Next up on our series of HTF Introducing are horn clad rockers, Advantage. I wanted to feature these guys for many reasons – one of which was their use of horns – as it’s not something you see every day and as I grew up playing my sax in a load of bands, I appreciate how good brass instruments are and how versatile they can be. I wanted to get you all excited about instrumental innovation, mixing genres and pushing musical boundaries. SO – I caught up with Willis – Flugel Horn and backing singer (presumably not at the same time) and Bob – drums – to give you some inside info into Advantage.
HTF – Please introduce your band.
(WILLIS) Hi, We are Advantage – Brass City Rockers. A 3 man fronted sextet. 2 horns, 2 guitars, bass, drums, 3 vocals… I play Flugel Horn and do backing vocals.
(BOB) I play drums.
HTF – How would you describe your sound?
(WILLIS)Alt//Punk//Indie. We are Dancefloor Punk with Horns, sometimes known as ‘Brass Rock’ which is I guess, upbeat and danceable! Heavy enough to head bang to, fast enough to dance to and infectious enough to sing along to… We like it.
HTF – The use of horns is something really cool to see in current music. do you all have prior training in other musical genres?
(BOB) We are all pretty DIY, even with our instruments! Lots of self teaching.
(WILLIS) Bob can do it all (he has a drumming degree) and we have all been in bands before. We are all very open minded musically and we all have different backgrounds, we have a combination of classic rock, ska, punk, hardcore, jazz and electronica.
(BOB) Everyone’s got slightly different tastes and backgrounds in music that helps create the sound that you hear.
(WILLIS) In school I mainly played in Jazz bands which was real fun, even supported Roy Wood! ..Once.. I have also played in an Indian wedding band with Bagpipes and improvised over Drum & Bass/House music in clubs, which is fun to do.
HTF – what gives you the horn….musically speaking?
(WILLIS) Ooh, i say……. Harmonies! I love great harmonies, the more the better!! That classic Guitar Solo sound, and a brass solo is always nice too.
(BOB) Anything double time!
HTF – What is the biggest ‘advantage’ you bring as a band?
(BOB) Good word play there!
(WILLIS) Advantage aim to bring a good time to the ears, eyes and mind, of anyone that listens. Get your heart racing and your body moving! We arent trying to change the world, we just love what we do and want other people to be part of the party and for everyone at our gigs or that listen to us to have a good time. ‘We all have the Advantage’ (the cheese-o-meter just hit critical).
(BOB) We just want everyone to have as much fun as we do!
Advantage’s single ‘The Beat (Get Up!)’ is available on iTunes from May 2nd.
