ABOUT FIVE ALARM FUNK – From their first jams in Vancouver, B.C., drummer Tayo Branston and guitarist Gabe Boothroyd gathered a community of musicians who shared their love for James Brown, Tower Of Power and other groove-driven players. Now called Five Alarm Funk – with Eli Bennett on sax, Oliver Gibson on guitar, Tom Towers on congas, Carl Julig on timbales, Kent Wallace on trumpet, Jay Smith on bass, and Jens Christiansen on sax added to the lineup – the band bristles with fiery rhythms, punchy horns and gang-chant vocals that have ignited fans across Canada, down into the U.S., and as far away as Taiwan. In the wake of their most recent album, Sweat, they’re now deep into a project that involves adding all-star guest vocals onto some of the more volatile tracks from their catalog; beginning with a Bootsy Collins appearance, and more all-stars to come.
ABOUT TOO MANY ZOOZ – The curious thing about being a fan of brasshouse? You’re pretty much talking about being into one solitary but extremely unforgettable band: the amusingly monikered Too Many Zooz.
The musical style was “branded” by drummer King of Sludge, who recognized that there was no worthy existing classification for the New York trio, whose other two members are the equally unclassifiable Leo P (saxophone) and Matt Doe (trumpet). Beyonce asked them to perform with her at the Billboard Music Awards…and it’s quite possible they got just as much attention as did she. After two years, a gazillion live performances and four EPs, their debut album Subway Gawdz (an unsubtle reference to their birth in the underground stations of NYC), was released to enthusiastic acclaim in 2016. Its sound was truly like nothing else, with inescapable grooves that take in dub, soul, funk and ska, utterly exhilarating horn blasts that shoot right up your spine, and, of course, equal doses of fun and attitude.