We’ve got a few Castaways-isms, phrases we throw around when we’re talking band business. Two are most common.

There’s “It’s bigger than a hat shop,” which refers to the tiny space at Goorin Brothers Hats in Seattle’s University District where we played a show in Spring 2012. When we’re describing new stages, we’ll say things like, “Oh, it’s about the size of a hat shop,” for a small space and “It’s way bigger than a hat shop” for a big stage. We were there, we know what we mean.

And there’s “It’s miniature horses all over again.” In July, 2012, we played a street fair on Madison and during our set, a woman walked by leading two miniature horses. We were all confused by this sight, we stared, some of us lost our places (that’d be me, for sure) and no doubt you could see our surprise on our faces. I turned to Ed and said, “Did you see that? Am I high?” “Well, if you are, I am too. Tiny horses, right?”

But we are actually very familiar with that expression, you see, we get it all the time. Someone will hear us playing, look at what we’re playing, and… there it is. They’re trying to do the math. That guy is sitting on a box but it sounds like a full drum kit. The rest of those people — wait, those are ALL ukuleles, even the bass? That song is… no way, they are not doing Twisted Sister. That is not Ozzy Osbourne. That’s totally a Madonna song, what the hell?

Sometimes they’ll walk right up in front of us, stare at Pete’s cajon, scan the ukuleles, and shake their heads. Then they’ll stand at the back of the room, gawking, while we finish out our set. And the whole time, plastered on their faces… it’s miniature horses all over again.

Mark and I carpool to band practice and we’ve been talking about changing the band’s tagline from “We play ukulele music” to “Seattle’s loudest ukulele band,” a revision on a moniker given to us by Todd Bishop of Geekwire during a radio interview we did after playing the Geekwire Gala.  Todd introduced us as the world’s loudest ukulele band, but our fact checkers couldn’t confirm or deny that. “We’ll go with Seattle’s loudest, the world is a big place.”

“We play ukulele music, it’s not what you think” expresses very accurately what we do, but we wonder if we’re struggling with a marketing problem, if we are, perhaps missing out on gigs because people associate the ukulele with a very specific style of music. And that style is not nitro fueled rock and roll. They read our tag line, they see our pictures, and they go right back to thinking that we’ll be an acoustic act that’s kind of mellow, in short, they do not expect us to rock.

We’ve given some thought to how we can fix this, but a recent visit with a friend made me think that it’s not the band’s problem so much as it’s the ukulele’s well established reputation. I had explained very directly to my friend that we were a rock band, that we play rock and roll. Then, during the break at the show he attended, he said, “I kind of expected something more… acoustic. You don’t do any Hawaiian? I thought you’d be more mellow.” “Dude,” I said, “I told you. We. Rock.” “Yeah you do,” he said. “I didn’t expect that.”

We’re just pushing the uke, and you know what? The uke kind of loves it. We certainly do. And we love to see that look of amazement in the crowd, it makes us happy. But we’re not sure how to break preconceptions about the ukulele. We are a ukulele band. We are also a rock band. You could dress us all in flip flops and aloha shirts and we’d still be a rock band. The uke, even with its booming popularity, is still underestimated.

It’s miniature horses all over again.

Photo by Derrick Coetzee via Flickr (Creative Commons)

THE SEATTLE CASTAWAYS ANNOUNCE SUMMER TOUR IN HAWAII, 2013

Seattle’s loudest ukulele band, The Castaways, have booked the first date of their summer 2013 Hawaii tour at the People’s Theater in Honoka’a. Additional venues are pending, but the band’s label, UkeReign records, confirms that their agent is working with Hilo’s Aloha Theater, The Blue Dragon, and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park’s Art After Dark program.

To underwrite the tour, The Castaways are in talks with super-yacht charter company Ukulele Breezes to provide accommodation for the band on one of their fleet of luxury motor vessels moored in the Hilo marina. Additional sponsors in play include Tropical Kool-Aid (and the beverage division of Kraft Foods) as a refreshments sponsor and, Converse shoes, who are exploring a limited run of Castaways logo fabric so fans can have the iconic rock star favored sneaker as a souvenir. Hilo Hattie’s responded positively to the idea of adding the band’s Kona side venues to their daily shuttle routes.

The Castaways, a ukulele driven rock band, have had remarkable success during their first year. Distributors are finding it hard to keep their EP, Sixer, in stock, and their video, a cover of Freeze Frame by J. Geils Band, continues to surprise and delight viewers. The band’s fan base is growing and they’ll be a main stage act at Seattle’s Folklife Festival this Spring.

“We’re excited to bring our ukes back to their homeland,” said one band member. “We wouldn’t be where we are without Hawaii’s gift to us — the ukulele — and we’re thrilled to get to share what we do with the wonderful people of Hawaii.”

The band of five — Jim Abernethy, Ed Viars, Pam Mandel, Mark Bader, and Pete Harris, has played a series standing room only shows in their home town of Seattle. Critics have said their sound is “pure, unadulterated joy” and “totally unexpected.” Their interpretation of classic rock for ukulele, using three ukes, a U-bass, and the cajon, has left audiences all over Puget Sound delighted and cheering for more.

Band members are deeply respectful of Hawaiian music and the ukulele. “The music isn’t our style,” said another band member, “but we love our ukuleles with our whole hearts. We want to acknowledge that, so as part of our show and we’re working with a local Hawaiian language expert to learn the Hawaiian version of Nothing Compares 2U (a Prince song covered by The Coconutz).”

To stay informed about tour dates, find out when the next CD releases, and stay up today with band news, subscribe to the band’s newsletter or become a fan of their Facebook page. Additional information about the band, including bios, audio clips, and pictures, is available at www.thecastawaysband.net

We’re so grateful to the good people of Urban Coffee Lounge for giving us a regular home. We’re there about every other month — two of our three shows this year have been on their little stage. (We did have that field trip to Leavenworth, that was fun.) The most recent show, that felt like us getting reconnected to What We Do, a good feeling after a bit of winter hibernating.

But maybe even better than connecting to What We Do, at this last show we got to connect to the big wide world. Urban Coffee Lounge guest Carla popped open her laptop, opened a video chat window, and streamed our entire gig to her friend Fernando in Mexico City. “He says you guys sound great,” she said, “he can hear you really well.” And we could see him, totally rocking along with the rest of the crowd.

Our band is stacked with nerd cred. When we visited the GeekWire studios last year, we joked that if we didn’t make it in music, we could fall back on shipping some software. But we’re not a bunch of post millenium jaded hipster geeks (Oh, she did not just say that! Did she?!? Snap!), we’re still dorky enough to get giddy with joy over something as simple as a live stream to Mexico City. Technologically, not that challenging anymore. But conceptually? Freaky cool, right?

Carla and Fernando (on the laptop) in the middle of Urban Coffee Lounge

We love what tech helps us do. It’s helped us build this site, make great art, produce our video, arrange our music, manage our newsletter, make new friends…and we love that it helps our fans spread the word too. There’s something magical about emerging from our unofficial winter hibernation and having a new friend broadcast us all the way to Mexico City just by opening a laptop.

“He wants to see you guys live,” said Carla.

“He  IS. Right NOW!” I responded.

“Also, he wants to know if he can have a picture with you.”

“Let’s make that happen.”

Carla brought the laptop up on stage with us, turned it to face out, and we all gathered around the virtual Fernando, projected from Mexico City. She handed her phone to a stranger in the audience, and he snapped a photo.

“You guys. This totally counts as us playing Mexico City,” I said.

“Damn straight,” said Pete.

Does anyone know how you say “Rock on!” en español?

It was big step for us to enter 2013 with an out of area show booked. Our destination? The faux Bavarian hamlet of Leavenworth to play Der Hinterhof, a bar just off the main drag. It’s not that far — just about 140 miles from Seattle — but our 9pm start time plus the added potential risk of having to cross snowy Cascade passes meant staying the night.

How’d it go? Well, here’s a list of things that didn’t happen on our inaugural tour.

• There was no need for an intervention.
• We did not use Google maps to find the nearest bail bonds office.
• At breakfast, Pam did not find a mystery tattoo on her forearm.
• We did not find a side arm under Ed’s giant furry hat.
• Mark was not required to reiterate his “no random underwear in the common areas” rule.
• Pete did not buy a ham. Or a ham hock.
• No one passed out on the couch in the green room.
• No one got drunk at dinner.
• We did not total a snowmobile.
• No one said, “These are not my pants. Why am I wearing these pants? Where did these pants come from?”
• Jim did not sing every verse of Bohemian Rhapsody in his sleep.
• We did not litter a hotel room with empty Jaeger bottles.
• Our hosts did not present us with a bill for drinks that far exceeded our bar tab.
• There was no need to sing “Stand by Your Man.”
• We did not have an awkward parking lot conversation about how, no, your “special friend” can not get a ride with us, no, we’re sorry, just… no.
• We did not carpet the interior of a rented eight person van with empty Doritos bags, Emergen-C packets, and Gatorade bottles.

Ed, Pam, Jim, not in an awkward silence, at Sandy’s Waffle Haus

From this list, it’s clear that we’re not as tour ready as we should be. We failed to deliver on even the tiniest bit of band drama. On our drive back over Snoqualamie Pass, where we did not get stuck in the snow, we decided to set our sights on Portland, Oregon, for our next overnight. If you know great venues you think we should play there, we’d love to hear about it. Apparently, we can be trusted. Don’t say anything. No one’s more disappointed than we are about our behavior.

As for our show at Der Hinterhof… well, the owners invited us back this summer to play the beer garden. After she checked us in, our hostess, Debbie, told us a story about a band they’d had last season. Apparently, they spent all day drinking in the sunshine, and when it came time for them to go on, they were too sauced to play.

We have our work cut out for us.

Can’t see the video? Here’s a link.

Freeze Frame | The Castaways