The Blunt Chisels Men's Music Group
We are a group of men who enjoy playing music together. We invite other men who like to play and/or sing to come and join us on Thursdays 12:30-2:30pm at the Guide Hall in the Clarence Community Centre, 11 Howrah Rd, Howrah, Tasmania
Who are the Blunt Chisels?
We are a group of men from The Howrah Men's Shed, on Hobart's eastern shore who enjoy singing and playing a variety of music together, including 50's and 60's folk, pop, rock and sea shanties.
Our Story
In early 2024 a group of members at our Shed build their own ukeleles. From this a group of mainly ukelele players formed to learn and improve their uke playing. After a while guitar and banjo players joined and singing became an additional focus. As Nige recalls, “We drifted along losing one or two and gaining a few more and soon outgrew the kitchen space in the shed, we moved into the Girl Guides’ Hall in the Community Centre.” “We started with some simple 2 or 3 chord stuff and gradually built up a repertoire sufficient to present at the shed 2024 Christmas party. For quite a few of our crew, it was the first time that they had fronted up for performance.
Anybody who plays, sings or bangs a drum knows the therapeutic benefits and enjoyment of losing yourself in a good tune. Some of our current favourite tunes include Whisky in the Jar, Folsom Prison Blues, Donald Where’s Your Trousers, Cigarettes and Whisky, When I’m Cleaning Windows, Lily the Pink, Who’ll Stop the Rain, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. Sea Shanties are fast becoming a favourite.
We have developed a sea shanty off shoot (The Sea Chisels) that meets on Monday afternoon, and another group that focuses on older classics. And there is always the possibility of other sub-groups forming as well.
Recent Events
Practice at the Guide Hall
Local Boat Club Gig
Come and join us
If you are an expereinced singer or player, or want to learn or to imporve your skills, we invite you to come and visit us one Thursday afternoon and see if you would like to join us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Come and visit us on Thursday between 12:30 and 2:30pm and find out if you like the group and if you fit in with us. To join you need to become a paid up member of the Howrah Men's Shed. ($72 per year).. https://howrahmensshed.org/?page_id=75
Here are some songs that we are currently playing or learning.
All For Me Grog, Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, Bottle of Wine, Bring it on Home to Me, Cigarettes & Whiskey, Donald Where's Your Troosers, Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright, Down Near The Carpark (Down on the Corner), Dream Lover, Folsom Prison Blues, I Fought The Law, In the Jailhouse Now, Jambalaya, John Kanakanaka, Keep Hauling, Last Shanty, Lily The Pink, Lumberjack Song (The), Mama Don’t Allow, Midnight Special, Mr Tambourine Man, Pay Me My Money Down, Pub With No Beer, Roll The Old Chariot Along, Under the Boardwalk, When I’m [84] 64, When I’m Cleaning Windows, Whisky In The Jar, Who'll Stop The Rain, You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
We have members who play acoustic and electric guitars, ukeleles, bass ukelele, banjos, tin whistles, harmonicas, electric drums, acoustic and electric bass guitars and keyboard.
We play some outside gigs now and then, including at a prison and a local boat club as well as at Men's Shed events.
We have two smaller music gropups that meet in players' homes including a Jazz group and a Folk and Shanty group called "The Sea
Testimonials
One of our members shared the following.
My name is Ron. I joined in December 2024, with absolutely no knowledge of singing or musicianship. I joined because I'd been recently diagnosed with Parkinson's. Part of my treatment is to do heaps of exercise including singing. The singing exercise somehow keeps my voice from deteriorating even more. What I discovered is that my singing voice is just good enough to keep pace with the rest of the team. Some of whom have terrific singing voices and brilliant musical skills. And they are such a helpful, friendly, inviting group of blokes. They made me feel at home. And I've noticed in the last few months they make all of us- newcomers and old hands feel at home.
Each week we have between 10 and 15 starters for the session. And the time passes very quickly. As any a good session should…humorous, quietly supportive and always in a musically improving way. I think I can say that because I've been there for seven months and I can really see us improving. At least six of the existing members are skilled musicians. They play guitar, banjo, electric drum machine and liquorice stick (clarinet ?) As you can see, I don't know much about instruments. But they do. And they play with a real spark.