Joining the Facebook "Million" club as an independent artist is no easy feat... Being a brass/woodwind/drums band joining that same club? The stakes get even higher. But that is exactly what explosive brass/woodwind/drums five-piece LUCKY CHOPS did this week. Racking up over a million fans on Facebook, these native New Yorkers have worked hard in the trenches (in their case, the NYC subway system) to build into the musical powerhouse that they have become, selling out upwards of 2,000 capacity venues worldwide and winning praise from NPR, New York Magazine, Alternative Press, among many others.
"We never could've imagined our little brass band from high school would end up touring the world with an amazing and supportive global fanbase," says trombonist Josh Holcomb. "To celebrate our milestone of hitting 1,000,000 Facebook followers (!!), we've released our first ever animated music video."
Culled from their latest release, WALTER EP, which was released earlier this year, the fan favorite "Temple of Boom" captures the band in a dynamic brassy romp which The Prelude Press calls "dirty, fun and filled to the brim with groove". The 8-bit animated video mimics Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers and Activision's Pitfall, with each band member tackling different arcade challenges and teaming up to battle a five-eyed creature with their musical instruments as their lethal weapons.
Lucky Chops - Temple of Boom (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
LUCKY CHOPS "Temple of Boom"
WATCH: https://youtu.be/J4TL54hPFE0
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After cementing their indie chops performing last weekend with Third Wave American ska favorites Streetlight Manifesto at Chicago's Riot Fest, Lucky Chops continues to build their story and garner new fans (as evidenced by the Facebook surge). Currently on a continental tour with beloved Gypsy Punk band Gogol Bordello (they play two consecutive nights at Boston's Paradise Rock Club beginning tonight), they will circle North America before jumping to Europe for a string of dates before ending the year at the just announced pair of homecoming shows at NYC's Brooklyn Steel on December 28th and 29th (full list of dates below).
With more than one million fans around the world who have discovered the band through their wildly popular videos, their vibrant social media following or at one of their sold out headline shows or festival appearances across Europe and North America, the band's music attracts audiences of all backgrounds, carrying with it an infectious energy. NPR's Bob Boilen caught them at last year's SxSW and subsequently proclaimed them one of that year's festival "break out bands", describing them as a "totally on-fire, big-ass brass band. They are so full of life, with such a fresh take on brass - gnarly, punky and funky".
Getting their start in Lucky Chops as teenagers at NYC's renowned LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts, trombonist Josh Holcomb and sousaphonist Raphael Buyo, along with multi-instrumentalist Daro Behroozi started playing together outside of class, adapting the pop and rock music that they knew and loved into modern brass band tunes and performing them live in parks and parades around the metropolitan city. "Growing up in New York City, we were all exposed to so many different cultures and music and people, and that uniquely New York experience really defines our band," explains Holcomb. "Our music is inclusive of such a diverse range of experiences, and we invite all people to share in the magic." Adding rising stars in trumpeter Joshua Gawel and drummer Charles Sams IV to round out their fresh emerging sound and line-up, the band began to broaden and define their sound even more incorporating an expanding range of sounds and stylistic influences in their music.
"Here's to the power of brass music and here's to the next million fans!," concludes Holcomb excitedly.
Lucky Chops is Josh Holcomb (trombone), Daro Behroozi (tenor sax, bass clarinet), Raphael Buyo (sousaphone), Joshua Gawel (trumpet), and Charles Sams IV (drums). Walter E.P. was released independently on April 21, 2017.
U.S. TOUR DATES WITH GOGOL BORDELLO
9/20 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
9/21 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
9/22 Portland, ME @ State Theatre
9/23 Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
9/25 Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre
9/26 Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Theatre
9/27 Grand Rapids, MI @ The Intersection
9/29 Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's
10/2 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
10/3 Columbus, OH @ Newport
10/4 Louisville, KY @ Mercury Ballroom
10/6 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls
10/7 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
10/8 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
10/19 Athens, GA @ Georgia Theater
10/20 Pensacola, FL @ Vinyl Music Hall
10/21 New Orleans, LA @ Joy Theater
10/23 San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater
10/24 Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey
10/25 Tulsa, OK @ Cain's Ballroom
10/27 Des Moines, IA @ Wooley's
10/28 Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theatre
10/30 Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave
11/1 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
11/2 Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
12/28 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
12/29 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
