The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra is one of the most popular music-comedy acts to come out of New Zealand in years. As well as impeccable musical skills, heavenly harmonies and a canny choice of covers, the dozen-strong strummers have sold-out audiences rolling in the aisles with their on-stage antics.

Featuring eleven ukuleles anchored by a double bass, the band’s on-stage antics are legendary. Stunning solos are juxtaposed against comically budget lighting effects and questionable banter. The song choices themselves only serve to highlight the musical excellence and comic brilliance of the group. “Resistance is futile”.

The WIUO consists of Age Pryor (also of Fly My Pretties), Andy Morley Hall, Bek Coogan, Bret McKenzie (also of Flight of the Conchords and The Black Seeds), Carmel Russell, Dan Yeabsley (of Twinset), Francis Salole, Gemma Gracewood, Megan Hosking, Nigel Collins, Sam Auger, and Steve Jessup.

They have released three CDs (The Heartache EP, The Little Bit Wonderful EP and The Dreaming EP) and a 7-inch (Blue Smoke/That's Amore). The EPs are available through http://www.amplifier.co.nz/ or http://www.smokecds.com/.

More information can be found at http://www.ukulele.co.nz/ or http://www.myspace.com/wellingtoninternationalukuleleorchestra. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.