The Brow Horn Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The Brow Horn Orchestra are a high energy contempory seven piece afro-electro/dub
/ska
/funk
/hip hop
/pop
band based in Perth, Western Australia
. The band came into prominence on the local scene in 2010 winning the industry nominated category Best Funk Act at the 2010 West Australian Music Industry Awards
and also Best Live Act and Best Hip-Hop Act at the 2010 Perth Dance Music Awards
. The seven-piece also won the prestigious Next Big Thing band competition which has seen acts such as John Butler (musician)
, Tame Impala
and Snowman (band)
rise to stardom through the competition. In 2009 they won the Western Australian final of the National Campus Band Competition
and then went to the Gold Coast, Queensland
to compete in the national final. In January 2011, The Brow Horn Orchestra were chosen as Triple J Unearthed Feature Artists for the week and since then have had both their debut singles played on the national radio station and also won a WAMi for best music video being interviewed on Video Hits (Australia'a longest running music video show) before the show ended shortly after.
street performing duo turned semi professional two piece band, dubbed at this stage as simply, The Brow, consisting of Nicholas Owen on vocals, keyboards and melodica and Karri Harper Meredith on trombone and percussion. The duo performed largely jam based material and some early renditions of songs which evolved onto The Brow Horn Orchestra's touring repertoire. In 2008, the duo grew into a four piece band with emcee Alex Vaughan and guitarist Rhian Todhunter with the initial goal to enter a university band competition (National Campus Band Competition
) of which they made their way to the WA state finals. After the competing in the competition members Sky Eaton (trumpet, vocals), Angelique Ross (clarinet, tenor saxophone) and Lyndon Blue (violin, double bass, guitar, vocals) also joined the band and they went on to win the state final of the second time round a year later being sent to the Gold Coast, Queensland
to perform in the finals.
Over the summer period of 2009-2010 The Brow Horn Orchestra came into prominence on the local Perth, Western Australia
music scene with a busy gigging schedule playing notable gigs at RTRFM
's 'Seriously Sound System' summer dance festival in December 2009 along with other small local festival appearances including The 2010 Western Australian Circus Festival and a month long march residency at Leederville Hotel's Funk Club in March which has now becoming a regular spot to see the band. During this period, members Ben Lanzon (drums), Lauren Todhunter (vocals, alto saxophone, percussion) joined the band.
A demo Dreams Do Come & Go off the band's upcoming debut EP was played on Triple J ahead of their performance at the 2010 WAMi Awards Night. Rhian Todhunter left the band in July 2010 for personal reasons. In August 2010, the band won the prestigious Next Big Thing Competition to critical acclaim from the local street press voicing that the band were Perth's next big thing whether they took out the title or not. In October 2010, Jake Chaloner left the band to pursue other musical ventures.
Over the summer of 2010 - 2011 the band's prominence increased with a sold out debut single launch at Subiaco, Western Australia
's Llama Bar and successful performances at the annual camping music festival Southbound
an underage rock festival (Hyper) and a sell out New Years eve performance supporting Atlanta hip hop outfit Arrested Development.
Over the Summer of 2011, the band kept a busy schedule playing at other music festivals such as Nannup Music Festival
, Future Music Festival and supporting a variety of nationally and internationally touring acts. The band released their debut EP in September 2011 to a sell 800 capacity crowd with tracks off the record receiving airplay from national radio station Triple J, with single 'Every Single Day' on rotation. In November 2011, members Alex Vaughan and Lauren Todhunter called it a day to pursue solo careers and an events management company the pair had formed. Regular guest collaborator, Ben Fear joined the band fulltime ahead of their December east coast tour taking up duties on guitar and vocals.
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
/ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
/funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
/hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
/pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
band based in Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. The band came into prominence on the local scene in 2010 winning the industry nominated category Best Funk Act at the 2010 West Australian Music Industry Awards
West Australian Music Industry Awards
The Western Australian Music Industry Awards are annual awards presented to the local contemporary music industry, put on by the Western Australian Music Industry Association Inc...
and also Best Live Act and Best Hip-Hop Act at the 2010 Perth Dance Music Awards
Perth Dance Music Awards
The Perth Dance Music Awards highlights the year's major accomplishments in Electronic music by Western Australians.It is an annual event, with the first awards held in 1998.-2010 Awards:* Best House DJ - Paul Scott...
. The seven-piece also won the prestigious Next Big Thing band competition which has seen acts such as John Butler (musician)
John Butler (musician)
John Charles Wiltshire-Butler or John Charles Butler is an Australian musician, songwriter, record label owner and producer...
, Tame Impala
Tame Impala
Tame Impala are a psychedelic rock band from Perth, Australia. They are signed to Modular Records. The band came to prominence in 2010 with the release of their first debut album, Innerspeaker. Their name refers to the impala, a medium sized antelope...
and Snowman (band)
Snowman (band)
Snowman were a band originally from Perth, Western Australia. They relocated to London in 2008, and disbanded in 2011.-History:Snowman began playing together in various incarnations and under different names during their high school years. Joseph McKee and Andy Citawarman met when they were...
rise to stardom through the competition. In 2009 they won the Western Australian final of the National Campus Band Competition
National Campus Band Competition
The National Campus Band Competition is an annual Australian national band competition produced by the Australian Association of Campus Activities. To enter the competition, one band member must be enrolled at a participating university...
and then went to the Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
to compete in the national final. In January 2011, The Brow Horn Orchestra were chosen as Triple J Unearthed Feature Artists for the week and since then have had both their debut singles played on the national radio station and also won a WAMi for best music video being interviewed on Video Hits (Australia'a longest running music video show) before the show ended shortly after.
Biography
The first incarnation of The Brow Horn Orchestra took place in 2007 as a FremantleFremantle
Freemantle is a suburb of Southampton in England.Fremantle or Freemantle may also refer to:- Places :* Fremantle, the port city to the capital Perth, Western Australia...
street performing duo turned semi professional two piece band, dubbed at this stage as simply, The Brow, consisting of Nicholas Owen on vocals, keyboards and melodica and Karri Harper Meredith on trombone and percussion. The duo performed largely jam based material and some early renditions of songs which evolved onto The Brow Horn Orchestra's touring repertoire. In 2008, the duo grew into a four piece band with emcee Alex Vaughan and guitarist Rhian Todhunter with the initial goal to enter a university band competition (National Campus Band Competition
National Campus Band Competition
The National Campus Band Competition is an annual Australian national band competition produced by the Australian Association of Campus Activities. To enter the competition, one band member must be enrolled at a participating university...
) of which they made their way to the WA state finals. After the competing in the competition members Sky Eaton (trumpet, vocals), Angelique Ross (clarinet, tenor saxophone) and Lyndon Blue (violin, double bass, guitar, vocals) also joined the band and they went on to win the state final of the second time round a year later being sent to the Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
to perform in the finals.
Over the summer period of 2009-2010 The Brow Horn Orchestra came into prominence on the local Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
music scene with a busy gigging schedule playing notable gigs at RTRFM
RTRFM
RTRFM is a not-for-profit, community radio station based in Perth, Western Australia. It is self-funded, largely through listener subscription and fund-raising events, however it does carry some "advertising material" at a maximum of 5 mins per hour. It broadcasts 24 hours a day, on 92.1 in the...
's 'Seriously Sound System' summer dance festival in December 2009 along with other small local festival appearances including The 2010 Western Australian Circus Festival and a month long march residency at Leederville Hotel's Funk Club in March which has now becoming a regular spot to see the band. During this period, members Ben Lanzon (drums), Lauren Todhunter (vocals, alto saxophone, percussion) joined the band.
A demo Dreams Do Come & Go off the band's upcoming debut EP was played on Triple J ahead of their performance at the 2010 WAMi Awards Night. Rhian Todhunter left the band in July 2010 for personal reasons. In August 2010, the band won the prestigious Next Big Thing Competition to critical acclaim from the local street press voicing that the band were Perth's next big thing whether they took out the title or not. In October 2010, Jake Chaloner left the band to pursue other musical ventures.
Over the summer of 2010 - 2011 the band's prominence increased with a sold out debut single launch at Subiaco, Western Australia
Subiaco, Western Australia
Subiaco is an inner western suburb of Perth, Western Australia, situated to the north west of Kings Park. Its Local Government Area is the City of Subiaco.-History:Prior to European settlement the area was home to the Noongar Indigenous people....
's Llama Bar and successful performances at the annual camping music festival Southbound
Southbound (festival)
Southbound is an arts, camping and music festival. A variety of Australian and international artists perform at this event. The festival occurs annually, early January, at the Sir Stewart Bovell Park in Busselton, Western Australia.-History:...
an underage rock festival (Hyper) and a sell out New Years eve performance supporting Atlanta hip hop outfit Arrested Development.
Over the Summer of 2011, the band kept a busy schedule playing at other music festivals such as Nannup Music Festival
Nannup Music Festival
The Nannup Music Festival is a live performance music festival showcasing primarily folk music, but also other styles...
, Future Music Festival and supporting a variety of nationally and internationally touring acts. The band released their debut EP in September 2011 to a sell 800 capacity crowd with tracks off the record receiving airplay from national radio station Triple J, with single 'Every Single Day' on rotation. In November 2011, members Alex Vaughan and Lauren Todhunter called it a day to pursue solo careers and an events management company the pair had formed. Regular guest collaborator, Ben Fear joined the band fulltime ahead of their December east coast tour taking up duties on guitar and vocals.
Current lineup
- Nicholas Owen — vocals, keyboards, arrangements, production
- Karri Harper Meredith — trombone, synths, percussion
- Ben Lanzon — drums, electronic percussion
- Sky Eaton — trumpet, synths, vocals
- Angelique Ross — clarinet, tenor sax
- Lyndon Blue — violin, bass, synths, vocals
- Ben Fear — guitar, vocals
Former members
- Rhian Todhunter — bass, guitar
- Jake Chaloner — bass, guitar
- Alex Vaughan — vocals
- Lauren Todhunter — sax, vocals
Guest musicians
Other guest musicians live / featured on various tracks:- Minky Gardener (vocals)
- Kaprou Lea (alto sax)
- John Brown (drums)
- Shannon Booyens (formerly of Tijuana Cartel) (trumpet)
- Georgina O'Brian (percussion, vocals)
- Wafi Zainal (tuba)
- Donovan De Souza (vocals)
Discography
- "Can't Afford This Way of Life" - EP - September 2011
- "Goliath / Do You Want To Sing Forever?" Double A-Sided Single - December 2010
Compilations
- Ampfest Best & Pressed (2007) ("Opportunities [Demo]")
- Discover a New World of Music - WAM / Murdoch University (2010) ("Dreams Do Come & Go [Demo]")
- Hyperfest 2010 / 2011 Festival CD (2010) ("Goliath / Every Single Day / Can't Afford This Way Of Life")