A few years ago, broken beat legend Quantic was DJing in a New York club and dropped a single by an obscure Louisiana act called the Hot 8 Brass Band into his set. As the New Orleans octet’s cover of Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing ended, the crowd erupted into a spontaneous round of applause.

Quantic soon spread the word to the owners of his label, the Brighton-based Tru Thoughts imprint. Although the band’s album had already been released in the US, the company they were signed to had been all but wiped out amidst the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Robert Luis and Paul Jonas offered the group a deal and in the summer of 2007, the re-released Sexual Healing became Tru Thoughts’ fastest-selling single to date.

The album Rock With The Hot 8 followed in October of last year and was greeted with deserved acclaim. Channelling everything from funk to hip-hop, including a boisterous cover of Snoop Dogg’s What’s My Name, it also tipped its hat to the past, acknowledging the proud and vibrant New Orleans brass band tradition which dates back to the 19th century.

“We were trying to talk to every age bracket, for the music to reach kids and adults and grandparents,” says band leader Bennie Pete. “Everybody can enjoy the music.”

The UK certainly seems to agree, going by the media buzz their sell-out tour in February created, which Pete describes as a “magical surprise”.

Formed in 1995, all of the Hot 8 were born and raised in New Orleans and felt a responsibility to play their part in the post-Katrina relief efforts, leading to their involvement in the Finding Our Folk initiative.

“We went to play on the road in different towns and states where a lot of the evacuees went,” Pete explains. “just performing and giving them some information about how they can get in contact with their loved ones and help their situation.

“It was a beautiful thing. We’d show up at the evacuee shelters and a lot of people were over-whelmed. It washed away a lot of the pain at that time. It gave them a sense of healing. Just for a moment, it worked.”

Since then they have collaborated with Basement Jaxx and begun working on their second album, with a new single due in November. In between recording sessions and tour dates, they have also found time to launch an outreach programme for young people in their home city.

“We teach the kids about the history of the music and also how to play the instruments,” he says. “We’re just trying to preserve the culture, because they don’t teach it in our school systems here.

“The kids in the inner city have a lot of energy and with a lack of education, they’ll put it to the wrong use. So we’re trying to let them have an avenue to direct all that energy into.”

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