The Bucket Boyz bring new meaning to releasing an album on a shoestring budget. Chris Price caught up with them.

Lots of bands talk about stripping back their sound but the Bucket Boyz take things to a whole new level.

With just a 10-litre bucket, a pole, some string and a banjo they have been signed to Kent label Smugglers Records and are heading out on a UK tour.

As the Dutch hoedowners get set to the launch their debut album on these shores with a gig on the Kent coast, they cannot help but laugh that their success has come about after struggling to make ends meet as little known punk band Zibabu.

“To make it to the next show we had to start playing in the street to earn money but we didn’t have any proper instruments,” said bass player Daan, who likes to refer to himself as a bucketeer and refuses to reveal his or his bandmates’ surnames.

“Ed got a banjo from his parents for Christmas and we laughed and said 'yeah that’s really punk’ but when we ended up on the street with just a 10-litre bucket it came in pretty useful.

“We just started playing these old time songs and people started calling us the bucket boys. We experimented with calling ourselves the Ziba Bucket Boys so we didn’t have such a generic name but people just insisted on calling us plain old bucket boys. So we put our own spin on it with a Z on the end and we became the Bucket Boyz.”

Their sound is about as far removed from the ska punk of Zibabu as you can get, playing deep south country in just about any backstreet boozer and street corner pub that will have them.

Their Tennessee folk songs caught the attention of Deal band Cocos Lovers on a European tour a few years back.

“Cocos Lovers came to Europe and stayed in the squat we were living in,” said Daan, whose bandmates are banjo player Ed and Kris on the chopsticks.

“We helped them along so when they were setting up their label in England they got us rolling over there. They kept inviting us back and we go where the invitations go.”

Smugglers Records founder and Cocos Lovers frontman Will Greenham gives the Bucket Boyz more credit than they allow themselves.

“After setting out to tour Europe, we met the Bucket Boyz in Amsterdam in a squatted vegan restaurant and within two hours of arriving, they had given us food, four gigs and a place to stay,” said Will.

“We pride ourselves on being hospitable people but they taught us new meaning.

“Our first gig in a squatted factory in the dockyards of Amsterdam was with them and we all sat open-mouthed after they played there first song.

“Their hospitality and freedom comes across in the music – this folk-punk fusion of bucket bass, chopsticks and three-part harmonies singing of a world without borders and territories.

“They are a massive reason we decided to start the Smugglers label. They inspired us as people and as musicians.”

Bucket Boyz hold a release party for their record the day it drops on Thursday, May 17.

The album was put together in Deal last year and many of the tracks were recorded live in one take, capturing the live energy which has made the band such a hit.

“We trusted Will and the people at the label to put the record together on how they experience us,” said Daan.

“It is all based on friends working together to make things possible. It is all based on friendship and trust.

“This is not set up as a commercial venture. It is just people sharing their skills and making things possible for each other.”

The Bucket Boyz’s album Street Corner Choas is released on Thursday, May 17 and the band play a launch party at Deal’s Astor Theatre the same day. Tickets £5. Box office 01304 370220. They perform at Canterbury’s Farmhouse on Saturday, May 26. Tickets £7, in advance £5. Box office 01227 456118. They also play the Bull at Benenden on Sunday, May 27. Details on 01580 240054. They are at the Small World Spring Festival in Headcorn on Thursday, May 31 and Friday, June 1. Weekend tickets £85. Details atwww.smallworldsolarstage.org