Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band / About This Artist
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Artist Details and Stats:
Hometown: Somerville, MA
Label: unsigned
Management: The Rev. Handsome Chuck
Website: www.ensmb.com
Genre: Other
- 7,294
Total Fans - 6,465
Profile Views - 277
Recent Plays - 100,269
Widget Hits
Biography:
Formed from the most talented deadbeats and drifters that could be rounded up, this group of raucous and rambunctious musicians will honk, wail, blow, beat, bounce, scream and serenade their way into your hearts. Playing anything that won’t break from vigiourous use, their instrumentation is a unique blend of brass, winds, violin, accordion and an eccelctic rhtyhm section.
Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band combines the rich musical history of the circus and the vagabond peoples of Europe with the raw energy of avant-garde jazz and the irreverence and fun of today's Vaudeville for a sound that is somehow familiar yet like no other. Label them anyway you like! Call them avant world fusion, call them experiemental big band, call them gypsy steamfunk, call them circus noise! They may be tough to sum up, but it’s easy to tell you they’ll show you a good time!
ENSMB has performed at events ranging from HONK! Fest (both in Somerville MA and Seattle WA) to the Salem Jazz & Soul Festival and the Steampunk World’s Fair. They often can be found collaborating with the Boston Circus Guild, as well as frequently sharing bills with a tight nit group of bands from the robust Boston music scene. 2011 will see the band performing at venues all across the Boston area, including Johnny D’s, Middle East Downstairs, Church, Lizard Lounge and Club Passim, traveling to New York City and Austin, TX, as well as performing at Steampunk events all over the Northeast.
Press:
“Stylistically Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band present an amalgam of old-world styles mixed with a contemporary sensibility, up-beat horns are pared with a funkyness and driving rhythm that encourages dancing, yet the end result is distincly earthy and real.”
Jordan Bodewell - Sepiachord
“Few bands can embody Steampunk’s post-modernist mix of eclectic, rip-roaring energy as the ladies and gentlemen that make up Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band.”
Beyond Victoriana
"It's like a lively, slightly raucous blend of Eastern European vagabond music mixed with trash percussion and avant-garde dissonance that effectively sets the tone of the show and keeps it rocking."
--The Boston Globe
“There was no mistaking the genuine energy they generated and people literally danced themselves into a frenzy.”
The ID10T Files
“There's definitely lots and lots of energy in this group of people...It's almost cult-like. They're a cult of performers, and the whole place turned into a place from a different planet when they were here...and you just don't know what they're going to do.”
Michael Moran, The Amazing Firehouse
“One of the coolest moments I have ever experienced...Talk about talent! We couldn't tear ourselves away from their performance.”
Kelly Rowles - Altern8.com
“Zwischen Free Jazz, Zirkusmusik und Wahnsinn pendelt die Musik von Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band”
Wasser-Prawda.de
“With so many talented performers performing feats of grace and skill you
easily get lost in a storm of circus insanity!”
Walter Sickert - The Army of Broken Toys
“It’s an absolute visual and audio menagerie. It delights all the senses.”
Paulo Adams - Auctioneer
“I went to HONK! for the first time last year and was captivated not only by the eclectic collection of musicians that take residence in Somerville for the weekend but by the spirit of irreverence and celebration they bring to the city.”
Georgy Cohen - Safe Digression
“Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band is perhaps the most wonderful marching band in the Northeast”
Forget Gutenburg
“I love how active we are in the arts in Somerville. We have these cool arts things, but Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band fills a need you didn’t know was there until they came along.”
Rachel Mello - Somervile Open Studios
“ENSMB's saxophonic sound ranges from vaudeville to klezmer, as bella ciao crashes into the cartoon network...they provide a marvelous spectacle that quickly lures the audience to their feet and gets 'em dancing and twirling and thinking they can do anything they want.”
Scratch, Boston Babydolls
“The show last night was not just a booty-shaking, raucous good time, it had moments of absolute wonder, belly-shaking laughter, and a conspiratorial sense of collusion between musicians, performers, assistants, and audience...their world is made of gritty, raw, pure joy."”
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