Hackney Colliery Band on other streams

WAHCD024

Out 23/09/13

Hackney Colliery Band need very little introduction. Since the release of their eponymous debut in 2011, this brass juggernaut have blown their way into the public consciousness, as well as some of the more discerning dance floors, with their cunning cover versions (in particular Africa and No Diggity) and catchy original recordings. 

Over the past two years the band have earned themselves an army of loyal fans, including a number of big names, and have played at some very special events indeed. From live collaborations with the late Amy Winehouse and more recently Eliza Doolittle, to headlining the Manchester Jazz and Durham Brass Festivals, and in 2012 being the only fully live band to play at the Closing Ceremony of the London Olympics, they haven’t paused for breath. 

Add to that an ongoing partnership with the Roundhouse, a recent Balkan tour where they played to capacity crowds in Slovenia, Kosovo and Montenegro and relentless touring in the UK and Europe, and it becomes obvious why the critics have described them as 'an inspired musical collision' (The Times), 'one of our favourite performers on the London scene today' (The Upcoming) and 'the most enjoyable, fun live music I know of’ (The Observer).

With a tongue-in-cheek, yet respectful, nod to the great tradition of British brass bands, Hackney Colliery's influences are as diverse as the London borough that gave them their name. Mixing rock, afro-beat, hip hop, Balkan beats, contemporary jazz and soul, the new album Common Decency is a uniquely British take on the modern brass band sound. The opener, A Bit Of Common Decency, builds from a delicately brooding intro to an almost punky rock groove, and with its imploring whispers and shouts for 'a bit of common decency' sets the tone of the album: by turns polite and forceful, mellow and fiery, energetic and, well, even more energetic. By the closing track, Prodigy Medley (a favourite of club and radio DJs all over the world), the listener can be left with little doubt that HCB’s time has come.

Engineered by the appropriately-named Tristan Hackney (Katy B, Bjork, U2) and mixed by Luke Buttery (Mark Ronson, Alice Russell, Noel Gallagher) at Ray Davies' Konk studios in North London, Common Decency was recorded almost entirely 'as live' with the band all playing in the same room at the same time; a rare and high-risk method indeed, but the only one that could hope to capture the energy and passion of one of HCB's live shows. 

Fortunately, with musicians whose credits include the likes of Bonobo, Cinematic Orchestra and even the Royal Opera House, there was no danger of this compromising the quality or detail of the performances. Add a little extra honk from Melt Yourself Down and Acoustic Ladyland head honcho Pete Wareham on the track Superhero Disco and there is no shortage of virtuoso playing. Which is lucky, because HCB aren't a simple 'brass n beats' groove band. Writers Olly Blackman, Luke Christie and Steve Pretty have between them penned unquestionably the outfit's strongest material to date ¬– powerful original compositions that sit alongside unexpected drum n bass, soul and hip hop covers; a tour de force of screaming energy and masterly writing. As intricate as it is energetic, as virtuosic as it is passionate, Common Decency marks HCB's arrival as a leading light in the global brass band scene.

As front-man Steve Pretty puts it, "When we started out back in 2008 our mission was to create a uniquely British take on the modern brass band and to prove that with nothing but some bits of twisted metal, wood and plastic we could get any party started. We've had an incredible couple of years and Common Decency is the realisation of those ambitions”.


Hackney Colliery Band - A Bit Of Common Decency

Hackney Colliery Band - Creeping Around After Dark

Hackney Colliery Band - Dead Dialogue

Hackney Colliery Band - Empire State Of Mind

Hackney Colliery Band - Let's Take It Fast

Hackney Colliery Band - Hitched Intro

Hackney Colliery Band - Inner City Life

Hackney Colliery Band - Smile For The Webcam

Hackney Colliery Band - Is Your Love Big Enough

Hackney Colliery Band - Superhero Disco

Hackney Colliery Band - You Got What I Need

Hackney Colliery Band - Prodigy Medley

A – HACKNEY COLLIERY BAND – ALL OF THE LIGHTS (SCRIMSHIRE REMIX)
AA – HENRI-PIERRE NOEL – DISKETTE (THE REFLEX REVISION)

Wah Wah 45s are proud to present their debut Record Store Day special release!

In 2014 the label celebrates not only its 15th anniversary, but, with this record, its 50th seven-inch release, and it’s something very unique indeed. 

Two of the imprints best love artists, East End brass juggernaut Hackney Colliery Band, and funky Canadian piano maestro Henri-Pierre Noel come together on seven inches of wax for the first time, remixed by label boss Scrimshire and superstar disco re-edit king The Reflex.

Scrimshire’s re-working of HCB’s version of Kanye West’s All Of The Lights is a horn fuelled left-of-centre club bomb, whilst The Reflex’s ‘revision’ of Henri’s classic Diskette is a disco fuelled take that’s sure to cause plenty of dance floor devastation too. 

Having both on one slab of strictly limited heavyweight vinyl with gorgeous, bespoke artwork to celebrate the label’s 50th seven-incher is almost too much! Enjoy!


Hackney Colliery Band - All Of The Lights (Scrimshire Remix)

This is my re-edit/remix of Hackney Colliery Band's cover of All Of The Lights. It's appearing on Wah Wah 45s' 50 th 7 inch release which is coming out as a Record Store Day special tomorrow. Edited and chopped from the final master, with a few additions of my own. Hope you enjoy. Go support on April 19th! The vinyl also includes a Reflex remix of Henri-Pierre Noël.

More info on the release and the history leading up to WAH7050 here: http://www.wahwah45s.com/news/artists/record-store-day-wah-wah-50th-7/

Wah Wah 45s celebrate the joy of the cover version! The label has always had a keen ear for a re-working of a classic piece of music, whether it be an unexpected brass take of a soft rock or hip hop cut from Hackney Colliery Band, or a sultry rendition of a soul nugget from Stac, with the only conditions being that the cover takes the original piece of music somewhere new, fresh and exciting.

The label's 15thanniversary seemed like a good time to not only re-visit a number of very canny covers from over the years, but to throw in a couple of new and exclusive ones for good measure too and as a way of saying thank you for all your support over the last decade and a half. So, as well as well loved renditions of Bill Withers' The Same Love That Made Me Laugh from Ashley Thomas and Part-Time Heroes' gorgeous re-imagining of The Boss' Dancing In The Dark, you get a spine-tingling, pitch shifting, electronica flavoured take of Rose Royce's ballad Wishing On A Star from Stac x Blue Daisy and The Gene Dudley Group's fierce dance floor funk version of Richard "Groove" Holmes No Trouble On The Mountain (itself a Wah Wah 45s release back in the day!) featuring the rasping vocals of Annie Frankenstein.

Add to that Lea Lea's recent cover of Talking Heads' Psycho Killer, Scrimshire's updating of Tammi Terrell's version of All I Do, with Stac on vocal duties, as well as club classics from Henri-Pierre Noel, Bev Lee Harling, Alister Johnson and a couple of big hitters from Hackney Colliery Band and you've got one heavyweight haul of version excursions on your hands.

Hackney Colliery Band - Africa (The Wah Wah Version out July 14th 2014)

Hackney Colliery Band All Of The lights (Scrimshire Remix)  - Allo Love Vol. Four by Lea Lea

East London brass juggernaut, Hackney Colliery Band, have seen their star rapidly rise over the past two years. Since the release of their enponymous debut and sophomore album, Common Decency, this riotous nine piece have toured the UK and Europe, playing at some of its finest festivals along the way, and gained support from radio and club DJs, broadsheets and tastemakers ranging from The Times to BBC 6Music funk and soul afficionado Craig Charles, as well as having the likes of Eliza Doolittle and the late Amy Winehouse joining them on stage.

The band’s penchant for a canny cover has always been one of its strengths, and perhaps one that sometimes overshadowed HCB’s frankly brilliant song-writing. After a string of singles led by a cunning cover version, the A Bit of Common Decency EP sheds light on HCB’s original music, albeit with the help of a remix or two.

From bandleader Steve Pretty’s high octane title track, available here as a useful Radio Edit and frenetic remix courtesy of multi-instrumentalist Fedka The Irritant, to drummers Oli Blackman and Luke Christie’s respectively penned Dead Dialogue and Smile for the Webcam, the quality from the band’s main song-writers is obvious. Add to that remixes of Dead Dialogue from label mates Paper Tiger and the mysterious Triangulator, as well as a stomping disco revision from re-edit king The Reflex (of another of Steve Pretty’s songs, Superhero Disco) and you’ve got a worthy collection of original cuts and re-works that will help confirm HCB’s status as a leading light in the global brass band scene.


Hackney Colliery Band - Superhero Disco (The Reflex Revision)

Hackney Colliery Band - A Bit of Common Decency (Radio Edit)

Having kicked off this new series of compilations last year with other label boss Dom Servini’s “Allo Love” selection, Volume Two gives us an insight into his partner’s muscial diet. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the man’s own output, the down-tempo and electronica end of things is well covered with lush offerings from Hiatus & Shura, Amenta, Matches and Jesse Futerman. And in places, things get even more horizontal with more acoustic offerings from High Hopes Society and of course the man himself with his acoustic version of album favourite “A Promise Is All It Was”.

Let us not forget, though, that Scrimshire is also a DJ, and a damn fine one at that, and there’s plenty of turntable fodder to be found with Persian’s lovers and jungle mash-up, Twin Cities’ mid-tempo soul stirrer, Skinshape’s take on a Bill Withers classic, and plenty of cuts from the Wah Wah 45s stable including music from Part-time Heroes, Resonators, Paper Tiger, Hackney Colliery Band and LV’s deadly club version of Scrimshire’s “Everything You Say” featuring the Cinematic Orchestra’s Heidi Vogel. And even then there’s time for a couple of exclusives – Easy Access Orchestra’s re-work for Colman Brothers is quite possibly a modern summertime anthem, and new signing Gene Dudley Group get their first ever airing on Wah Wah 45s. Blimey, we’re out of breathe just thinking about it. 


Hackney Colliery Band - Owl Sanctuary

Hackney Colliery Band - No Diggity

"Reinventing the brass-band format for the 21st century" - Times
"This is the most enjoyable, fun music that I know of" - Observer
"One of the best live bands we have in this country" - BBC Radio 2
"Clever, and enormous fun" - Guardian
"An ingenious blend of showmanship and intelligence" - Sunday Times