No BS! Brass was just another band name to me until I saw them live for the first time. Standing (more like dancing wildly) close to the stage at their Friday Cheers performance of summer 2013, I finally understood what all the fuss was about. This dynamic group of musicians know how to please a crowd whether it’s with one of their originals or their cover of “Take On Me.” Since 2006, No BS! Brass has been making a name for themselves not only in Richmond, but up and down the coast. They’ll be at Lockn’ Music Festival this weekend and I had the chance to talk to Reggie Pace beforehand about his bands and Jellowstone Records.
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What’s your music background at VCU?
I started off a Jazz Studies major and kind of crossed over to Music Education. Trombone, and then I minored in percussion. That’s the thing I did in school. I grew up singing in church, singing in choir in high school and middle school, too, rapping with my friends.
Do you still try your hand at rapping?
Oh yeah! We’ve got brand new projects. And that’s just the beginning.
In your time at VCU, what led up to the creation of No BS! Brass?
It was why I came to VCU, which was because it was in a city as opposed to a campus that’s just alone, like how Blacksburg is Virginia Tech? So, because it’s in a city I was able to meet other musicians and then I made it outside of that with some of my college friends but also a big chunk of dudes I just met on the scene. And then a lot of people, when I met them out in clubs, I didn’t know they were VCU related and some of them are now. Mad VCU people are in No BS now. Three professors (in the music school): Taylor Barnett, Bryan Hooten and Marcus Tenney.
What do you have planned in the near future for No BS! Brass?
We’ll be doing a lot more touring starting in the fall. We’ll start working on a new record probably around winter or so, and that will be on Jellowstone. Just this and that, just shows, tons of shows. That’s what’s up for No BS right now.
Photo credit: nobsbrass.com
What draws the band to festivals?
We’ve played a ton of festivals. That’s our main thing in the summertime. We played two or three festivals in Canada this year…New York. We played an awesome show at a festival in New York. It was us, Lake Street Dive and Sharon Jones and that was dope. We’ve played with Trombone Shorty and Phantogram, a ton of bands. Summer festivals are what we do. That’s where the music lovers go. You can reach a lot of different types of people. We’ve played country music festivals, we’ve played metal festivals, Gainesville…we played a festival recently in Birmingham. All different types of people, that’s the goal. You get to do your thing, everyone came to see music. That is the best part. And I love traveling. I love seeing the world.
What do you have going on outside of music?
It’s just all music right now. I’m 100% musician. It’s all idea. I don’t have to teach lessons or work a side job or anything like that. The label – I guess that’s my main thing that I do outside of music. Jellowstone Records. Brand new. Independent. I spend a lot of my time doing that, working on art, emailing and a bunch of managerial work.
What gave you the idea for Jellowstone?
I have a pretty close-knit friend circle of musicians and we’ve all been making music on our own and spending our own money this entire time for the last eight or nine years. So my idea was to consolidate that group of people that I hang out with that are making stuff all the time, and so we have a place that we can put it all together and I pitched the idea to Rope A Dope Records, which is our parent company, and they liked that idea. We have distribution through them. So now, all the records that we make, since we’ve always been making them, have a place where they can get out.
What’s in the future for Jellowstone?
Jellowstone is only six months old. So it’s me and DJ Harrison, his name is Devonne Harris, he’s our Madlib, he’s prolific. We have Pace Cadets which is a hip-hop project, and that will be out next. And then Butcher Brown has a record coming out, Trio of Justice has a record coming out, we have beat tapes, jazz records, we have one Americana-folk record we’re working on, a vintage R&B record that’s almost done. I’m talking next month there will be something new. We’re going to keep hitting them hard, over and over again. We’ll make some tapes, do some cool stuff, hopefully we’ll do some vinyl. We’ll be throwing mad shows. We’ll be doing Jellowstone nights every other Wednesday at Balliceaux starting September 17. That will be Arizal with Ohbliv. We’ll be throwing DJ nights, like “Jellowstone presents.”
So you have DJs under the label also?
Oh yeah. DJ Harrison, DJ Count Dakkula, we’ll be spinning records. September 21 we’re going to throw a thing that I want to call “b.y.o.v.” which is a vinyl potluck in which we’ll be spinning records, and if you have a record that you want to hear, you have to bring it. We’re doing all kinds of stuff like that. We’re going to up in everyone’s ear holes, all day.
What other bands are you in?
The brass band is my main gig. I have another group called Pace Cadets which we just started, and Butcher Brown. I can just name them – Arizal, that’s a trio I play in and there’s another trio called Trio of Justice. That’s pretty much it right now.
And you’ve toured with Bon Iver?
Yeah, that’s my main touring gig. We played a show together in NC and we hung out at a party and made friends and I din’t know he was big shit when I met him. I live in the indie/rock genre but it’s not the main thing I pay attention to on a regular basis. I knew his music, I just didn’t know that was the guy. He was spinning records, we just made friends. And then he called me up on my way to work one day and that’s that. I got drafted.
Do you have a favorite venue in Richmond?
I love playing Balliceaux, love playing the Broadberry, like the Camel, Gallery 5 is a good place to catch a rock show, or Empire depending on what kind of vibe you’re feeling. They’re all great for different reasons. The Broadberry is a big place, Balliceaux’s good because you can be creative in there because the people that go in there know something cool is going to happen. You can kind of do whatever you want there. That’s why I love it there. I love playing at art galleries. We’ll probably do something at ADA Gallery soon.
What got you in the transition from, “I play music and I have a band here,” to “I want to do something with this and play all over, have an album and take it to the next level”?
I just “do.” We just make stuff, me and my friends. We were making it for no one. We were playing in mad bands no one ever gave a shit about because it’s just what we do. I just wanted to make it available for people. It used to be a lot harder to do that. The world pre-internet and post-internet are two different universes, in which now, if you’ve got something to say, you can say it for better or for worse – anybody can do that. But, mostly for better. If you make music, you can send it to people. And with the internet, it’s pretty much ‘put up or shut up’ for artists. If you think what you do is so much better than what everyone is listening to, or so much cooler than what people think is cool, prove it. Put it up there and let it be judged. You can sell your wares. You don’t have to get rich, you can just make a living like anybody else just doing that on the blue collar tip, which is what I say about Jellowstone. It’s the blue collar side of artistry. We go to work every day. And that’s worth something since there’s this lack of original ideas. There’s tons of celebrities and very little ideas, in which everyone’s songs sound the same or it’s a version of an older song. Everything’s got a trap beat now, people from L.A. rapping with fake Atlanta accents, everyone pretending to be from the south. We do other stuff. We all were doing other stuff so we just want to make it a bit more visible. And that’s the DIY spirit. The punk rock spirit. Just do it. If you think it’s cool, do it.
Anything else?
DJ Harrison’s Stashboxxx is available on iTunes, Bandcamp and we have hard copies of it. Butcher Brown and Pace Cadets. That’s the next thing.
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Photo credit: Will Nelson
‘Like’ Jellowstone Records on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @JellowstoneRVA
Check out the No BS! Brass website
‘Like’ No BS! Brass on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @NoBSBrass