Australia’s finest music export, The Spooky Men’s Chorale, are celebrating their silver anniversary this year and will be bringing their unique musical repertoire to Plymouth’s Quad Theatre next month.

It was on August 4, 2001, at Eastside Paddington Church in Sydney, a genial scrum of bearded fellows shuffled onto the stage.

And now, 25 years later , they are still at it after nearly 1000 gigs, eight albums, 14 tours of the UK and Europe, and the small matter of singlehandedly redefining men’s singing.

And now, the Spooky Men will celebrate their birthday with a tour a little different to any other they have done. It will be a birthday party, a retrospective, and a showcase of everything they have become. There will be a number of chunky gems from the past, but also the very best pickings from their current spooky tool bag.

Their repertoire consists of songs written or arranged by their founder and director (or "Spookmeister") Stephen Taberner: a judicious combination of commentary on the absurdity and grandeur of the modern male, pindrop beautiful ballads, highly inappropriate covers, and immaculate man anthems like “Don’t Stand Between a Man and his Tool”. They also perform traditional Georgian music, a major influence on their compositions, harmonies and vocal style.

Each show is journey rich with theatrical and storytelling elements, but what is most notable is the humanity that is evoked. No subject is too trivial or weighty for their attention, and such ability to find new musical rooms to explore contributes greatly to their astonishing fan loyalty.

The Spooky Men’s Chorale is a vast, rumbling, steam powered and black clad behemoth, seemingly accidentally capable of rendering audiences moist eyed with mute appreciation or haplessly gurgling with merriment.

Tickets for the 7.30pm gig at The Quad on August 1 can be booked at www.barbicantheatre.co.uk