On The Radar #94 Neon Saints Brass Band

SAXOPHONIST James Coleman introduces the 12-piece hip hop-inspired brass band which released its debut album earlier this year.

“We’re from all over the UK but we've all lived in Brighton at some point and most of us still do. I used to live with Becky [Coleman, vocals], Adam [Currie, vocals] and Ed [Baker, trombone] when we were at Sussex uni, and studied music with Scott [Sheridan, trombone] and Vicky [Tremain, saxophone] so we go back years - Becky and I are now married!

“It wasn’t until we met Tom [Ashworth, sousaphone] that we were able to get a brass band off the ground. There's not many sousaphone players in the UK so if you should meet one, be sure to start a brass band immediately or you won't get the chance to again. Since then, we pretty much doubled in size - Tom knew Andy [Hume, trumpet], Henry [Rich, trumpet] knew Sam [Luck, snare drum]. Paul [Coventry, bass drum] and Dan [Mounce, trumpet] we met in a pub! Somehow we ended up at 12 which is complete chaos most of the time but gigging with so many of us on stage is always amazing.

“Because there's so many of us, we're really lucky to have influences from all over. Between us we've played in ska, funk and hiphop bands, big bands, close harmony groups, gospel choirs as well as indie, folk and rock bands. The biggest influence comes from brass bands in New Orleans but we're also really into big hip-hop brass samples - it was Rebirth and Hot 8 covers that first got us playing together but since then there's always been some hip hop in our set.

“This year we played the main stage at Together The People festival and last year at Love Supreme -both of which are amazing new festivals that we're so lucky to have so close to Brighton. We've also played some great small gigs in Brighton that deserve a mention - several times we've packed out the World's End and The Marwood and we owe a large number of our supporters to the times we pitched up on Brighton seafront and got passers-by, tourists, even joggers dancing.

“Show Me Somthing is the first album we've made so we really put everything into it. We started recording it at Brighton Electric in the summer and finished it just in time for our launch event at the start of October. Capturing the atmosphere and energy of our gigs was really important to us, so much of the album was recorded in Brighton Electric's live room with 12 of us tracking at the same time.

“We're so happy with the album. We put it all together ourselves and not being attached to a label meant we were really able to make the record we wanted; the downside being it took us two and a half years of gigging to cover the studio costs! Having finished album number one, we've just started rehearsing new material together again. Having road-tested the first album, we definitely want to do the same with our new material.

Find out more:

facebook.com/neonsaintsbrassband

instagram.com/neonsaintsbrass

twitter.com/neonsaintsbrass

itunes.apple.com/gb/album/show-me-something/id1042859408