The Soul Rebels (also Soul Rebels Brass Band, Soul Rebels or The Rebels) are an eight-piece New Orleans based brass ensemble that incorporate elements of soul, jazz, funk, hip-hop, rock and pop music within a contemporary brass band framework.
Starting out as a local New Orleans favorite, The Soul Rebels have evolved into collaborating live with major artists in all worlds of music including Katy Perry, Nas, Metallica, Green Day, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Rakim, Marilyn Manson, Slick Rick, Joey Badass, Trombone Shorty, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, Robert Glasper, GZA, Raekwon, Black Thought of The Roots, Prodigy (rapper), Currensy, Mobb Deep, Big Freedia, The String Cheese Incident, Melle Mel, Styles P of The Lox, Umphrey's McGee, Pete Rock, Maceo Parker, Galactic, Suzanne Vega, David A. Stewart of the Eurythmics, Eric Krasno, Lettuce (band), Gov't Mule, Branford Marsalis, Smif-n-Wessun, Buckshot (rapper), Roy Hargrove, John Medeski and many others, as well as being billed on concerts with Lauryn Hill, Kanye West, Bruno Mars, Snoop Dogg, Alabama Shakes, Estelle, Cee Lo Green, The Allman Brothers Band, Arcade Fire, Disclosure, Ice Cube, George Clinton, John Mayer, Jack White and others.
The band has built its career around an eclectic live show that harnesses the power of horns and percussion in a funky party-like atmosphere. The Soul Rebels have performed on CBS, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, HBO, TBS, NBC, NPR, ESPN, BBC Two, The CW and in major movies, and on national and international stages. The band routinely plays over 250 shows a year. They have been described by the Village Voice as "the missing link between Public Enemy and Louis Armstrong. "
The Soul Rebels consist of percussionists and founding members Lumar LeBlanc and Derrick Moss, trumpet players Julian Gosin and Marcus Hubbard, trombonists Corey Peyton and Paul Robertson, saxophonist Erion Williams, and sousaphonist Manuel Perkins Jr.
Early history
The band first began when percussionists Derrick Moss and Lumar LeBlanc met as members of Harold Dejan's Young Olympia Brass Band and decided they wanted to play the music they were hearing on pop radio, but within the context and with respect to the long tradition of the New Orleans brass bands and marching bands they had grown up playing in. The Soul Rebels played around New Orleans without a proper band name until opening up for Cyril Neville at the legendary New Orleans venue Tipitina's, where Cyril Neville dubbed them "Soul Rebels." The Soul Rebels built up their following in hometown New Orleans as the house band every Thursday night at local favorite bar Le Bon Temps Roule, a residency they still continue currently when the band isn't on tour. The band is still considered a main drawing point for people to come experience the venue.
Since 2009, The Soul Rebels have been managed by music industry heavyweight Ted Kurland, proprietor of the prestigious booking and management agency Ted Kurland Associates, Adam Shipley, president of Hep Cat Entertainment and Alex Kurland of the Blue Note Entertainment Group.
Collaborations and milestones
When Green Day performed at the New Orleans Arena in 2009, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong invited The Soul Rebels to perform with them. In December 2011 in San Francisco at a post-Metallica anniversary after party (The Soul Rebels had performed with Metallica that evening) at the Boom Boom Room, The Soul Rebels jammed once again with Green Day's lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong.
In December 2011, The Soul Rebels appeared and performed "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" on the BBC Two's Later with Jools Holland on the same episode as Metallica and Lou Reed. Metallica was so impressed with the Soul Rebels that they invited them to open and share the stage for all four of their 30th anniversary-week concerts at The Fillmore in San Francisco. Metallica remain supporters of The Soul Rebels and featured them at both nights of their first Metallica Orion Music + More Festival in June 2012. The Soul Rebels are the only band to have played both nights.
On March 10, 2012, The Soul Rebels shared the stage with Kanye West, Snoop Dogg and Seal at Brad Pitt's Night to Make It Right Foundation New Orleans after-party, hosted by comedian Aziz Ansari. The charity event, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, raised money to build homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina.