Over the coming months, I’m hoping to interview various people from the ukulele world and feature them on the Noah Ukuleles blog.
Next up are a talented, young vocal and ukulele duo who were brought to my attention a couple of years back by George Bartle from Opera-lele. Twins Holly and Megan Cheetham, from Somerset, have grown up singing together, and this certainly shows in the beautiful, flawless harmonies they produce together when performing as part of In Sync.
What kind of music were you into growing up and did you play any instruments?
We have always been musical growing up. In school Meg played the cello and Holly played the violin. We were in all of the school orchestras, string groups and choirs. We have studied music right the way through to A level and it was only when we got to Sixth Form that we started to sing seriously (this was Mum’s doing after she mentioned that we sang all the time at home to our teacher at parents evening!).
Why / When did you start playing ukulele? Why do you think the ukulele works well for your music?
We started playing the ukulele after our Nan came home from visiting friends in Florida. She was invited to join her friend at his local ukulele club and she was determined to make a ukulele club of her own in Yeovil. Next thing we were gathered around her living, ukuleles in hand practising before gaining the confidence to go public with the club – Yeovil Ukulele Club now has over 100 members to its name and has over 50 people attend every Wednesday night. After helping to run the club, we decided to start accompanying ourselves with ukuleles as opposed to backing tracks. The ukulele works well for us as it doesn’t take away from our vocal harmonies and it is a charming little instrument.
When did In Sync begin? How would you describe your music? Can you remember your first gig together?
If you don’t count the numerous performances to family and friends in our living room when we were younger(!), In Sync began in school concerts in 2014 and really picked up in Sixth Form in 2016 with external gigs and performances.
What’s been the best musical experience you’ve had so far?
Our biggest achievement to date was singing on the pitch at Yeovil Town Football Club to over 4,000 fans. It was the first match of the new year in 2018 and, being YTFC season ticket holders all our life, it was a really special moment performing at our home club.
What plans have you got over the 12 months in terms of your music / the uke? Where can people… buy your music / see you live?
We have just performed at The Isle of Wight Festival Bracklesham Weekend, as a result of winning a ‘Rising Stars’ competition, where we got to support the amazing Hedge Inspectors! We were due to have a very busy 12 months coming up, but this will obviously be dependent on how the awful situation with the Coronavirus develops and the impact it has on performing musicians. In June we were scheduled to play in Burnham-on-sea for Gig in the Park and then at Yeovil Ukulele Festival on Sunday 13th September amongst a busy calendar of gigs with Yeovil Ukulele Club. We are on the committee of the Yeovil Ukulele Festival and enjoy helping to plan the event.
People can purchase a CD at any of our gigs or by messaging us or sending us an email. All gigs are kept up to date on our website: www.insyncduo.info.
Website: www.insyncduo.info
Facebook: www.facebook.com/insyncofficial
Instagram: @insyncduo
Email: insyncduo@gmail.com