Brass Lightning
If you’re looking to move full steam ahead with the authentic, thundering grit of bombastic Bayou brass, New Orleans’ own Brass Lightning are your kind of bag. With trombone, saxophone, trumpet, electric bass and a drum kit, Brass Lightning deliver that unmistakable Crescent City sound. They’ve been shaking rumps and moving souls since coming together in 2016 from various other projects. Their three song, self-titled EP takes you on an almost physical journey through their Louisiana stomping grounds. “There’s always a story to every song,” saxophonist Ari Kohn tells PureHoney. “We write music inspired by our surroundings.”
It’s nearly impossible to talk about a band from New Orleans without talking about the city itself, and frankly, why wouldn’t you? Kohn says the Crescent City “is constantly evolving, and this, in tandem with a deep respect for the musical traditions, creates a truly beautiful thing.”
“The music is woven into the community,” Kohn says, “so much so that it is a central part of the cultural resilience responsible for New Orleans’ continued existence. Music like that, no matter what it’s called, is impossible to ignore when you hear it.”
Whether kin from lives past, or simply connected through the brotherhood of their mystical town, Cyrus Nabipoor, Brendan Bull, Evan Oberla, Evan Paydon and Kohn are undoubtedly a family. Here’s the band’s own self-portrait, courtesy of Kohn: “Cyrus (Trumpet) is the angsty and mysterious teen, Brendan (Drums) is the son bouncing off the walls, Evan O (Trombone) is the boisterous uncle full of stories, Evan P (Bass) is the grounded mom who comes home from work and calms the house down, and Ari (Sax) is the spacey stay-at-home dad who somehow manages to organize things.”
Brass Lightning will be performing with groovy, noodly, cosmic Chicago quartet Chachuba in a somehow perfectly complementary pairing, two very different bands united by their experimental streaks. One act traveling through time, the other transcending it. Both embodying a spirit of “laissez les bon temps rouler” that says let it rip in any language, in any music hotspot, be it the Big Easy, the City of Big Shoulders or your backyard.
Brass Lightning perform with Chachuba 8pm Sunday June 30 at Voltaire in West Palm Beach.
GET TICKETS: $5 EARLY BIRD / $8 ADVANCE / $10 DAY OF SHOW ~ Freddie Zandt
