Funkrust Brass Band Photo credit: Paula Hebert
The Big Takeover brings you the world music video premiere for “Ignition” by indie disco-punk brass band, Funkrust Brass Band. The video was shot, directed and edited by Iain Marcks and filmed on location in Pennington, NJ. “Ignition” is the final track on their recently released album Make a Little Spark, whose title is a quote from the lyrics of the song.
“‘Ignition’ is a song about claiming joy and creating joy even when—especially when—things are at their darkest. Joy is incendiary, it’s defiant, and it’s essential to our survival,” said lyricist/vocalist Ellia Bisker.
For Funkrust, brass band is a form, not a genre. The ensemble of 20+ musicians—which features megaphone vocals, a percussion section, and full complement of trumpets, trombones, tubas and saxophones—draws its sound from the worlds of post-punk, disco, EDM, metal, experimental music, Balkan brass, and funk, counting among its influences Gang of Four, David Bowie, Prince, Talking Heads, Undertow Brass Band, and !!!. All of the band’s songs are originals by the songwriting team and real life couple of composer Phil Andrews and lyricist/vocalist Ellia Bisker (also of the goth-folk duo Charming Disaster).
Funkrust Brass Band’s latest album, Make a Little Spark, was released in October 2024 in streaming, CD, and cassette formats. The album marks the band’s tenth anniversary and is their third release. For Make a Little Spark, the band crammed all 20 horn and percussion players into The Creamery, a loft studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn where artists including Sleigh Bells, Antibalas, and Innov Gnawa have laid down tracks. All of the horns and percussion were tracked live, with only vocals overdubbed.
Funkrust Brass Band has performed at the McKittrick Hotel (home of Sleep No More), the New York Botanical Garden, the EDM festival Mysteryland in Woodstock, NY, O+ Festival in Kingston, NY, Joe’s Pub in NYC, Brooklyn Bowl in NYC, and the HONK brass band festivals in NYC, Seattle, Boston, Providence, RI, and Austin, TX.
Funkrust Brass Band website
Funkrust Brass Band on Bandcamp
Funkrust Brass Band on Instagram
Funkrust Brass Band on Youtube
