Formed in 2008 out of a desire to play music that appealed to the feet as much as to the ears, the Hackney Colliery Band is East London’s unique take on the brass band phenomenon. Featuring trumpets, trombones, saxes, sousaphone and marching percussion, the band are totally acoustic and yet able to blow the roof off any room. Hackney Colliery Band’s members have hugely diverse musical backgrounds, ranging from work with cutting edge jazz group Porpoise Corpus to the Bollywood Brass Band, and from Jarvis Cocker to major orchestras. This breadth of musical talent is clearly on display in their eclectic repertoire. Mining nuggets of funk, hip-hop and hi-octane rock from the musical coalface and throwing in a few chunks of Balkan brass, ska and contemporary jazz for good measure, the Hackney Colliery Band’s set list is as diverse as the London borough that gave them their name.
Party starter “Money”, produced and mixed by the amazing Capstone, has already received Radio 1 airplay from Gilles Peterson and has been on the wants list of DJs worldwide for some time! And with the cracking original cut “What’s The Time, Mr. Wasp?” on the flip, this is sure to be a huge release for this massively talented outfit. The fattest brass to come out of the East End since Pat Butcher!
Let us know what you think in the comments box – we love to hear your reactions!
===============
Reactions so far:
“I’m excited about the Hackney Colliery Band! Why?” Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 1)
“Could well be the strongest single to date for the Wah Wah camp, that basically does what the Hot 8 Brass Band did for Tru Thoughts, or what Matthew Herbert did for the very British Big Band sound. Take the heritage of the colliery band/Salvation Army, mix with Mike Westbrook and divide by the National Youth Orchestra and you get the HCB. Their cover of ODB’s ‘Got Your Money’ adds weight to the cause. Go get.” Found Sounds (DJ Magazine)
“‘Money’ is a no-brainer, easy sure-shot, simple and plain!” DJ Monk-One, NYCT (USA)
“That Hackney Colliery Band is ridiculous. Can they get out to California very soon?! Played “money” on this week’s show, quite a pleasure to play and will be dishing this one out to the masses many more times.” Jason Pulaski (Ubiquity / Kuci 88.9FM, USA)
“I`m loving these Hackney Colliery tunes, that’s perfectly my sound for sure! Great work and another dope wah wah 45 release!!! Will be getting lots of spins for sure.” Karsten John (Vinyl Vibes, Germany)
“I think the Hackney Colliery must have been before my time, but their band is still sounding fat and very funky. “Money’ is on the money. Can’t say fairer than thout!” Russ Jones (Hackney Globe Trotter / Future World Funk)
“Beautifully funky, already spinnin over lisbon skies and today on Noobai Soul cafe weds dj set. Saucy!” DJ Tiago Santos (Spaceboys, Lisbon, Portugal)
“Wow! What an amazing great summer tune this is…Love it…Will play it everywhere.” Phil Wicked Jazz Sounds (Holland)
“The Hackney Colliery Band seven is a winner! It was my last track at Hi-Fi terapi last Saturday. People were going wild and screaming for more bad ass brass!!” Eivind Olsvik (Hi-Fi Terapi, Norway)
“Money is a monster tune ! Will play on my openair show (SOAS) airing next week (500 downloads per week) …and my occasional forays behind the decks at Favela Chic!” Chris Greenwood (Stop Making Sense)
“Can’t wait to play HCB at my regular Sunday afternoon in Hollywood. I love seeing their expression change from “What’s this?” to “Is this what I think it is?” to “This is fucking great”.” DJ Dave Young (Los Angeles, USA)
“Really feeling this! Can’t wait to play “Money” out!” Ross (Part-Time Heroes)
“I ruddy love the Hackney Colliery Band, heavy.” Capstone (Wah Wah 45s / Tru Thoughts)
“Brilliant releases as always. “Money’ will rock summer dance floors 100% sure. It’s a pleasure to support such talented brass bands on my radio show!” Enrique Domenech (Fusionova Radio)
“What’s The Time, Mr. Wasp?” I’d say it’s time for another drink! Love that drunken horn vibe on his b-side – it’s like they’ve staggered out of a Hackney pub at the beginning, and marched off down the road happy as Larry.” Paris Pompor (Sydney Australia)
“Money reminds me of the street art that The Hot 8 Brass Band brought to my attention. Contender for our next show. Now on frequency every week!” M.path.iq (Germany)
“Loving the concept of a Colliery band coming off the Hackney marshes with two quality cuts of Jazzziness to impress us with loving it.” DJ Abbo (Starpoint Radio)
“Pure fun! Nice brass sounds!” Markus Milz (Further In Fusion)
“The funkiest brass band I have heard in a while and both tracks brought a huge smile to my face!” Georgios Paraglou (Greece)
“HCB stepping up and showing all the brass bands out there how it should be done! ‘Money’ already spun on the show and will be getting repeats all summer long” King Tee (Elbow Rooms)
“Had the privilege of seeing the Hackney Colliery Band perform at the Wah Wah Joint at VIbe Bar before moving to Canada. I knew from your reaction at the show that they would be added to the already stellar Wah Wah artist line up. Best of luck with the release, it will without a doubt do very well, hope it makes you lots of MONEY!” DJ Tom Mannix (Canada)
“I love the HCB! Would be great to see them in Brighton!” DJ Kappa (Brighton)
Radio play from Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 1), Jason Pulaski (Kuci 88.9FM, USA), Markus Milz, Further In Fusion, Ennio Styles (3RRR, Australia), Pete Isaac, Jelly Jazz (Phonic.fm), Phil Lvene (Eclecticjazz.com), Tiago Santos (Radio Oxigenio 102.6FM, Portugal) & Enrique Domenech (Fusionova Radio)
