Drawing on the traditional jazz heritage of their hometown of New Orleans, Hot 8 Brass Band are renowned for including elements of funk, hip hop, rap, & its local variation, “bounce” in their music. The collective earned a win in the 64th Annual Grammy Awards 2022 for their feature on John Batiste’s ‘Album of The Year’, following the nomination of their ‘The Life & Times Of…’ LP for ‘Best Regional Roots Album’ in 2013. Transcending genres & trends, Hot 8 have performed & collaborated with the likes of Jon Batiste, Blind Boys of Alabama, Basement Jaxx & Alice Russell, and provided live support for Mos Def, Lauryn Hill & Mary J Blige. After a festive appearance Live at Maida Vale for Lauren Laverne (BBC 6 Music), the Hot 8 Brass Band performed for Jools Holland’s annual Hootenanny on BBC Two to welcome in 2019. Later that year, after taking to the stage at the BRIT awards in February, Hot 8 Brass Band were invited on the European leg of George Ezra’s tour. Inspired early by the music of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band & Rebirth Brass Band, original bandleader Bennie Pete worked to bring together members of 2 existing bands at Fortier High School, the Looney Tunes Brass Band & the High Steppers Brass Band, to form Hot 8 Brass Band in 1995. They gained local recognition playing on the streets of their hometown, in Second Line Parades and at traditional Jazz funerals. Cutting their teeth by playing mainly pop/soul cover versions & traditional pieces, they also developed a repertoire of original material. The release of their 1st album ‘Rock With The Hot 8’ was impeded by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as the lives of all band members were heavily impacted and the band’s career progression was put on hold. During this time, Bennie Pete and his bandmembers used their music to support & rally the displaced community, via various charity & community initiatives. In 2007, multi-instrumentalist & producer Quantic picked up on Hot 8 Brass Band’s cover of “Sexual Healing”. Playing it live at a DJ set in New York, the track gained an unprecedented round of applause and Quantic sent it to Paul Jonas & Robert Luis at Tru Thoughts Records in Brighton, UK. The pair travelled to New Orleans with the intention of meeting & signing the band, beginning a long & ongoing partnership between band & label that started with a reissue of ‘Rock With The Hot 8’. The success of ‘Rock With The Hot 8’, including the band’s renowned cover of “Sexual Healing”, as well as the Snoop Dogg cover “What’s My Name (Rock With The Hot 8)”, paved the way for the band’s 2nd album ‘The Life & Times Of.. The Hot 8 Brass Band’. Released in late 2012, the LP was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album. The first in a 2-part set of albums, it was closely followed by sister release ‘Tombstone’ in 2013. Hot 8 Brass Band celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2015 with the release of ‘Vicennial’, featuring raucous cover versions & original numbers. In 2017, Hot 8 Brass Band celebrated the live music of New Orleans, with a studio album that focused on capturing the spontaneous live energy of their street performances. The release followed a sold-out show at London’s Roundhouse and an appearance at Glastonbury Festival. Their midday opening of the West Holts stage attracted the largest crowd in the stage’s history. The ‘Big Tuba’ album marks the return of the Hot 8 Brass Band with their first new project since 2019, it features the singles “Big Tuba”, their cover of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine”, & “Fight Song”. The album title is a heartfelt tribute to Bennie Pete, the band’s co-founder & sousaphone player who sadly passed.
I had the pleasure of catching up quick with Alvarez BIG AL Huntley, bandleader of Hot 8 Brass Band recently about the June 18th event in Madison at the Atwood Music Hall. We get into what people who plan to head out (oh and you definetly should be planning to) to catch the show we find out there could be one or two ‘new’ tunes not on the Big Tuba album, after all this is the Big Tuba tour where the band always will #BrassHard. We get into the Big Tuba album from the ideas to the tribue flowers that it has and still is delivering. Of course these cats don’t go anywhere without brinGing New Orleans with them so we chat a bit about brining that scene with them. This scene will be all that you think of and more once that energy starts flowing around thew room.
Photo by: ChristopherBethell
