In Dan Kelly’s new The SUV Song, women from a fast-sinking island nation cast a jealous eye across the Pacific to the “honky mothers” dropping off their kids at school in planet-destroying utility vehicles. It’s a funny and catchy return to airwaves for Kelly, burying some inconvenient truths in humour and sweet Hawaiian sound.

Kelly explains that comedy was a way into the topic of global warming for him, and something that he generally thinks works in his own writing – whether the subject matter is personal or political. “I generally do kind of write humourous songs, or I try to…You’ve got to keep laughing don’t you, otherwise you’d be pretty fucking bleak.”

Feeling that it would somehow be wrong to profit from a song with such subject matter, Kelly instead thought, “Oh fuck it, I’ll just get it out there and see how it goes”, releasing it for free through his website. Kelly also decided to change the song’s initial title of 2 Fat Ladies because it sounded like he was implying his backing band for the song, the Ukeladies, were, ahem, fat. “And they’re not! And they’re my friends. I didn’t want their first single to be saying they were fat.”

The newly re-titled song isn’t the first time Kelly’s storytelling has taken a political bent however. Many an Australian music fan has joined in a raucous sing-along of Drunk on Election Night, which chronicled Kelly’s dismay at John Howard’s re-election. With the political tides having turned dramatically since that song was written, Kelly finds himself cautiously optimistic.

“But you’ve got to temper your reactions with reality,” he notes. “I mean [Obama and Rudd] are cautious dudes; that’s kind of why they come across as reasonable. I wonder, really, whether it’s the age of caution. Somebody is going to have to do something pretty soon.”

As with the Rudd victory, Kelly was working when the US election results came through, and relied on SMS updates from friends. This time he was on tour with Augie March, playing guitar for the group on their national tour, and also doubling as support act. Although he has found it “kind of psychologically weird to support a band and then get up and play in it,” Kelly has relished the opportunity to retreat to the shadows of being a guitar player, part of a team, rather than the limelight and ego of being the frontman.

Not that he shies away from frontman duties, though. Anyone who’s attended one of Kelly’s shows knows he’s a funny, charismatic performer, often explaining the songs and the stories they tell in great detail. His talkative approach isn’t necessarily something he looks for in other musicians, though. As a punter, he’s sometimes inclined to wish the band would just shut up and play, and he says he only really notices other people’s lyrics when they’re terrible.

Reaction to his newer material on the Augie March tour has been pleasing, and five new songs have been pencilled in for the recording of his next record, which will happen in March. Currently he’s thinking about who will play on the record, who’s available and who’ll bring something to the tunes. More importantly, he’s scrambling to get the songs ready on time. Although he deadpans that he’ll probably give himself a nervous breakdown, the last-minute rush to get songs written has worked for him in the past.

“It sort of works in terms of it gets done. I don’t know that it’s the best way for me to do stuff. It would be better if I had songs already written, but I just work so slow. I don’t know if it’s a combination of laziness or want of confidence or just scheduling, but that’s just how I roll.”

Not one to write great numbers of songs and then cull, Kelly says he tends to abandon ideas that aren’t working quickly – a habit that has left him with a scattering of long-forgotten demo tapes dating back to the early ‘90s. “It could make for a really dire posthumous compilation,” he says. “I hope I never die.”

Dan Kelly and the Ukeladies have three very special shows lined up for November.

Fri 14 – The Basement, Sydney
Fri 21 – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Thurs 27 – The Globe Theatre, Brisbane