Brass In Pocket

A mighty wind…

hen played with feeling, there’s a kick with brass that just suggests something mildly illegal is about to go down.

Maybe that’s where the term bold as brass comes from…?

All of which makes this Saturday’s visit by Hyde Park Brass at The Whale something to savour.

Having started when a bunch of mates decided to try Beyoncé’s Crazy In Love entirely with trumpets and saxophones – and found themselves facing a packed dancefloor.

From there, the seven-piece have toured the land, supported The B-52’s on their European tour, and generally been spreading their wind-driven good times where’er they go.

As Hyde Park Brass come to The Whale this Saturday, we asked ringleader Charlie Knighton to dig deep for the band’s baritone roots…

How did we get into this crazy line of work? Well… it was 2016 and we were tasked with getting a band together for a university halls end of year do. We hastily got the tunes learnt with a week’s notice and the rest is history.

Hyde Park Brass was born!

After a flurry of gigs in the local area of Leeds, things started to take off for us and before we knew it we were playing festivals all over and even touring Europe with The B-52’s. It’s been an absolute whirlwind but at the core of it all it still remains the same – a group of friends making music and memories to last a lifetime.

In a post-Covid world, we find ourselves honing in our focus on creating a brand new sound with the aim to redefine the brass band genre! You may have seen a brass band before, but I bet you haven’t heard one like ours – whether that’s a good or a bad thing we’ll let you decide!

These are the songs that have been getting our mojo workin’…

Beyoncé Crazy In Love
The very first song we ever played as a collective – absolute grooves from start to finish! We still play it today but with our electronic twist!

The B-52’s Love Shack
So many memories with this one! From the heatwave that followed us around Europe to the late night Mezcal drinks with Fred Schneider – this song will without fail get all of us up and dancing!

Duplessi and Violins of The World Petard Chinois
A rogue one this. We stumbled upon this song in the band van – our drummer Joe’s ears locked on and out of nowhere he got to his feet in true grandad from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style and danced around uncontrollably. It was an iconic moment. Perhaps one where you had to be there…

Duran Duran The Reflex
A trip to Florence saw us tasked with learning some Duran Duran tunes for the gig. This one was the clear favourite and another one sure to get all the boys up and on their feet.

Bill Medley & Jennifer Warren The Time Of My Life
In lock down we were lucky enough to tour the UK with an All Or Nothing crowdfunded project with the aim of giving the nation a lift. All I’ll say is one night we watched Dirty Dancing, then the next day we were out playing it on the street. What a tune!

Bill Whelan Riverdance
What can I say, we love Ireland, we’ve been coming over since 2017. In lockdown we got our heads together to make music remotely. Riverdance was one of the tunes we learnt and in our own cheesy way, a homage to Ireland!

Pete Tong Orchestra Pjanoo
Pete Tong’s Ibiza Proms was so important for tipping us down the electronic route. Haven’t heard this stuff? My goodness get listening!

Hyde Park Band Crazy In Love
And just to give you an idea of where it all started for us…

The Hyde Park Brass play The Whale on Saturday, June 3rd at 8pm – tickets here.