Somerville ukulele club promises good fun and bad singing

In a cozy backroom cafe in Somerville, a ragtag group of musicians band together not to play perfect music, but to make mistakes — loudly and proudly.

The Strummerville Ukulele Club members are fully aware that plenty of people consider their instrument a toy. But that's part of the point. This group is there to have fun. Prior experience not required.

“It’s a very welcoming community,” said Nick Howarth, one of Strummerville’s two ebullient leaders. “Whether you can play all the chords, whether you can play one chord, or no chords, or you just want to sing, you're invited!"

If a song goes off the rails, even better.

“We love a good train wreck,” confirmed John Soares, the other irrepressible leader of Strummerville. “And then we stick the landing and everybody cheers.”

For all the fun, Soares and Howarth say they take their roles seriously as goofy, helpful musical guides. Their approach is reflected in one of their original mottos: "We love playing popular songs badly and singing loudly."

The Strummerville leaders said this light-hearted, amateur vibe is a key part of the appeal. For most people, the ukulele is easier to play than it is to spell. But musical missteps are a feature, not a bug.

“It's letting go of something having to be perfect,” Soares said. “It's finding the beauty in the imperfection.”

Howarth added that a lot of people crave a communal experience.

“But other communal music experiences can be intimidating, and it seems like there's a barrier for entry," he said. "One of the things that we try to do here is to lower that barrier for entry. Way to the ground. The bar's way on the floor.”

Strummerville typically meets once a month in Somerville and once a month in Brookline. The group is happy to provide a ukulele for any uke-curious folks who haven’t yet acquired one. Members also get a songbook full of hundreds of tunes, ranging from David Bowie to the Beatles, Taylor Swift to James Taylor, and the Elvises (Presley and Costello).

As a Tuesday night meetup got underway at the Arts at the Armory cafe in Somerville, the space filled with dozens of people from their 20s through their 80s.

“These are people that maybe you wouldn't necessarily meet anywhere else," co-leader Howarth said. "And the one thing that we all share in common is that we love to do karaoke with tiny guitars.”

Part of the reason the group is so welcoming? The ukulele is almost comically accessible. Attendee Jim Bouchard said that compared to a lot of other instruments, the petite 4-stringed uke has a friendly, undemanding feel.

“ Ukulele is just fun," he said. "You can turn off your mind, and if you pretend to play, that's just as good. With a group like this, you don’t have to do much!”

Strummerville members are generally good-natured about the ukulele's bad rap. They say they don't mind that it tends not to win the respect accorded its musical cousins.

"People laugh at me," Laura McFadden said. "I get it. But when you play, it really brings a lot of joy to your life."

Ken Mattsson said Strummerville reminds him of how people in days gone by used to form community around the piano, getting together in their parlors with sheet music as everyone sang along.

"Music should be fun, and god knows we need a lot more fun in this world right now," he said.

The Strummerville meetups aren't just about finding the chords and belting out some Sister Sledge. They're opportunities to join with friends and escape the noisy world outside.

“The heart and soul of this group is the community that's been built around it,” Stewart Clements said. “It operates in a protective bubble where people can leave troubles behind and just get together and sing together."

Surveying the room full of cheerful uke enthusiasts, Strummerville co-leader Soares said especially right now, people need a reason to smile.

"There's just something about this little instrument," he said. "You’re strumming it, and it’s vibrating, and you feel it. You’re playing your songs, and you go away for a little while.”