Undertow Brass Band (Providence, RI, USA) plays loud, tight dance music. Capable of playing without amplification, they can make noise anywhere, offering mobile moments of intense revelry in a wide variety of indoor and outdoor settings.

Their music includes covers and originals, taking inspiration from genres ranging from Balkan, New Orleans, and other global brass traditions, as well as electronic dance music, classical, and pop.

Originally know as What Cheer? Brigade, the band emerged from the Providence underground music scene in 2005, inspired by the unlikely overlap between the intensity of punk rock and brass. From these origins, the band developed its original sound, with one foot in Balkan tradition, the other in the American punk scene.

Undertow is as likely to appear at community benefits as at all-night parties, playing bars, clubs, streets, libraries, cemeteries, weddings, bus stops, and playgrounds. The band has played with Blondie, Dan Deacon, Man Man, Japanther, Dengue Fever, Okkervil River, Lightning Bolt, Ninjasonik, Mika Miko, Wolf Parade, Matt and Kim, Slavic Soul Party, Javelin, Sage Francis, and Chain and the Gang, and has appeared at Lollapalooza, The Newport Folk Festival, Aarhus Festuge (Denmark), Sziget (Hungary), and Guca (Serbia), as well as multiple festivals in France, Spain, and Basque Country.

photo credit: Christopher Sprowls