JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound

A band that has been described as <a href="spotify:artist:60df5JBRRPcnSpsIMxxwQm">Otis Redding</a> fronting <a href="spotify:artist:4BFMTELQyWJU1SwqcXMBm3">the Stooges</a>, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound emerged from Chicago in 2007, generating an exciting and explosive garage, funk, and soul sound. Consisting of guitarist Billy Bungeroth, drummer Kevin Marks, and bassist Ben Taylor, a horn section called the Lowdown Horns (Chris Neal and Andrew Zelm), and the charismatic frontman <a href="spotify:artist:00uXAJ3EPYjCCCfF78X02U">JC Brooks</a>, who has a background in theater and acting as well as music, the band built quite a fan following with its ferocious and electric stage shows. <a href="spotify:artist:00uXAJ3EPYjCCCfF78X02U">Brooks</a> is a dynamic performer, evoking memories of <a href="spotify:artist:60df5JBRRPcnSpsIMxxwQm">Redding</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7GaxyUddsPok8BuhxN6OUW">James Brown</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6hnWRPzGGKiapVX1UCdEAC">Sam Cooke</a>, and other soul greats, while the band sounds like, well, a sharp-dressed punk band with horns. The group self-released Beat of Our Own Drum in 2009, following it two years later with Want More on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bloodshot+Records%22">Bloodshot Records</a>. In the late spring of 2013, the band released the full-length Howl. The set was the first to chart, landing well inside the R&B Albums Top 100.

Howl was the band's final album for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bloodshot%22">Bloodshot</a>. After intense global touring, they did some intense self-scrutiny. Collectively, they decided to drop the "Uptown Sound" from their name, and expand into a sextet. They renamed themselves the JC Brooks Band. The unit signed to the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22WEA%22">WEA</a>-distributed <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rock+Ridge+Music%22">Rock Ridge Music</a> label. This new incarnation entered the studio, spending 18 months writing and recording new material with producers Josh Richter, Isaiah Sharkey, and Steve Gillis. According to <a href="spotify:artist:00uXAJ3EPYjCCCfF78X02U">Brooks</a>, the completed Neon Jungle was an attempt at an album-length depiction of "one crazy, incredible night out" and released in the spring of 2017. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi