The Heavyweights Brass Band
Fifteen years of brass, boldness, and bringing the bounce — New album out June 27, 2025
After 15 years of bringing the party wherever they play, The Heavyweights Brass Band are ready to make you dance, strut, and testify with their fifth full-length album, Knockout, dropping June 27, 2025. With a sound steeped in New Orleans brass traditions, Toronto’s reigning brass band champions fuse jazz, funk, and soul into a heady, horn-heavy celebration of everything that makes music joyful and alive.
Their lead single “Carnicero,” arrived April 25 and nods to their roots and their future. Written by sousaphone sensation Nolan Murphy, the track is a Latin-influenced shout-out to the band's co-founder Christopher Butcher, who now calls New Orleans home. Think street parades, steamy late-night clubs, and a trumpet line that makes your heart do backflips. This is the kind of song that makes you want to dance in traffic.
Follow-up single “Splacka,” out today, and you’ll know why they call it that as soon as the drums kick in. “It’s funk from the jump,” says trombonist RJ Satchithananthan, who composed the track. “The name ‘Splacka’ is literally the sound of the beat.” The track’s got that classic sitcom-style band intro energy — full of swagger, horn call-and-response, and a groove so deep you’ll need a passport.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQXAAe6aQ8o
And just when you think you’ve caught your breath, the album closer “Greater Good” (out June 27 with the album) brings it all back to the bayou. “It’s our love letter to New Orleans brass bands,” the group says, name-checking heroes like Rebirth, Dirty Dozen, and Hot 8. “This is who we are, and who we’ve always aspired to be.”
Knockout was recorded over two days at Taurus Studios, with the entire band playing together in one room. That energy — that sweat-on-the-walls, live-off-the-floor magic — is the soul of the album. With 11 songs and contributions from a new generation of jazz trailblazers like Kae Murphy (trumpet) and Nolan Murphy (tuba), the album is both a celebration and a passing of the torch. “The Toronto brass scene has grown so much,” the band says. “Including younger musicians who are pushing boundaries was vital for this project.”
Listen on Spotify here:
In their own words, “The Heavyweights Brass Band is a flag planted in the middle of the dancefloor. We hit hard with groove, energy, and originality. We’ve always believed in putting our personalities in the music, from gritty funk to bold soul to pure brass band joy. This record shows where we’ve been — and where we’re going.”
Formed in 2010, HWBB has carved out a unique place in Canadian music. From sweaty club gigs to festival stages, they've opened for The Roots, jammed with Trombone Shorty, and recorded with everyone from Giovanni Hidalgo to Joe Lastie of Preservation Hall. They've earned standing ovations from the Toronto Jazz Festival to hometown bars and built a catalogue of genre-bending originals and electrifying covers.
To celebrate the release of Knockout, the band will appear at the Toronto Jazz Festival on June 28, 2025 (details TBA). Expect two trumpets, a sousaphone, a drum kit, and enough brass swagger to power a second line through downtown traffic.
May 30, 2025 – Splacka Single Release Show
The Cameron House
408 Queen St. W, Toronto, ON M5V 2A7
10:00 PM – 2:00 AM
Pay What You Can
June 20, 2025 – Niagara Jazz Festival: Summer Mardi Gras
Oakes Garden Theatre
5825 River Rd, Niagara Falls, ON
June 28, 2025 – Album Release Show
Toronto Jazz Festival – Village Stage
Village of Yorkville Park
115 Cumberland St, Toronto, ON M5R 1A6
8:30 PM – 9:45 PM
Free Admission
July 2, 3 & 4, 2025 – Montreal Jazz Festival
6:00pm @ Le Cabaret Loto-Québec Stage of the Quartier Des Spectacles
Montreal, QC
Festival details at: montrealjazzfest.com
https://heavyweightsbrassband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/heavyweightsbb
