PORTSMOUTH, NH – The structure and art of the brass band is a timeless aspect of music that was born in New Orleans. It also has a vast influence with various cities having at least one act abiding by this vibrant and rhythmic style. In Chicago, a stellar example is the LowDown Brass Band, who push the envelope while adding various sonic elements and harnessing an energy that gravitates towards whoever they’re performing in front of. People in Portsmouth will get to experience this when this dynamic group takes the stage at Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club on January 11. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and it promises to be an excellent way to close out the weekend.
I had a talk with LowDown’s MC, Billa Camp, ahead of the performance about a new song and music video that’s currently out, what makes the audiences in New Hampshire stand out, and what’s on deck for the next few months.
Rob Duguay: Back in October, you guys released a new single titled “Echoes Of A Photo,” so tell me about the making of it. Where was it recorded? Did you guys do all of the production yourselves?
Billa Camp: It was a total DIY effort, and everything we’ve done since the pandemic has kind of been DIY because we got used to doing stuff that way during that time and we’ve stuck with it going forward. We recorded the drums at a friend Nick The Graduate’s house, we recorded the horns ourselves, and then Shane [Jonas] and I recorded our vocals at my house. It was definitely DIY, and that’s just so we can control a lot of things and cut costs when we need to, but we’ll spend money when it’s necessary. “Echoes Of A Photo” is about breaking through and tapping into the collective consciousness in order to further yourself, grow as a person, and not hold yourself back by any of your human restraints.
RD: That’s a great message to have. The music video for the song that came out a few weeks ago has you guys walking the streets of London with the scenes capturing the urban landscape. Was the video made after you played a show in London while on tour and you had some free time to knock it out? What was the experience like making it?
BC: We were on tour with The Cat Empire, and we had the night off in London with the last show of the tour being the next night, so we wanted to take advantage of being out there. We love shooting videos on location where we go to interesting places, and we just happened to have one of our buddies who lives in the city and he’s a great videographer. He was available for the night, so we just mustered up the strength after five weeks on tour with The Cat Empire to get out on the streets of London and film the music video. We had to push through it, but I felt like it was well worth it and we had a great time doing it.
RD: From watching the video, it looks like it was a great time. There have been numerous bands over the course of music history, and even a bunch today, taking influences from a musical region of either the country or the world while putting their home city’s spin on it. I find that with the LowDown Brass Band, you guys are kind of like that where the brass band aesthetic is very much a New Orleans thing, but you pull it off while echoing your home city of Chicago while including elements of hip hop, reggae and soul. From your point of view, when it comes to having this approach, how would you describe it?
BC: The way I look at it is that Chicago is a very diverse city, especially musically. On any given night, anybody could be playing any type of music, which is true in our band. We have some great musicians who play in other bands ranging from reggae, funk, soul, and jazz, so with all of those musical influences, we can’t trap ourselves into one thing. Chicago has pretty much everything, so we figured that since we started out as a brass band with a New Orleans influence, at some point you have to find your own artistry and we started throwing all of these different styles into the music. Honestly, sometimes we can’t be defined by a genre, which can be both a gift and a curse, so we look at it as a beautiful problem, and the way to symbolize that is looking at ourselves like a brass rose growing through concrete.
Despite all of the obstacles in its way, this thing decided to still rise beautifully and be defiant, and its defiance is its beauty.
RD: Yeah, I totally get that. Being from Chicago, what are your thoughts on coming up to New Hampshire to perform at Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club? In terms of audience interaction, are there any differences between this part of the United States and the city you call home?
BC: We’ve played at Jimmy’s twice before and the audiences were great. The crowds in New Hampshire really like to listen and pay attention to your artistry, which I really appreciate because some places don’t do that. It’s great when your work is appreciated for the time and effort you put into it, so I’m stoked to be coming back.
RD: 2026 has just started, so going further into the year, can we expect a series of singles from the LowDown Brass Band, or is “Echoes Of A Photo” a preview to an upcoming record?
BC: We’re just going to release singles for the next nine months or so while basically accumulating some songs, and at the end, we’ll put it together as a solid piece of work. Right now, I want to say that we’re finding a new direction as far as adding a little bit more punk into the sound, so we’re basically feeling it out while releasing singles to see how people feel about it.