The Brute Chorus | en

The Brute Chorus on Twitter
The Brute Chorus on Facebook
The Brute Chorus on Soundcloud

The Brute Chorus have been combining garage, blues and folk music with a scattering of Biblical stories, nursery rhymes and fairy tales since 2008. Their enormously accessible sound has managed to escape any generalised genre pigeon-holing, instead they’ve been carving out their own genuine, word-of-mouth buzz from their exciting live shows.

They began taking it to the people with a monthly residency at Camden’s infamous Hawley Arms pub. The band’s first releases, charming offerings of psyched-out garage-folk (Chateau/The Cuckoo & The Stolen Heart featuring a duet with Chew Lips front woman Tigs) were put out on the Hawley Arms backed Bumpman Records and received widespread acclaim from Steve Lamacq, Zane Lowe, NME, The Fly amongst others.

The scuzzy blues-folk quartet took their splendidly raucous live shows on the road with a host of festival appearances including Glastonbury (BBC Introducing stage), Camden Crawl, Great Escape, Secret Garden Party, Belladrum, Standon & Kendal Calling. As well as touring with the likes of Vincent Vincent & The Villains, Martha Wainwright, Rumble Strips, Ida Maria and even a trip to the seaside with Peggy Sue as well as numerous headline UK and European shows.

This led to the recording of the Brute Chorus' debut album. Made in one heart-stopping take in front of 300 of their most loyal fans at The Roundhouse’s FreeDM studios. They begged, borrowed and stole the equipment they needed and then with shaky hands, sweaty brows and a quick swig of JD they were all set to record… They enlisted producers Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Gogol Bordello and Son’s and Daughters) and the Mercury nominated Choque Hosein (Black Star Liner, Hood, Lord Auch) and holed up for 5 weeks in their rehearsal residency above a Hackney pub. They practiced solidly, eight hours a day, seven days a week for a month to ensure the recording would be a success.

Their eponymous debut came out packaged in a attractive and collectable wooden sleeve hand-made by the band. It received a host of 5★ reviews from Clash, Artrocker, BBC Drowned in Sound and the band were featured in a Channel 4 screened JD set.

The Brute Chorus quietly slipped back under the radar just before Christmas, reducing their usually frenetic gigging schedule to a couple of secret shows in tiny locations with the likes of Good Shoes. Then signed to East London indie lable Tape, they spent a snowy January recording their second album in a tiny village hall in the depths of the Lake District the band broke cover, with a host of shows and tours to play across France, Germany (with reformed cult alt rockers The Woodentops), England and Scotland followed by a round of boutique festivals and an appearance at the British Grand Prix, ahead of the new album's release in that September. Die Welt gave their show in Hamburg another 5★ describing their sound as Fuck-Blues!

During World Cup 2010 The Brutes soundtracked Addidas' new boot campaign by faithfully recreating Ennio Morricone's The Man With The Harmonica under the pseudonym The Bottomless Pit Orchestra for an ad featuring Zinadine Zidane and Lionel Messi.

The second album ‘How The Caged Bird Sings’ came out to rave reviews in the press and online; Clash, Artrocker and Bizzarre all called it a ‘Must Have!’. It is packaged in an unusual 7" format folded into a poster designed by famed tattooist Mo Coppoletta of The Family Business. The singles from the album received extensive airplay culminating in January 2011 as Artists in Residence on John Kennedy's XFM show and a live session on Marc Riley's show on BBC6. The videos for Heaven and Birdman were created by New York based director David Fishel (The Drums, Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip) and got heavy rotation on websites in Europe and America as well as being aired on the new MTV Iggy.

Having toured England and France again through early 2011 the Brutes have been sequestered over the summer with new drummer Mark Austin (formerly of Camden bands Captain Black and The Border Surrender) writing new material. .