Have you heard of the Everly Pregnant Brothers? They are a ridiculously funny and brilliant band from Sheffield who play ukulele puntastic covers of modern classics and if you haven’t heard of them, I hope by Christmas day, you will have as they have released their hilarious cover of Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon, Chip Pan on Fire with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to raise money for Shelter and Age UK to protect the elderly and vulnerable in their homes.

I first came across Everly Pregnant Brothers at Tramlines festival where they played at a tiny, riverside pub and took over the whole area with thousands of people hanging off railings to see them play.  With classics such as Pork Pie (Parklike), No Oven No Pie (No Woman, No cry) and Sheffield Calling (you get the drift, right?) they are a Sheffield staple and quickly became a firm favourite in the So Bad Ass household.  We bought all their albums and attended lots of their gigs for silly, funny and wonderfully Sheffield lols.

And so when I saw they were releasing this charity single for Christmas, it put a smile on my face.  How fab, I thought, that’ll raise a few quid and more of my friends can fall in love with them.  They started selling well, then it got serious, they were on TV on The Last Leg where they got a standing ovation, in the media and filling my Facebook and twitter feed, bloody hell, could they actually make it? A group of middle aged men playing ukuleles, not taking themselves or life too seriously, could they actually become the light at the end of the shitty tunnel that 2016 has been?

I became friends with Big Shaun (their singer) after a while, we would bump into each other at Tramlines and as anyone in Sheffield knows, EVERYONE KNOWS EVERYONE, so it was obvious that we would have mutual buddies.  I saw him put out a call on Facebook for musicians to play at a one off charity night with him to raise money for the victims of sexual grooming and exploitation in South Yorkshire and shyly got in touch, offering the services of my then 14 year old bass playing son.  He didn’t have much experience, not much more than a few gigs at school and so I fully expected to be politely turned down.

But I don’t think Big Shaun does turning people down, he has a big heart and a love of music and community and so he took my lad under his wing and welcomed him into the gang.  Weeks of rehearsals followed, each one with me collecting Charlie from a room full of musicians apologising for any swear words they may have taught my lad that week, and then came the gig where they kicked arse and raised lots of money for a worthy cause.  They also inspired my boy to have a love of old music, to realise that he could do this and to give his musical confidence a huge boost.  And for that, I will always be truly grateful.

Photo by Timm Cleasby Photography

And so here comes the science bit, can you afford to buy this single for 99p and not only be raising money for great charities but getting this wonderful band to Christmas number 1?

If you are still in doubt, here are a few reasons why you should…

1. Ukuleles are flipping cool.
2. Raising money for Shelter and Age UK.  Do it for the older people and those struggling with housing problems.
3. 2016 has seen us lose so many musical geniuses, David Bowie would want you to buy this.
4. You could piss off Simon Cowell and keep another x factor conveyer belt, cookie cutter singer off the number one spot.
5. The video was shot with zero budget, these guys have no big marketing team and millions of pounds behind them, it’s just some Sheffielders doing what they love and playing tiiiiinnnnny guitars.
6. It will put a smile on your face, guaranteed.
7. All the cool kids are doing it.
8. Sheffield is basically the centre of the universe and it is only right that we host the xmas number one.
9. Wooooaaahhhhhhhhhhhh my chip pan’s on fire.  Best. Lyric. Ever
10. Because I am asking you reallllly nicely.

Come on lovely readers, stick your hand in your virtual pocket and fork out 99p to make my year!

Sam xxx