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Too Many Zooz with Yam Yam

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TOO MANY ZOOZ

The curious thing about being a fan of brasshouse? You're pretty much talking about being into one solitary but extremely unforgettable band: the amusingly monikered Too Many Zooz.

 

The musical style was "branded" by drummer King of Sludge, who recognized that there was no worthy existing classification for the New York trio, whose other two members are the equally unclassifiable Leo P (saxophone) and Matt Doe (trumpet).

 

"Brasshouse is a high energy musical conversation," Matt insists. "Though I honestly don't think there is a good way to describe it in words. It's about many different feelings and sounds and emotions."

 

Or as KOS so decisively puts it, "I don't really care about what's happening in music -- I just make art that I enjoy making."

 

It's exactly this indifference to convention and trend that has garnered Too Many Zooz a fanbase that KOS describes as "wide-ranging and fanatical." One of those fans? In 2016, Beyonce asked them to perform with her at the Billboard Music Awards...and it's quite possible they got just as much attention as did she.

 

After two years, a gazillion live performances and four EPs, their debut album Subway Gawdz (an unsubtle reference to their birth in the underground stations of NYC), was released to enthusiastic acclaim in 2016. Its sound was truly like nothing else, with inescapable grooves that take in dub, soul, funk and ska, utterly exhilarating horn blasts that shoot right up your spine, and, of course, equal doses of fun and attitude.

 

And right now, TMZ are riding higher than ever, surely poised for the leap into genuinely widespread international recognition that was likley inevitable since they first set foot in an NYC subway station. Indeed, following a deal with Ministry of Sound, their single "Warriors" racked up major play on Radio One (if you think you haven't heard it, when you hear it, you'll quickly realize you already have), followed by high-profile remixes from the likes of Armand Van Helden and KDA.

 

Then, UK sensation Jess Glynne penned lyrics and added vocals to morph the song into "So Real (Warriors)," which has been generating massive buzz while climbing the European charts. In the meanwhile, a live video for "Car Alarm" has furtively racked up more than 500K views in one week.

 

But surely signaling their mainstream "arrival"? A Canadian KFC commercial featured the band and their songs -- so don't be surprised if listening to their music suddenly makes you hungry.

 

Though they've also been up to more serious matters. Leo, in fact, was asked to play at the BBC Proms Charles Mingus tribute at a sold-out Royal Albert Hall in August 2017 -- certainly no small honor.

 

Yet for all this, the forward plan for Too Many Zooz, is, as ever, constant touring. The reason is simple: it's their outrageous, electrifying live performances that consistently continue to add the numbers to their growing worldwide legion of fans. Autumn 2018 will take them coast to coast, from Seattle to Houston to Philadelphia, and across Europe, with stops in Krakow, Strasbourg and Marseille, amongst others.

 

"I don't think there's any recording that can do a live performance justice," reckons Matt. "You'll see people of all different colors, creeds, genders, ages, sexuality at our shows. I really can't find a constant between them...besides liking our music -- haha."

 

But for everything that's happened in the last couple of years, the trio aren't actually all that surprised by their success.

 

"I always knew we had something special," Leo enthuses. "Thousands of people everyday loved our music...and I knew it would just continue to spread."

YAM YAM

YAM YAM formed in late 2015, coming together from playing in an assortment of local bands in central PA. The band is inspired by 1970s soul music, New Orleans roots of jazz music, and modern/vintage funk and jam music. YAM YAM features raw instruments and captures a high-energetic sound. YAM YAM is Mike Dempsey on keys, Jason Mescia on saxophone, Xander Moppin on bass, Tom Fuller on guitar, and Tyler Fuller on drums.The band released its debut, self-titled album in late 2018 and upon its release, it charted onBillboard Jazz Albums section at No. 17. The band has opened for Lotus, Dopapod, and KellerWilliams among others and has been featured in NepaScene, LiveForLiveMusic, TheBurg, and Burg in Focus.

Too Many Zoos

Connect with this artist:

toomanyzooz.com/

Artist Bio

With the snowballing trend towards electronic instrumentation in music, it's easy to forget where it all first started: on street corners with real instruments, playing for tips, that is until you've heard Too Many Zooz. Too Many Zooz is a three-piece "BrassHouse" band comprised of Matt Doe, Leo P, and King of Sludge. The group found their voice playing for change on New York's subway platforms, honing extremely danceable rhythms and melodies.

 

Named one to Billboards' Top 25 Next Big Sound, thanks in part to a video of one of their frenetic subway performances was posted to Reddit and went viral to the tune of over 2.2 million views, and in a very short time amassed a large fan base. Additional videos have millions of views, and Facebook likes over 420,000.

This is all for good reason, too. Their music is infectious, impossible to stay still listening to. As old-fashioned as their musical approach is, – if one were to call live instrumentation old fashioned – the structure of their songs follows very closely to any hit dance music track, hence their self-prescribed "brass house" genre. The drums provide a rhythmic base, the saxophone a bass line and the trumpet serves as the melody, guiding you to a gradually increasing, precipitous crescendo, where all the instruments come together only "drop" from a dizzying height, clashing together in an explosive climax of sound. Too Many Zooz will definitely force you to reconsider the way you think about jazz music.  Don't just take our word for it, Beyoncé APPROVES!

TOO MANY ZOOZ have shared the stage with Beyoncé, KASKADE, Beats Antique, Galactic and more.

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