What Cheer? Brigade

What Cheer? Brigade
Origin Providence, Rhode Island
Genres Bollywood, klezmer, hip hop, rock
Years active 2005-present
Labels Anchor Brain Records
Associated acts B. Dolan
Website www.whatcheerbrigade.com
Members Joey L DeFrancesco
Evan Desautels
Nick Horton
Larry Mauk
Rob Pecchia
Jesse Teixeira
Tal Gur
Katie Keehan
Michael Jeffries
Chris Erway
Rob MacInnis
Susan Sakash
Gregory Burbank
Daniel Schleifer
Ben Nadler
Norlan Olivo
Chop Chop
Mitchell Barys
Jack McAuliffe
Sara Thomas
Past members John Slaby
Mindy Stock

What Cheer? Brigade is a brass band with approximately 18 active members from Providence, Rhode Island. They perform using exclusively brass instruments and drums in a variety of world styles, such as Indian Bollywood music, Balkan brass, klezmer, as well as American styles such as hip hop, rock, and New Orleans second line music.

History

What Cheer? Brigade was formed in 2005, drawing inspiration from street brass bands in other cities like New York's Hungry March Band and San Francisco's Extra Action Marching Band.[1] Its first rehearsals were held in Providence's India Point Park. The band's name comes from the motto of the city of Providence, Rhode Island, What Cheer?

Performances

In July 2011 the band was hired to perform at Super Ball IX, a 3 day festival held in Watkins Glen NY. The festival was one of several held by Phish, a jam band from Burlington, VT.

In 2011 the band, along with New Orleans bounce group Vockah Redu & the Cru, joined rapper B. Dolan's Church of Love and Ruin tour of the northeastern US, after collaborating with Dolan on a song for his album Fallen House, Sunken City.[2]

In 2010, WC?B was one of eight musical groups chosen to perform at the Haizetara Street Music International Contest in Amorebieta-Etxano, Basque country, where they won the Best in Festival award and €10,000[3] during their European tour of Spain, France, and Italy. That same year the band also performed at the Newport Folk Festival[4] and the Northeast Kingdom Music Festival.[5] In its coverage of the Newport Folk Festival, SPIN magazine named the band one of the festival's "8 Best Moments," noting that they "dominated Folk Fest like a headliner" and "were a thunderous treat at each turn.".[6]

In a review of a concert with Javelin in New York City, later in 2010, the New York Times described the "punkish, face-painted brass band" as "thrillingly competent, with undimmable energy."[7]

In 2009 the band performed with Dan Deacon at Lollapalooza in support of his album, Bromst.[8]

In 2008 the band performed in Machias, Maine, at the Beehive Design Collective's Blackfly Ball and also shared a bill later that year with the B-52s.[9]

In 2007 the band performed at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary[10] and at the Guča trumpet festival in Serbia,[11] as well as in Germany and the Czech Republic.

The band has also performed at the HONK! festival each year since 2006, at Providence Sound Session since 2007, and has played alongside artists such as Lightning Bolt, Okkervil River, Trombone Shorty, Matt and Kim, and many others.

Members

Awards

As mentioned above, the band took the grand prize at the invitational Haizetara Street Music International Contest in 2010.[3] In 2010 WC?B also was chosen as "Best Category-Defying Act" by the Providence Phoenix Best Music Poll.,[12] a designation it also won in 2007.[13] In 2010 the band also won "Best New Band (Rhode Island)" in the Boston Phoenix "50 Bands, 50 States" contest.[14] In 2007 the band was awarded "Best Riff on a Marching Band" by Rhode Island Monthly as one of its "Best of RI" editor's picks.[15]

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Sources

  1. ↑ Donnis, Ian (October 9, 2008). "Avant-oompah! Mixing old and new, Providence’s What Cheer? Brigade takes a stand against pre-fabricated culture". The Providence Phoenix.
  2. ↑ O'Neil, Luke (Feb 11, 2011). "Chaos theory: The grand experiment of B. Dolan’s Church of Love and Ruin Tour". The Boston Globe.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Haizetara Festival: Winners
  4. ↑ Newport Folk Fest 2010: Artists
  5. ↑ Northeast Kingdom Music Festival
  6. ↑ Goodman, William. "8 Best Moments of Newport Folk Fest". SPIN.
  7. ↑ Caramanica, Jon (April 23, 2010). "Being the Tastemakers, and the Main Course". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ Zipf, Jen. "Lollapalooza 2009: Sunday (Review)". Prefix Magazine.
  9. ↑ Jordan, Chris. "Roam if you want to with The B-52s in Cranford". myCentralJersey.com.
  10. ↑ Sziget 360: Photos
  11. ↑ Guca festival site
  12. ↑ "Best Music Poll 2010 Winners". The Providence Phoenix.
  13. ↑ Providence Phoenix Best Music Poll Winners
  14. ↑ "Best New Bands in America: 50 Bands, 50 States". The Boston Phoenix.
  15. ↑ "Best of Rhode Island - 2007 Editor's Picks". Rhode Island Monthly.

External links