Hot 8 Brass Band

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Iconic Brass Band Releases Album in Memory of Fallen Members NEW ORLEANS, LA—The Hot 8 Brass Band, one of the leading New Orleans music groups is set to release their first album since Hurricane Katrina. Known equally for a hard-hitting, brash musical style and a traumatic history of violent losses, the Hot 8’s new “Life and Times” album captures both the musical personalities and the life experiences of the band members. “Everyone knows what this band has been through,” says bandleader and sousaphone player Bennie Pete. “Our story is the story of the New Orleans streets. This album just tells those stories to the world.” The album is being released by the Tru Thoughts record label, based in England. Advance European reviews of the CD have already recognized its unique power. The BBC: as “an appealing metaphor for their home city’s hope and vitality.” The Guardian offers that “No outfit has done more than the Hot 8 to recast the long tradition of New Orleans marching music for modern times. This second album finds them in incendiary form.” Graffiti artist Banksy, whose works appeared across New Orleans as commentary on the devastation following Hurricane Katrina, embraced the use of his artwork on the album. Banksy’s vigilante style resonates richly with the iconoclastic Hot 8 music. Other influences on the album stretch from Dr. Michael White, mentor to the band, to Basement Jaxx in England. Recently, the band has worked with Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, and the Blind Boys of Alabama. “The Life and Times of the Hot 8” is the first in a series of epochal recordings by the Hot 8, a tribute album to fallen band members, and an album of New Orleans traditionals. Taken together, these recordings will capture the voices of an era on the streets of New Orleans. On November 13, we are proud to unveil the first episode in this series. New Orleans’s own Hot 8 Brass Band has epitomized New Orleans street music for two decades. The band plays traditional Second Line parades, hosted each Sunday afternoon by Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, infusing their performance with the funk and energy that makes New Orleans music loved around the world. The members of the Hot 8 were born and raised in New Orleans and many began playing together in high school. Today, the Hot 8 balance local performances with national and international appearances. They have been appeared in the HBO series Treme, in Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke, and on Time-Life Records and Smithsonian Folkways. www.hot8brassband.com Check out the video for the new single “Ghost Town”

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