The Youngblood Brass Band may as well be school music program ambassadors for any school district that questions the value of its music program. The 10-piece brass band formed out of the fertile high-school music programs in Madison, Wis., an open-minded collective of teachers, players and music-lovers who encouraged the musical arts at the grade- and high-school level.
They formed in the mid-1990s when David Henzi-Skogen and Nat McIntosh played in the school band. They have since grown into a brass-band-based collective straying into hip-hop, avant-garde jazz, rock and punk – all with the “do-it-yourself” aesthetic. The 10-piece band will perform at the Animas City Theatre on Thursday; opening that show will be Hello Dollface and BootyConda.
Along with Henzi-Skogen, who handles drums and vocals and McIntosh who plays sousaphone, Youngblood Brass Band are Conor Elmes and Tom Reschke on drums, Joe Goltz on trombone, Matt Hanzelka on trombone, Tony Barba on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Zach Lucas on alto and tenor saxophone and Charley Wagner and Adam Meckler on trumpet.
It was older musicians in Madison who served as inspiration for Henzi-Skogen to be drawn to the music of New Orleans brass bands.
“There was a brass band in Madison, guys just a bit older than us. We got in with them and started playing with them,” said Henzi-Skogen last week from Madison. “It helped us fall in love with the music, and it grew from there. It was a hobby high school band for awhile. When we got to be 18 or 19 years old, we started trying to play out a little more, and it organically turned into what it is.”
Organic growth continued, with the band members letting the music they loved growing up, outside of what they learned in high school band and orchestra, influence what they wrote and played.
“After a while, you stop just trying to be a simile of New Orleans brass bands. We’re incapable of writing music that’s not influenced by all the stuff we loved growing up, like hip-hop or punk or whatever,” Henzie-Skogen said.
“We never made conscious decisions, we never said ‘This would be weird, lets try this,’” he said. “We just happened to be people that played horns and drums and we had this band. We loved hip-hop and Fugazi and West African music and all this other stuff. You just make this music in your head. It wasn’t until years later that we even got asked the question ‘Why did you make the decision to make an aggressive hip-hop jazz band?’”
The band continues to support school music programs, at any and all academic levels. Often, tours include club shows right alongside performances in schools or lectures on the history of the styles of music they are known to play. Many kids pushed toward an instrument by parents may not know why they are pursuing this art; Youngblood Brass Band may shed some light on the importance of music to young minds.
“To turn kids on to the fact that you can make music on your own terms, and it doesn’t have to be that you’re waiting for that pop golden ticket; it doesn’t have to be American Idol – I think that’s important,” Henzie-Skogen said. “And it’s also a cool way to spread the word on New Orleans brass band music. A lot of people are vaguely familiar with it – but not to the extent of how important we feel it is to American music culture.”
Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.
If you go
Youngblood Brass Band, with opening acts Hello Dollface and Bootyconda, 9 p.m. Thursday, $12, Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive, $12, 799-2281.
