Upcoming: Bonerama @ Sullivan Hall Tonight

BONERAMA w/ Brother Joscephus & The Love Revival Revolution Orchestra

Friday June 19th

Bonerama 10:30pm Official Website Myspace Youtube When Bonerama struts onstage with its four-trombone frontline, you can guess it's not quite like any rock 'n' roll band you’ve seen. When they tear into some vintage New Orleans funk, there's no questioning from which city these guys hail. And when those ’bones start ripping into Hendrix and Led Zeppelin licks, all stylistic bets are off. Even in a city that doesn't play by the rules, New Orleans’ Bonerama is something different. They're not a traditional brass band, but they've got brass to spare-even with no trumpets or saxes in sight. They can evoke vintage funk, classic rock and free improvisation in the same set; maybe even the same song. Bonerama has been repeatedly recognized by Rolling Stone, hailed as “the ultimate in brass balls” (2005) and praised for their "…crushing ensemble riffing, human-feedback shrieks and wah-wah growls" (2007). Bonerama carries the brass-band concept to places unknown; what other brass band could snag an honor for "Best Rock Band" (Big Easy Awards 2007)? As cofounder Mark Mullins puts it, "We thought we could expand what a New Orleans brass band could do. Bands like Dirty Dozen started the ’anything goes' concept, bringing in the guitars and the drumkit and using the sousaphone like a bass guitar. We thought we could push things a little further." Brother Joscephus & The Love Revival Revolution Orchestra 8:30pm Brother Joscephus offers the best gospel-style music without the bothersome "subservience to Jesus" part. Throw in a liberal amount of Ray Charles/Al Green/Otis Redding soul and some good ol' roots rock and you've got a perfect stew simmered to porchswing perfection.

Bonerama brings Big Easy brass to Big Apple this Friday (from AM NY)

If it weren’t for the movie “Hope Floats,” the New Orleans brass band Bonerama might never have existed.

Eleven years ago, trombonists Mark Mullins and Craig Klein were members of Harry Connick Jr.’s band. But when the New Orleans jazz crooner began to star in TV shows and films — including the aforementioned 1998 romance with Sandra Bullock — Mullins and Klein found themselves with a lot of spare time.

So the longtime friends formed a trombone-centric funk and rock group, which plays Friday night at Sullivan Hall in Greenwich Village.

Today, Bonerama, which includes three front-line trombonists, is not only one of the most popular brass bands in New Orleans, it is also usually greeted with packed houses in New York, where the band recorded a 2004 live album.

“There’s a New Orleans to New York connection, I don’t know exactly what it is, especially with music,” Mullins said. “There’s a lot of music fans up there that are really tune in with what’s going on with New Orleans, and they really support it.”

Meanwhile, Bonerama seeks to break the stereotype that New Orleans trombonists should be playing jazz. Aside from their lively originals and New Orleans standards, the band has been known to perform covers such as Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and Led Zeppelin’s “Ocean.”

“I just think it’s an evolution of brass music,” Mullins said. “I would love to take credit for it, but in reality, we’re just playing music we love.”

To help bolster its rock sound, the band has altered its lineup in recent months, adding an organ player and replacing its sousaphonist with a bassist.

“There’s definitely still a brass element, but it’s got a stronger foot in the rock stuff,” Mullins said. “We can lean in that area and dig in that area more than we ever have before.”