TUFFBABE – TREBLE YELL SESSIONS (Ukulele punk rock with a band)

Aloha everyone!

First time forum poster and beginner ukulele player here. I would like to share with you my band’s first session video and the story behind it.

When I was younger I was really into all kinds of punk, rock and heavy metal music and that inspired me to start playing bass guitar. I even applied and got accepted to local music academy where I studied for a year. However, I had broken my wrist as a child which had caused permanent damage to nerves in my left hand. So I gradually started to lose gripping strength and getting nasty pains on my hand and elbow, and had to abandon playing because of it.

Now several years later I happened to stumble upon Ukulele and got really excited as I noticed that I was able to play it properly. The lighter strings required less gripping strength than bass or guitar. I started practicing and have been playing for a year or so now.

However, my passion for playing punk rock in a band never went away so I started to wonder if I could do that with ukulele. I found couple of videos of people playing overdriven or distorted ukuleles and started experimenting with my electro-acoustic ukulele and different effect pedals. When I was happy with result, I contacted couple of my friends and we formed a band together. From the get-go, our shared vision was to make fast and dirty lo-fi garage punk. The sound I managed to got from my ukulele was a pleasant surprise and perfect for this kind of music. So I am pleased to present you our first session tape called “Treble Yell” (named after the high-pitch feedback sound that my ukulele emits when my effect pedal is turned on).



For those interested in technical details, my ukulele is standard electro acoustic Kala Makala Tenor Ukulele with wounded Aquila low-G string set. I run it through TC Electric Rusty Fuzz effect pedal (turned to 11, of course). To compliment this setup, our bassist-vocalist uses 5-stringed bass with Big Muff fuzz pedal.

Please let me know what you think and if you have good tips on how to get rid of the “treble yell” I am all ears. (This far I have tried stuffing several woolly socks inside my uke and blocking the sound hole with beer coaster, did not work). Cheers!
 
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I now realize that I may have posted this on wrong section of the forum. If moderators feel like it, this threat could be moved to "Links and videos" section of the forum. Thanks.
 
So much healthier than drugs! I would go see you guys. The heck Reggae song was fab. I was always so torn...in those times. Liberty Lunch or Rauls or Club Foot....decisions, decisions. The Uke is purrfect 4 punk. Good on you.
I can't help with your audio dilemma, but I am sure someone in the Sound/Audio/Video forum can do so.
Do Carry on and welcome to UU
 
Have you tried running it through a DI box? I think the Behringer DI boxes are quite good at reducing feedback.

The other thing is getting padding between your piezo and the wood or using a suction cup piezo (only works if you have a gloss surface not satin). Sounds silly when you already have a pickup installed but you might need a stick on or clip on piezo instead.

Or if you can afford it the iRig acoustic stage system is supposed to be feedback resistant.
 
I'd say you have found a really good sound and I think that is a difficult task on any kind of ukulele. I have heard plenty of distorted ukuleles, but I was never very convinced it was a sound I liked. Good luck and keep working on it.
 
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