Sgt Dunbar and the Hobo Banned

Sgt Dunbar’s Hobo Banned may be a collective form Albany, NY but their sound is more akin to the strange bouillabaisse that’s been brewing in the New Orleans Bywater neighborhood of late: 2 parts continental gypsy, 1 part Balkan folk, a pinch of Swordfishtrombones, with a healthy dash of On Avery Island.

Over the past couple of months I’ve been spinning “Everything Is, Pt. III”, on the radio show, with repeated inquiries as to its origin. Here are the deets: it’s off the group’s most recent release, the EP A March Through Charles Mingus’ Garbage Pile. Alright, carry on.









http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2009/10/17/sgt-dunbar-everything-is-pt-iii/comment-page-1/#comment-908434 - Aquarium Drunkard, Published on Saturday, October 17th, 2009

By TOM KEYSER, Staff writer
First published in print: Sunday, February 21, 2010

Capital Region bands find hope in collectives as the recording industry changes

When Sgt Dunbar & the Hobo Banned, the Albany folk-rock group, received an invitation to play the prestigious South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival last year in Austin, Texas, it came via the Internet. A national record company had no hand in securing the invitation, booking the engagement or getting the band to the show.

Alex Muro, the manager of Sgt Dunbar, had posted a comment on an online music forum. The comment contained a link to the band's Web site. A representative from SXSW noticed the comment, clicked on the link, listened for free to the band's music and, duly impressed, sent Muro an e-mail inviting the band to play.

That's how things happen in the music business these days....

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=903207#ixzz0hGLb5nKn - Albany Times Union

Posted on Feb 21st 2010 1:20PM by Laurie Kamens

Featured on NPR' 'All Things Considered' as one of three artists to watch at SXSW, Albany, NY jazz-folk collective Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned are returning to Austin this year as festival veterans. The unsigned eight-member band currently has one EP and two full-length albums in their arsenal, plus plenty of new material to preview at SXSW next month. Spinner recently spoke to frontman Alex Muro about serendipitous meetings with hobos, Dungeons and Dragons and the band's eclectic sound. ...

http://www.spinner.com/2010/02/21/sxsw-2010-sgt-dunbar-and-the-hobo-banned/ - Laurie Kamens

Volume 33 - Number 09 -
March 4, 2010

Best Local Indie-Rock Band

1. Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned

2. (tie) Phantogram, Railbird

http://www.metroland.net/guides/2010_readers_picks/arts.html - Metroland

March 17, 2009 - Four full days, 1,800 bands — it's time again for the annual South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. There will be live music around the clock in bars, restaurants, churches and even beauty shops. For many bands, it could be their chance to break out.

In an interview with Michele Norris, All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen says he prepared for SXSW by listening to 1,083 songs — well, at least parts of them. Out of the 100 artists that caught his ear, he plans to take in the wild pop songs of Michachu and The Shapes, the horn-packed Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned and Blind Pilot, who performs as part of NPR Music's SXSW Day Party on Thursday.

Link to actual Radio Show : http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102003142 - All Things Considered - NPR

By Jim DeRogatison March 20, 2009 1:31 AM
.... Wandering aimlessly from one unappealing din to another, I finally ducked in to an ugly club called Esther's Follies, and there I caught the second half of a set by Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned, an eight-piece group from Albany, N.Y. with songs such as "A March Through Charles Mingus' Garbage Pile," a high school orchestra's worth of instruments including tuba, French horn, trumpet and accordion and a gleeful, group-vocal approach that brought to mind a Salvation Army band playing in a junkyard while tripping on acid.

The group might have been annoying if its songs weren't so strong and its hippie/Boho attitude wasn't so sincere: The show ended with all of the musicians leaving the stage, sitting cross-legged on the floor and performing one final song with just vocals, acoustic guitar and singing saw from the midst of the audience. - Blog from the Chicago Sun Times

can't get enough OF MUSIC I LOVE

5.07.2009

I like the way the Hobos do things! Sgt Dunbar and the Hobo Banned New EP A March Though Charles Mingus' Garbage Pile is an invigorating big band splash of energy that is muscular and celebratory. The remnants of folk styling is weighted and lifted with bursts of brass, choral harmonies and pulsating time. All six tracks transform their influences into an original layered and uplifting direction.

Live this new material is awesome and it translates on this EP!

OCM Breakdown

"Everything is, Pt. III": The clack and claps of percussion leave room for Alex Muro’s vocals to intertwine with a chorus and singing saw.

“Carrot On a String”: Brass led polka beat with Alex Muro’s strained passionate vocals and a mighty band upsurge with commanding chorus.

“A March Through Charles Mingus’ Garbage Pile”: Great infusion of folk and jazz like a stomping New Orleans style funeral procession with standout solo trumpet and full chorus getaway.

“The Table & The Cup”: Heavy brass emphasis broken up with the folky charm of Tim Koch's vocals and acoustic plucking.

“Goin Nowhere”: Revamped and re-released track with a faster pace and jazz breakouts of the sax, trumpet with claps.

“I Am the Past”: Includes the listener into the hobo’s circle of jokes and talk. The fun really begins with guitar plucking and the uplifting harmonies.

- OBSESSION COLLECTION MUSIC

http://www.blogotheque.net/Vide-Poches-009

Sept mecs, deux filles, une cinquantaine d’instruments, de la trompette à la scie musicale aux tasses à café à une "chaise avant-gardiste en acier", même. Délaissant la folk aux autres chansons qu’on peut trouver sur leur site, "(A March Through) Charles Mingus’ Garbage Pile" c’est un bordel mi-joyeux, mi-fataliste, la jolie excuse pour une trompette qu’on aimerait entendre plus souvent sans avoir à sortir ses disques de jazz, ou de blues. Une espèce d’orchestre de la Nouvelle-Orléans - sauf qu’eux viennent d’Albany, NY. Tous en choeur. (- Nora)

Google Page Translation -
Six guys, two girls, about fifty instruments, the trumpet to the musical saw to coffee mugs to "avant-garde chair steel, even. Leaving the other folk songs that can be found on their website, "(A March Through) Charles Mingus' Garbage Pile" is a brothel half happy, half-fatalistic lovely excuse for a trumpet that would heard more often without having to leave his records of jazz, and blues. A kind of orchestra in New Orleans - except that they come from Albany, NY. Tous en choeur. (- Nora) - La Blogotheque

Sgt Dunbar & the Hobo Banned - "Everything Is, Pt. III". Messy. The kind of guy whose bracelets always break, whose watches slip off his wrist and shatter on the asphalt. Very good at climbing walls. Favourite movie is The Great Escape. One day he was buying milk and interrupted a robbery. He got beat up good, but saved the owner $400. He gets milk for free, now. He brags about this to his friends. "Not everyone gets free milk," he says. Sometimes he stops mid-way through: "Not everyone gets fr-" he says, reaching to catch his watch before it hits the pavement.
- Said the Gramophone (Posted by Sean at July 30, 2009 2:49 PM )

10.30.2009

Sgt. Dunbar and The Hobo Banned packed the house and the stage with eight musicians and every imaginable brass and string instrument. I love the Hobos and have seen them several times. Their instruments were in full force featuring many songs off their new EP. They played the title track "A March Through Charles Mingus' Garbage" that featured a vibrant mix of Folk and Jazz a direction they are forging ahead with. The two new songs they debuted forecast a vital and original direction.


The musicianship is something to behold they have become a much tighter entity without loosing their energy and heart displaying the joy of playing together. What is also fascinating is the seamless exchange of instruments throught the set. Whether blowing, singing or strumming everything works. This is a democratic collective where various members share the lead vocal helm adding diversity to the mix.


Sgt. Dunbar and The Hobo Banned were full of bite. All the instruments and vocals united and filled the space with joy and substance. When the set was over I walked through the crowd and the word or choice was amazing.


Flickr Sethttp: //www.flickr.com/photos/obsessioncollection/sets/72157622649621970/ - OBSESSION COLLECTION MUSIC http://www.obsessioncollectionmusic.com/2009/10/cmj-day-three.html