Brass Against

Senbla Presents...

Throughout history, music has provided the soundtrack to underscore politically-charged times. From Woodstock in the late 60s to people singing from their balconies during the COVID-19 pandemic, music expresses the things that people can’t put into words. Human existence depends on using music to make a statement and inspire change. These days, that call to change sounds like a collective of musicians called Brass Against, fusing the sounds of a brass band, heavy rock and powerful vocals.
Led and curated by Brad Hammonds, Brass Against began as a meeting between friends. Brad and Andrew Gutauskas (Brass Against’s musical director and its baritone sax player) got together in 2017 to vent about the unsettling, divisive and isolationist tones of the moment. The only way to do that? Rocking out to Rage Against the Machine.
“I wondered what I could do as a musician, and my first idea was to do a performance of ‘Killing in the Name’ by Rage Against the Machine with a choir and an orchestra,” Brad explains. “I really felt like we needed Rage Against the Machine during that time period.”
After playing five tracks with Andrew on baritone sax, the effect was immediate. What Brad and Andrew ended up creating was a unique “cacophony of sound”–the brass band was more containable than an orchestra, but it simultaneously allowed them to make a big statement. They asked fellow musician friends to join–a violinist here, a vocalist there, and the band grew incrementally. They shot a video to gauge listeners’ potential appetite, and within six months, a handful of videos went viral. The collective soon had managers and booking agents, progressing to a European tour in 2018.
“That first year was really, really fun,” Brad says. “Just because it was so unexpected, and we were doing it with good friends and we felt like we had a big mission and message. We were playing the songs that we love.”
That effort has grown into a dynamic, evolving group of artists–the “collective.” Rather than having a set number of band members, Brass Against is a revolving kaleidoscope of like-minded souls. The collective is composed of mostly professional jazz musicians, allowing creativity, flexibility and inclusivity among the group and differentiating themselves from the usual all-male rock bands. With the band’s home base in New York, it allows participation from what Brad calls “some of the best musicians in the world,” allowing for something unique and constantly evolving.
The music has evolved, too. Originally starting out as covers of their favorite bands like Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath and more, the group has also recorded their own music, having released five recorded albums featuring Sophia Urista on vocals, as well as Liza Colby, Michael Cunio, Samuel Hope and others.
The electric mix of curated seminal heavy rock songs plus original music is something that brings audiences together around the world. From Copenhagen to…