Jeremy Deller + Fairey · Since 1997
Acid house and Detroit techno rebuilt for one of the world’s finest brass bands.
The original collision
Jeremy Deller’s idea began with a deceptively simple question: what happens when a traditional brass band plays acid-house anthems?
Fairey’s manager John Cresswell backed the experiment. Rodney Newton translated machines, samples and club rhythms into parts for acoustic brass and percussion; the band recorded the first album in a single session, retaining the force of a live event.
From the archive
Twenty club tracks · acoustic force
The sound on the page
Rodney Newton’s original arrangements found acoustic equivalents for synth lines, drum-machine patterns, sampled vocals and the physical rise and release of the club records. Players clap, chant and reshape the familiar sound of a brass band from within.
Dr Richard Rock later arranged the harder-edged second set, In Yer Face.
Read the inside storyWatch the band
The band takes What Time Is Love? to its close, from the Acid Brass live archive.
Book the original
Festivals, galleries, clubs and cultural programmes: tell us the venue and audience, and we will shape the practical conversation.
