Youngblood Brass Band: Cargo: 09/10/07
Words by GiT
Photos by Lady Rishi
It's 9am, my shift at work is imminent, I can still taste last night's kebab, and every keystroke sounds like a legion of African drummers pounding out a pulsating rhythm in my head. So why am I still smiling..?? Youngblood Brass Band, that's why... To tell the truth, I stopped frequenting gigs many moons ago, for several reasons. My Stan Smiths always get ruined, I hate venue beer prices, I don't like drinking out of plastic, there's always numerous wankers, you get jostled around in a sweaty crowd to hear a second rate version of a song you used to like over some shit sound system. Damn, I'd rather just sit at home, pop the LP on and enjoy it with my friend Big L. This was an altogether different encounter though, one I won't forget for quite some time to come, for all the right reasons...
The night started out with a bit of a worry, entering Cargo, the very nice lady on the door looked for my name on the list, and it seemed that somebody had already got in under my name, weird, anyways... My mate got me a beer in, yep, plastic glass, it still wasn't enough to dampen my spirits though, for I know that Youngblood are an altogether different breed. 
I've been listening to Youngblood for a good few years now, and I'm a huge fan. When I started working at Urban Species, it was one of the first groups I introduced to the other staff, now everybody loves them. When we have our Friday night drinks, people are always asking me 'what's this you're playing..?' Ok yes, I'm biased as usual, I played trumpet for a good 12 years, but you don't have to be a brass player to appreciate them, not at all.
I was once trying to describe them to a friend, and I think I said something along the lines of, 'they're kinda like Rage Against The Machine, but they're a Brass Band.' Listen to 'March' off their most recent LP 'Is That a Riot?' and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Their musical output covers Hip-Hop, Brazilian type carnival/marching band stuff, soulful slow tracks, New Orleans Jazz, and a whole plethora of other stuff in between. All together, they like to call it 'Riot Jazz', an apt term in my book, it certainly felt like a riot when the horns started blasting.
I can't exactly remember the setlist (I knew I shouldn't have drunk that wheat beer beforehand), they played a couple of tracks from their new project, which sounded good, typical upbeat Youngblood stuff. I remember the whole crowd going pogo mad to 'Brooklin', a stormer of a tune. They also played their cover version of Stevie Wonders 'Pastime Paradise', a good song rescued after that Coolio disaster. 
I haven't jumped up and down and shouted so loud for a long, long time, for the duration of the gig I was transported back to 17 years old, going crazy, screaming at the band and dancing like a man possessed. A fantastic night surrounded by good friends and great music, YBB rock like no other, buy all their music right now you won't be sorry.
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