Earlier in the year Australian Ozzie Wright, one of surfing's friendliest and most creative goofy-footers, spent a coupla months in Bali. By the end of his stay, Ozzie had a tan, a smile and a new album: Ozzy Wrong’s Ukulele Songs, which, as the name implies, is his newest musical endeavour, played entirely on ukulele.
Ozzie and girl Miley had originally headed to Bali for a pal’s wedding. Length of stay turned from a few weeks into a couple of months. Oz'd been plucking strings on the Hawaiian mini-guitar for some time, eventually accumulating enough songs for an album. He stumbled upon the chance to make just that happen in Indo, which he took. Stab rang Ozzie to find out a little more about the finished product.
Where'd the album idea come from?
I’d been playing a lot of ukulele and making up songs, so I decided to record ‘em all. I had a couple of friends over in Bali that were good drummers, and there was a really cheap studio, so we just did it. It was fun.
Tell us about the recording.
Tai Graham, who lives over there, took me to the studio. It was above this Muslim family’s tiny little house. It was really funny, they didn’t speak much English. They looked at me and were like, “No, no, it’s not punk-rock music is it?” And I was like, “Nah, it’s just ukulele songs.” Most of the things that they’d record would be super-polished Indonesian cover bands, sounding really professional. I don’t think they’d done much original music.
Were they into it?
It grew on ‘em and by the end they kinda liked it. At first they thought I was a joke… well, I am a joke, but by the end I could tell that they liked me. They were sad to see me go. We had fun recording.
What are the themes of the album?
There are a few songs about my girlfriend, one about a unicorn (which appeared in Oz’s Innersection entry) and one about bikes. There are a few different themes. It’s a bit lovey. The fun-ness of being in Bali was a definite influence.
How long have you been playing the ukulele?
Last Christmas I bought a uke for my girlfriend, but I ended up playin’ it and got really addicted. It has a real sweet sound and I can do more chords on it. I haven’t got a left-handed guitar so I can’t make many different chords; I play upside down. With the uke I can get way more sounds, so it’s more versatile for me. I can play it on a plane, in the car, everywhere. It’s a lot easier to take around.
How far removed is this from the Goons of Doom sound?
It’s different, but you can still hear the Goons influence in there. There’re no guitars, just the uke and drums, so it’s mellower. There’s saxophone and a bit of kazoo as well. It’s so hard doing a recording with the Goons ‘cause there are five of us, we’ve gotta go to a studio and it costs lots of money, whereas when I was in Bali I’d make up a song in the morning and record it in the afternoon. Super easy and spontaneous. You could just record stupid songs and there was no pressure for ‘em to be good, you know. It cost 80 bones to record the whole thing.
How's the response been so far?
So far my album hasn’t impressed anyone. I like it and a few of my friends like it, but generally most of my friends haven’t mentioned it. Even my mum doesn’t seem to like it, haha. But I’m not going to lose heart. I’ve got a lot of new songs, so I might have to do part two, haha. I’ll probably wait till I go back to Bali before I record it though.
How do we get Ozzy Wrong’s Ukulele Songs?
Um, I’m not sure, haha. I’m hoping to set up a little website for Vampirate Surfboards (shaper Mark Gnech's new brand, which Ozzie'll be doing the board art for), and have a little shop where people can buy products and hopefully they can buy the record there. I haven’t set it up yet though.
– Simon Nicholas
http://www.stabmag.com/elliot/ozzy-wrongs-ukulele-songs
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