"High-energy progressive brass"
The Guardian
Perhaps Contraption is a multi-award winning, progressive brass band from London, founded by Christo Squier in 2004. Since 2011 it has been a brass led ensemble.
Part choir, part chamber orchestra, part avant rock troupe, they create a truly unique musical experience; melding elements of jazz, avant rock, art pop and post-minimalism.
Their intense, exuberant shows won the Haizetara International Street Music competition (Spain) in 2014 and 2015, the judge’s prize at Cirque et Fanfare Festival (France) and Help Musicians Emerging Excellence Award in 2013.
They have performed at places as diverse as Glastonbury Festival, The EFG London Jazz Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Bestival, Sudtirol Jazz Festival (Italy) London Roundhouse, The Royal Academy of Arts, Wilderness, Southbank Centre,
Cross Linx (The Netherlands) Latitude, Artisti in Piazza (Italy), Buskers Bern (Switzerland), numerous Honk! Festivas (USA) and touring in Europe in support of Amanda Palmer.
You can listen to the entire back catalog here.
| Founded | Instrumentation | Supported by |
| 2011 | Drums, Sousaphone, Bass Trombone, Trombone, Tenor Sax, Soprano Sax, Guitar, Flute, Glockenspiel, Voice | Help Musicians, Britten Pears Arts, Les Enfants Terribles, Without Walls |
PRESS
“Completely extraordinary”
- Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music
“Experimental brass band madness...likely to be seen swaggering and subverting their way through the cream of Europe’s festivals”
- Max Reinhardt, BBC Radio 3
“A beguiling, euphoric blast of energy.”
The Scotsman
“Both baffling and endearing. Perhaps Contraption are intriguing and capable of creating music of such original intensity”
Prog Magazine
“Perhaps Contraption have the rare joy of being unbelievably talented, but also collaboratively telepathic. You feel at once as though you’re watching something meticulously crafted and beautifully chaotic”
Musical Theatre Review
“The band has a strict musical discipline and untrammelled punky energy, somewhere between the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and British ska band Madness”
LondonJazzNews.com
“Perhaps Contraption are a truly innovative, beguiling and quite frankly sometimes bewildering DIY band”
Loud Horizon
PERSONNEL
Catherine Ring - Glockenspiel, Percussion, Voice
Charly Jolly - Tenor Saxophone, Voice
Christo Squier - Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Piccolo, Guitar, Voice
Jinny Hinge - Soprano Saxophone, Voice
Iain Mcdonald - Sousaphone, Voice
Mickey Bones - Trombone, Voice
Letty Stott - French Horn, Voice
Yusuf Narcin - Bass Trombone, Voice
Riccardo Castellani - Drums
Frisk Dadler - Drums
