JC Brooks Band

You know you’re not just another indie soul band when your city sends you halfway around the world to showcase the sound of 21st century Chicago. Or when the mayor of Chicago personally invites you to play his inauguration concert or calls you to entertain foreign dignitaries. The JC Brooks Band came from humble beginnings, dreaming about getting the cool kids to shake it at the Empty Bottle and since have collected a wide range of fans around the globe. Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy befriended the post-punk soul group after they scored a viral hit with their amped-up re-imagining of his song “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”, performing it with them at Chicago’s Park West and inviting them to appear at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival alongside heavy hitters such as Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and the Band’s Levon Helm. Jake Johnson and Aubrey Plaza appeared in a music video with them. The taste-making crate diggers at the Numero Group were impressed enough by the band’s take-no-prisoners live show to include them in their Eccentric Soul Revue, where they had the pleasure of collaborating with the spectacular Syl Johnson. The JC Brooks Band has shared stages with a staggering array of artists, from legends like Robert Plant, Buddy Guy, and Chicago, to indie faves Peter Bjorn & John and the Dismemberment Plan, and soul stirrers Fitz & the Tantrums, Sharon Jones, Lisa Loeb, Lee Fields, and Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens. Erupting with raw emotion, JC Brooks unleashes his soulful shouts and heart wrenching falsetto over the relentless rhythm of guitarist Alec Lehrman, drummer Kevin Marks, bassist Theodore Berry IV, keyboardist Jeremy Tromberg and percussionist-extraordinaire, JoVia Armstrong. JC Brooks and his band are a force to be reckoned with, leading the Chicago Tribune to call them “the real deal” and MOJO Magazine identifying them as “one of the hottest US soul acts”, while the New York Times praised their “neo-soul glory” and the Onion AV Club declared their first album “relentlessly catchy”. It’s live, it’s compelling, it’s now, it’s theatrical. So theatrical, in fact, that they were tapped to star in the critically-acclaimed run of the Tony Award-winning musical “Passing Strange” at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts. After a hiatus they are now preparing for the long-anticipated release of their Rock Ridge Music debut, “The Neon Jungle”, and this band is a sleeping dragon awakened from hibernation and hungry. Whether they’re wowing crowds in the US, Canada, or Europe, the JC Brooks Band has toured, warred, scored, and they’re not to be ignored. Bear witness, for they’re on the move and they’re ready to make you dance by any means necessary. Old Bio: What does post-punk soul look like? Six and a half feet of raw emotion and sweat, with one leather boot planted in gutsy R&B, the other in taut minimalist grind. Snarling at the crowd beneath an afro pompadour, while indulging in a sly wink, singing to you directly, and here to make you dance. What does post-punk soul look like? It looks like JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound. JC Brooks was born the son of a Jersey funk diva, his voice erupts with heart and heartache over the ferocious rhythm and star-time charisma of guitarist Billy Bungeroth, drummer Kevin Marks, keyboardist Andy Rosenstein, and bassist Ben Taylor. With a take-no-prisoners live attack and lyrics speaking of the torment and triumph of these tumultuous times, it’s no wonder that the Chicago Tribune called JC Brooks "the real deal". This is a soul band rallying against our disaffected and disengaged era, connecting with people the old-fashioned way, by whipping them into a frenzy with honest appeal and unbridled enthusiasm. The Uptown Sound has attracted a true-blue grassroots following, with MOJO Magazine identifying them as "one of the hottest US soul acts". Since unleashing their Bloodshot Records debut in 2011 Want More (“A lively set of gritty old-school soul and funk injected with raw garage-rock aggression” - KEXP), and 2013’s follow up Howl (“At once a confessional break-up album and a critique of the whole concept of telegraphed heartache, Howl is soul with its jacket off”. – NPR Music), they’ve barnstormed North America and Europe relentlessly, while burning up NPR and AAA radio with their stomping cover of Wilco’s “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” (which they performed with the song’s composer, Jeff Tweedy, at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival) and the soulful motivator “Rouse Yourself” from Howl. JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound have toured, warred, scored, and they're not to be ignored. Bear witness, for these young men are on the move and they know what post-punk soul looks like. It looks like the future. New Album The Neon Jungle - Release Date April 7th www.JCBrooksBand.com www.JCBrooksandtheUptownSound.com