This Saturday the 22 Feb, the world’s most dangerous ukulele band, the Ukulele Death Squad, perform at the Regal Theatre Kensington as part of the Adelaide Fringe to tell the tale of the late Bruce Riley – ‘The Squad Father’ – the man who was single-handedly responsible for their meteoric rise.

The group was formed after Bruce asked his guitar teacher Benjamin Roberts for ukulele lessons. Ben hadn’t played the ukulele before but thought he could pick it up and stay one lesson ahead of Bruce. He quickly fell in love with the instrument and taught Bruce how to play while refining his skills in the process.

See Bruce Riley featured with the quartet in their single ‘Not Afraid’ below.

Ben was originally a person who thought the ukulele was a happy, simple, strumming instrument for people in Hawaiian shirts – he couldn’t have been more wrong. If it wasn’t for Bruce’s passion for learning the ukulele, Ben never would have picked up the instrument and the Ukulele Death Squad would never have been formed.

Ben (Lead Ukulele) got together with Julian Ferguson (Baritone Ukulele) and they compiled an arsenal of ukulele aficionados with Eamonn Burke (Bass Ukulele) and Reuben Legge (Saxophone) – From there they began to change the way the world saw ukuleles.

See the bad boys of ukulele pay tribute to The Squad Father at the Adelaide Fringe.

The Squad Father

Regal Theatre, Kensington Park

Sat 22 Feb & Sat 14 Mar

Tickets HERE 

Feature image: Ashleigh Mathe