Fun fact: According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, we here in The Great White North have about 1000 organized zoos housing an estimated one billion wild animals. Well, the Canuck Capital is about to get a whole lot wilder as, from the subways of New York, return the boisterous buskers Too Many Zooz!
Alrighty, Coles Notes version: close your eyes and picture it? You and your busking band buds are playing some of the busiest, most crowded subway stations in the world. It’s NYC, and the rush of daily commuters, tourists and maybe, if grace smiles upon thee, the Naked Cowboy, hustle on by. You’re providing the soundtrack for whatever coins are lobbed in your case. Cut to, 3 years later and you’re playing backup for Beyoncé at the Country Music Association Awards! Now after asking yourself what the heck was Beyoncé doing at the CMAs, open your eyes.
Sorry, you’re still at your desk awaiting the next progress report. That wasn’t your story. It’s the unbelievable success story of Leo Pellegrino and his partners in rhyme, Matt “Doe” Muirhead and David “King of Sludge” Parks. When that trio Voltron clicks together you get Too Many Zooz.
“I love performing in the streets and subways of New York,” he says. “I honestly feel way less pressure than at a show. In a ticketed show everyone came there to see you – so I feel pressure to fulfill their expectations. The Subways of New York are filled with random people that have no expectations.”
It wouldn’t take long, however, until those subway dates turned into club dates. A random video shot of one of their Union Square station performances went viral on YoutTube. In it, Pellegrino and his vibrant hair belt out a sax solo you could edit over any Marvel movie mega-battle. Yup, it’s that damn fast and that damn good. The vid currently has 7,636,001 views and close to 70k wowed like clicks. Within a few months of its March 2014 posting, the clip and subsequent steamroller of attention, the group would be booked for a tour. The same month that started they dropped their EP, F Note.
Our Art is very powerful, I’m sure we would have been discovered a different way if it were not for the internet,” Pellegrino says and he’s certainly got the chops to back up the claim that they wouldn’t a one-note (alrighty, many notes) flash in the pan. After all, both he and Muirhead while attending classes at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music.
“It was most likely only a matter of time before a big artist found us and took us on the road or collaborated with us. We performed hundreds of times in Union Square, only a few videos became viral.”
Pellegrino admits he’s not really sure why the three of them gelled so well falling back on the idea that perhaps they were so unlikely to fit into place that they just had to click somehow and there, in the area between the pieces, came their brand of awesome sauce. That, sauce, by the way, is called Brass House, a term they coined to describe their unique sound.
“Brass house is a music created by us and the city of New York. We wrote our songs based off what the people like,” explains Pellegrino. “The style that we have is the energy of a DJ combined with conversational improv of a jazz trio.”
And, Holy Schnikes, what energy! Seriously, pause your reading and check out some of the clips. These guys rip up every joint they tornado touch down on. It’s like you stuck the wildest of improve jazz inside a blender with all the pulsing vibes of the Electronic Daisy Carnival and then hit mix. Pellegrino, who’s become known just as much for his frenetic moves as his playing, does say these amped up performances can take their toll.
“I honestly go through a lot of pain during the shows mostly in my back. It really important for me to excessive, go the chiropractor, and keep partying at a minimum.”
That said, he has four words for those attending their sold out performance tonight at The 27 Club:
“Bring your dancing shoes!”
