting us
Gig Bookings, Quotes, Sponsorship enquiries to Kate Mulligan: ukemgmnt@gmail.com
We have put together a bunch of resources to support you to learn play the uke. Check em out.
On 27 June 2009 we played two magical shows at Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre. From that show, we made two lovely videos for you in which we perform John McDougall's 'I Love You, Raylene' and Randy Newman's 'Short People'. We'd like to thank everyone who came to the show, and everyone who helped us make it happen, including these magical people...
Cinematography: Warren Green, Neil Stichbury, Marty Williams, Tammy Peters, Grahame Sydney
Crew runner: Zelda Edwards Editor: Jonno Woodford-Robinson Editing facilities: Cubic Studio, Wellington, NZ Sound recording: Andrew Dalziel and Radio NZ Concert; Brett Stanton
Sound mix: Brett Stanton Stage design: Megan Vertelle
Lighting design: Jennifer Lal
Hair: CHOP, Wellington, NZ
Makeup & Costumes: Models' own Event management: Kate Mulligan and her crew (Karen Blyth, Chris Morley-Hall & Jacqui Pryor).
Produced by The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra
Drumroll Please: We are proud to release our latest recording - The Dreaming EP
Made with love and magic for our enthusiastic audiences by our merry band on our bonsai instruments. The music was recorded at Roundhead Studios by the tolerant and talented Neil Baldock, produced by our No-Corner-Cutting Age-Pryor, mastered in NYC by Steve Fallone. It's lovingly wrapped up in delicious illustration by the masterful Stephen Templer sporting photos by Andrew Morley-Hall, designed by Sam Auger and art directed by Francis Salole. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it.
Available in all good music stores from the 28th September.
08 October2009
Made in 11 minutes with a budget of $5.98 made on our New Zealand Tour after a show at the Boathouse in Nelson, we proudly present our new music video to go with our interpretation of the Coral's 'Dreaming of You':
11 September2009
Ukes on the telly pimping an upcoming tour and CD, and teaching the lovely Samantha Hayes to play the Ukulele - check it out on TV3's Nightline
15 August2009
Hidden Track, the 2008 Winners of Weblog's Best Music Blog have written an charming review of our MFC gig...we are blushing!
28 June2009
Twice in one night. Go Wellington! Not just in a public transport kinda way, but in an almost unstoppable mexican wave kinda way. Thanks to our two x 2000+ strong audiences who seemed to LIKE IT, and our appreciators, for their glowing feedback.
22 June2009
It has been pointed out to us that there have been some serious grammatical errors on our website since late 2008. We take this matter very seriously. It's like having food between your teeth all night and your friends not saying anything. It's a good way to work out which fans really love you. Thanks Peter.
"Plucky Ukuleles hit the top note" on the IMNZ Independent Album Charts January 2009at #1 (A Little Bit Wonderful EP) ~and~ #8 (The Heartache EP). Thanks for buying and appreciating our music, New Zealand!
But the bragging doesn't stop there; oh no.
You see,
Age Pryor features on the Woolshed Sessions at #3, Bret and the Conchords are #9, and Dan our bassist plays on another album in the top 10..
Wellington music is the clear winner at the end of the day - 8 out of 10 of the top albumns in Jan. Kia ora for that!
18 January09
Our Not So lazy Summer Tour was a complete sellout! Sorry to those who missed out. We promise to play bigger venues next time so that you don't miss out again!
3 December08
Hey sugar, take a walk on the wild side with Howe Gelb.
We have a sneaky new song only available on myspace! Check out our myspace page for more details.
It's a Heartache Video
On its first day on Youtube, our video was #1 - Most Viewed, #2 - Top Favorited , #2 - Top Rated and #3 - Most Discussed of New Zealand Music. Cool.
The Heartache video is special to us for so many reasons. It was made by our hypertalented friend Tim Capper from Another Planet, set in the Official Home of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra - Deluxe Cafe in and shot on the occasion of our penultimate Deluxe Morning Gig, commemorating the end of 3 years of playing the first Thursday mornings of every month.
We hope that you love it, and share it with your friends (especially those folks who braindrained our city, buggering off overseas to earn the big bucks. Hopefully it will seduce them back!).Thanks to all our devoted Thursday morning gig fans, and the dangerous and sexy staff of Deluxe.
Sigourney Weaver came to our last private gig, launching the Intersect Network, which made front page news. We were delighed to have her hubby Jim up on stage with us for a few tunes.
8th May 07
Oh what a night...Forgive the name dropping, but thanks to Chris Knox, Don Mc Glashan and Annie Crumber for making it so memorable. And thanks to our audience for documenting it...
