by Eric Fitzgerald
BOOKA Brass Band is an eight piece instrumental brass band based in Dublin with members from all over the country stretching from Cork to Belfast. The group released their debut EP last week: “It’s been a long time coming.” say the band.
In 2012 Booka Brass Band started out as a group of young music students shyly addressing a bar full of revellers. With regular shows in venues all over Dublin including The Sugar Club, Whelan’s and Twisted Pepper, alongside stomping sets to festival crowds at Electric Picnic, Sea Sessions and Longitude, the group has unforeseeably and speedily become an eight-piece band of professional entertainers and craftsmen. They are capable of not just grabbing and holding the attention of thousands of fans in a festival tent or at any number of their sold out shows but leaving a lasting impression that keeps fans coming back for more.
In the past few months they have opened shows for the acts that have inspired them such as New Orleans own Hot 8 Brass Band and the critically acclaimed Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. They’ve also collaborated with Jerry Fish and Lisa Hannigan on the back of their eleventh hour set at Turning Pirate’s New Year’s Eve Mixtape at Vicar Street.
The eight characters are “each with a different story to tell and each bring their own brand of enthralling stage presence that make Booka Brass Band impossible to take your eyes off” – Turning Pirate Promotions.
The debut EP ‘BBB’ is out now on bandcamp.com. Booka Brass Band will play Dolan’s on Saturday March 21.
