You may be reading this because you are waiting for a ukulele.  You may be reading this because you are surprised to hear there is a ukulele shortage.  Who would of thought it eh?

Lets just say that whether your order is with us or another ukulele supplier you are probably wondering why there is a shortage of the good ones.  Oh yeah there are plenty of cheap £15-£20 ukuleles because they are mass produced in China and mainly sell to absolute beginners or as novelty gifts but for the serious uker you will be wanting something of higher quality. At the end of 2009 the ukulele market was flying, £30-£50 concert ukuleles were all the rage and flying out of the door, then in 2010 it just got busier.  We went from stocking 20 ukuleles to nearly 2000. We now even have a dedicated stock room for them.  But sadly this room looking bare.

We have stock of some of the lesser know brands, that are by no means lesser quality but the market is demanding Kala and Lanikai ukes in such high numbers and they have been unable to make them quickly enough.  We place orders every month and they supplier is just struggling to meet demands for these brands.

What can you do? Well not a lot if you want a Lanikai or Kala but we can suggest other brands and models and find something for you.  Needless to say though if you want these brands we can get them, and you have a higher chance of getting them from us if you have them on back order due to the levels we order.

We can only apologise that these ukuleles are so difficult to get hold of, we feel your pain.  I know when i buy something i want it there and then.  If you can’t wait and you must have a uke today pick up the phone and we can talk you through what we have and what will be a suitable match to what you original sought.

See you at the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain?

Music has not been a part of my life it is my life.

My father introduced me to the guitar at 8 years old and from then on I was hooked.

I struggled to start with as I was learning on a jumbo acoustic with strings that had not been changed in 10 years. So I gave up, but, after awhile and picked it up again when I was 12. The main reason being is that my dad wanted to start playing bass guitar again after 20 plus years of not playing. He was in bands when he was younger and once famously supported Howlin Wolf in London. After 5 years of playing in my bedroom and mastering every Hendrix song I went for guitar lessons. These lasted 4 months because I soon realized that I needed to be in a band not learning pentatonic scales for exams. I joined my 1st band when I was 18. I was the lead guitarist and backing singer. After a handful of gigs we split off and I went and started my own band as the lead singer and guitarist. I was with that band for 3 years. We did 200 plus, gigs all over the country. We had a bit of label interest but no deal materialized.

I decided to go solo and I made 2 albums and tried to get a deal on the back of these. Sadly to no avail. Downhearted and not knowing which way to turn an opportunity came my way that was the start of a great journey.

Gavin and The Boys

My dad’s band and I used to rehearse in a studio in Bristol called Unit 3 Studios. One day it closed due to bankruptcy. My dad and I saw this as a great opportunity to take it over and do something with it. So we went to the bank and got a loan and opened the doors 6 months after they closed, in April 2000. It wasn’t what I wanted to be doing but at least it meant I could hang out with musicians everyday and play guitar. So I spent each and everyday playing guitar and writing songs in between answering the phone and showing bands to there room and setting the PA’s up for them. The other good thing about the studio was that I was starting to make contacts with people in the industry. I met promoters, managers, agents, A&R Records and publishers, producers and of course lots of session players. One day I decided to slip a 3-track demo I had made in my studio to one of the publishers that was visiting their artist. I said to them I was thinking about becoming a writer and was finished with performing. She went away promising she would listen to the tracks and give me her honest opinion. A couple of days later I had a call from the publisher saying she loved the tracks and wanted to hear more. So that day I went and recorded 3 more songs and posted them to her.

Some days later she calls and says she wants to sign me. WOW! WHAT? And then she says she wants to sign me as an artist not just as a writer. Within 2 weeks I was in London with a lawyer who had been recommended to me. She set up 5o 6 meet and greets with different labels in her office. My brother was my manager at this point because I didn’t have one and I liked hanging out with him. One of the guys I met was from Atlantic records. I really liked what he had to say and Atlantic has always been my favorite label for the artists they have signed. He said that his boss was over from New York in 2 weeks time and he’d love for me to play for him. I said yeah sure. We were very nervous but embraced the opportunity we had been given. We played 10 songs and then went downstairs to chat. The first thing he said was “where do I sign, I am in” he then said I want to fly you out to New York next week to meet all the Atlantic staff. To say I was blown away is not even close to how I was feeling. To top it all off my dad was sat with me and the look on his face is one I cherish forever.

I flew to New York on September 11th 2001. A day that will stick in all of our minds. We were 2 hours into the flight when we had to turn around and come back. On the 2nd October we flew again to meet the label. The next day I played to 200 staff in the foyer of the Atlantic Records offices. Then I was asked if I would like to meet Ahmet Ertegun and have a coffee and chat with him.

Recording In Abbey Road Studios

Ummmm let me think about that. This is the guy who discovered Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. He was a lovely lovely man. Full of stories and at 80 plus he was still coming into the Atlantic office and listening to new music. He was genuinely interested in my music. He played a couple of tracks and he said he thought my voice had soul. Coming from the man who put soul out there to the masses I was pretty pleased with that. Couple days later the deal was all done and I was now a signed artist. Who would of thought it, Bristol to New York in 6 months. Next thing to do was find a producer to make the album with. In February 2002 I went into the famous Rockfield Studios in Wales with John Leckie. We spent a week there then went to real world studios in bath for 3 days. At the end of the session the recordings did not blow the label away so we decided to keep on looking. Next I went into the studio with a programmer called Steve Sydelnyk who worked on David Grays White Ladder that at the time was a massive hit. We did a couple of tracks again at Rockfield studios and it didn’t work out. After a few months of scratching our heads David Kahne said he would like to meet me while he was in London working on Paul McCartney’s album. We instantly gone on really well and I had a good vibe about him.

That night I did a gig at the famous 12 Bar Club in London and David Kahne came to watch. In the last minute I decided to play a song I had written called “Stones Throw”. I never had played it live before but I wanted to show David the versatility in my writing. A few weeks after we both decided we wanted to work with each other he told me that it was “stones throw” that made his mind up. October 2002 (a whole year after signing my deal) my band and me flew to Los Angeles to start pre production for the album. We did 10 days of preproduction and all was sounding great. A week later the label gave us the go ahead to record the album. We flew back to LA to start recording at Henson Studios. We had Cliff Norrell Engineering who has worked with Jeff Buckley, REM, Sting, No doubt and many others. We had Joey Waronker on drums who has worked with REM, Beck, Smashing pumpkins, Badly drawn boy to name a few. On bass was Paul Gammon who has been playing bass with me since 1998 and on guitar was Jonny Lee Woods. Jonny and Paul and Myself had been jamming at Unit 3 studios for a year before I got signed and so when I got my deal they were the guys that played with me and plus they were great friends. The drummer that played with us sadly got the axe as the producer felt he was not up to scratch. Very sad and a hard thing to do as we were friends. The things you have to do to get where you are going are not always nice. He took it very well and wished us the best of luck that made it even harder.

Out of Place Photography

We spent 4 weeks recording in LA then I went to New York for 2 weeks with David to mix the album with Michael Brauer. He has mixed so many albums I couldn’t begin to tell you. He is probably the best mixer in the world so it was a pleasure to be working with him. At the end of mixing the big boss came by to have a listen and he loved what he heard. We were all very excited. I flew back to the UK ready to take over the world. It was not until march 2003 I flew back to New York to do a photo shoot for the cover of the album. We did the shoot at the infamous Chelsea Hotel where Sid Vicious’s girlfriend and Dylan Thomas died. So after the doing the photo shoot I went back to the UK after having a meeting with Atlantic all seemed positive. That summer one of my songs was featured on a film soundtrack. The movie “What a Girl Wants”. After this success the label had internal problems and my album got put on hold. In 2004 I decided enough was enough and decided to get lawyers involved to get me out of the deal for restraint of trade. It took six months to get out of my contract. In that time I started writing a new album. With a new angst growing inside me I thought it was time to record.

So I went into Liverpool’s Parr Street Studios in November 2006 with good friend and super talented producer Rupert Christie. We recorded the whole album in 12 days. Once we had finished the album we took it to a few different labels. One label was very keen. Unfortunately the guy who was interested in signing me left the label as he got offered a job at another label. So we had finished album with no home. We were starting to think maybe we should release it on our own label. Then a label called IRL heard the album through a friend of friend and they approached us. Originally they were going to do a single with us but then they decided that they wanted to release the whole album. So we agreed on a licensing deal. November 19th 2007 my debut single Out of Place was released 6 YEARS AFTER SIGNING MY RECORD DEAL!!!! The song got very little radio play so for that reason it didn’t chart. We released 2 more singles on the back of 2 tours of the UK. They album came out on CD and download in 2008. I continued to gig and try my best to promote the album but without any radio plays it was getting harder and harder to sell the album.

The Pictures Album Cover

At the same time as my debut album came out my dad decided to change careers and open a music shop. I started to help him out in-between gigs and promotions. Only 6 months after opening the shop he suddenly died and Geraldine, Dads wife, Chris, my Step Brother and I decided that we should take over the shop and keep it going. Two years later the business is going from strength to strength with a whole new looking website and shop. When I do fine time I still do gigs as I have a great following in Bristol. I have also started recording a new album. It has taken a lot longer than the last 2 albums as I am doing it in my spare time. Who knows? Maybe this album is THE ONE!

Gavin Thorpe
www.gavinthorpe.com