Youngblood Brass Band

“The Midwest’s answer to the Roots”, the Youngblood Brass Band, are back on our shores! We’re thrilled to have one of the world’s most inventive and electrifying Brass Bands headline the Soundcrash stage, 21 October 2014 at Scala, London. These guys are amazing, come see for yourselves!

“If you see one band this decade, make it YoungBlood Brass Band.” – The London Times

“These brassmen will blow your mind.” – Jazz Times

“YBBBs the Midwest’s answer to the Roots,” – The New Yorker

Youngblood Brass Band are focused on creating consistently progressive, groundbreaking acoustic music, and employing whatever sonic means necessary to do so. The nine-member ensemble hail from all over America (Madison, New Orleans, New York, Nashville, Minneapolis, Chicago) and have been unleashing their crash course in hip-hop/brass band/improv/punk on stages worldwide since 2000. This event will sell out fast so don’t miss out on tickets!

YB’s debut album ‘Unlearn’ was released independently in 2000, featuring collaborations with Talib Kweli (spawning the underground smash ‘Ya’ll Stay Up’), Mike Ladd, DJ Skooly, and Frank Zappa’s vocalist Ike Willis. The attention garnered led to a signing with Ozone Music NYC, the revolutionary hip hop label that introduced the poetic talents of Saul Williams, Company Flow (El-P), Antipop Consortium, and Mr. Lif, among others amazing artists.

Youngblood’s new album (the first in 5 years), Pax Volumi, sees the band partnering with Tru Thoughts, the Brighton UK label that includes a roster ranging from deep soul (Alice Russell) to hip-hop (Ty) to straight-up New Orleans brass band (Hot 8), and the pairing couldn’t be more apt. This album sees the band finally achieving not just its musical but its production aims, capturing the live intensity of the stage as well as crafting beats and rhymes that bang right out of the speakers. It’s almost as if they spent the last 15 years getting ready to become THIS Youngblood Brass Band; as though everything in the past had led up to the creation of an album that defies classification, an album that couldn’t be made by any other group. On stages in the states and overseas, the verdict has been issued: the band has never sounded so good…

Line up:

Youngblood Brass Band (live)
Special Guests TBA