JC Brooks sings, with Billy Bungeroth on guitar, Ben Taylor on fender bass, Kevin Marks behind the drums.
Special guests: Alex Hall (organ), Chris Neal (tenor sax, keys), Andrew Zelm (trombone, cowbell), Gerald Bailey (trumpet, jingle bells)
Influences
Stax DefJam Motown Dischord Atlantic SST Chess Factory Brunswick Trojan Hi RECORDS / James Brown, the Clash, Iggy & the Stooges, Funkadelic, Lenny Bruce, Donny Hathaway, Bad Brains, Wax Poetics, Fela, Hunter S. Thompson, Nina Simone, Marvin Tate, Band of Gypsies, the Numero Group
In his 1970 Playboy Interview, Ray Charles described soul as “people who do things from the heart.” In performance and on record, there is no question that JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound are 100% soul. Like Otis fronting the Stooges, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound get crowds twisting and writhing on the floor, something that’s been sorely missing from live music.
Brooks knocks out his audience with heart and raw emotion, while the Uptown Sound’s post-punk attack updates the MG’s and JB’sgroove model, resulting in pure and unrelenting soul music that ranges from sweaty on-the-one workouts, dance-punk booty shakers, garage-rock thump humps, and aching R&B ballads without a missed step in between. JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound are not just another throwback group, they came to be during an age of war, manifesting their style of aggressive dance music with lyrics that dig deeper than the standard “baby, baby” fare. JC Brooks is determined to become the next in a long line of classic Chicago Soul singers; Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, Syl Johnson - JC has learned from them all, and he's got no illusions about what it takes to become a classic.
They kicked off 2009 with a bang, playing to an ecstatic SRO crowd at Chicago’s historic Park West Theater, where they were MC and house band for the Numero Group’s critically acclaimed Eccentric Soul Revue. They’ve collaborated with greats like Syl Johnson, the Notations, the Impressions’ Nate Evans, and Tortoise’s Dan Bitney. They’ve appeared on WGN-TV and BBC 6, cut a live session for influential independent radio station WFMU, and been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Magazine, TimeOut Chicago, and the Chicago Sun-Times. Now armed with their explosive debut album Beat of Our Own Drum (with Fall ’09 European release via Vampisoul Records) these intense young soul stirrers are bringing it to your door, ready to tour, score, and not be ignored.
JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound are for the people remaining awake through a great revolution… for people who want to move and not just sit tight... for soul people! Guaranteed to make you dance by any means necessary, JC Brooks is the new sound of Chicago.
Reach out and touch someone, direct! theuptownsound at yahoo dot com
JC BROOKS & THE UPTOWN SOUND's Friend Space (Randomized)
Thanks, you all seem to be a great band. Wanted to catch yoos with Syl Johnson here in NY but couldn't make it. Will you be around this area again soon?
Saw you guys on Friday at Hideout and nearly passed out when you sang I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. Just noticed it's up now here. Can't wait for it to hit iTunes.
Keep playin Hideout and I'll keep coming to see you.
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