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Junkyard Empire is an American political music and action group based out of Saint Paul, MN. The group has been actively calling for the awakening and collective rebellion against the tyranny of oligopolistic corporate capitalism - of which America is the world's hegemonic purveyor. Their style is unique, in that it conforms to no already nailed-down categorical standard, but the wild mix of hip-hop, rock, jazz, and dark electronics, underlying the deep political revolution-focused lyrics of rapper Brihanu. The band accomplished an astounding amount of recorded material, and historic live performances all while being virtually shunned from the mainstream press in the Twin Cities. That all changed when they played a show at the "No Peace for the War Makers" rally on a huge stage at the Minnesota State Capital during the now infamous 2008 Republican National Convention protests. Witnessing riot cops on horseback, led by huge bullhorn speakers blaring authoritarian messages, charge the 2000+ crowd members in the middle of their song "Rise of the Wretched" was a real turning point, not just for the band, but for the whole movement that ultimately lead to supporting and performing for nationally coordinated occupation protests of New York City and Washington D.C. leading up to the global Occupy Movement. From that point on, Junkyard Empire became a much deeper force for political organizing and civil resistance. ==Early history== Junkyard Empire was formed in the Fall of 2006 as an acid-jazz/hip-hop collaboration between friends Brian Lozenski (a.k.a. Brihanu) and Christopher Cox and has evolved through stylistic and instrumental experimentation throughout the years thereafter. During this time the band morphed from a jazz sextet with two horns - with one Jamie Delzer on saxophone - in their first studio album, Reclaim Freedom (2007), to a rock/jazz quintet in Rise of the Wretched (2008) - always with Brihanu rapping brilliantly over the top. The band evolved more deeply into the rock-jazz sound with the addition of Dan Choma on Bass and Christopher Cox beginning to incorporate and experiment with electronics and keyboard in addition to his trombone. The “electric trombone” has since become a very significant element of Junkyard Empire’s subsequent recordings and compositional direction, leading to a much more integrated soundscape. As a highly politically active group, Junkyard Empire geared up for the 2008 election by campaigning, canvassing and participating in many direct actions in protest of the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC) in Saint Paul MN by performing an “Anti-RNC Tour,” coinciding with the pre-release of the groundbreaking EP “Rise of the Wretched.” It was at this time that Junkyard Empire first came into real local and tepid national prominence with their infamous performance at the "No Peace for the War Makers"〔 on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol during the third day of the RNC, when their show was interrupted by hundreds of riot cops attacking a group of bicyclists in the crowd. Tension raised to a fever pitch, nearly to point of rioting, all while the band improvised freely over the tune Wretched (from the album Rise of the Wretched), as rapper Brihanu chanted to the police "let them go." Parts of this performance were featured in the documentary “Terrorizing Dissent”. In these early years, Junkyard Empire shared the stage with Desdamona, Michael “Eyedea” Larsen (R.I.P.), Carnage The Executioner, Blue King Brown, Broadcast Live, Boots Riley and The Coup, Los Nativos, Kill the Vultures, Toki Wright, and numerous others. For their third studio album, the band partnered with Marc Nicolas at a start-up independent music label MediaRoots Music based in Santa Monica, CA. to produce Rebellion Politik (2009). Shortly after recording the material, the band and a Media Roots team embarked on a hugely successful tour of Cuba, where they were invited by the Ministry of Culture in Havana. Upon their return to the states, Junkyard Empire had some noticeable success on college radio, landing in the top 10 on well over a dozen college radio stations across the country. It was with great anticipation that their second album on MediaRoots Music in the spring of 2010. It was at this time that Dan Choma chose to pursue some other musical endeavors and Steve Hogan joined as his replacement on the bass, bringing an even more pocket-oriented, fuzzy funk/rock sound to the bound. The combination of the direction the band was already headed and the added depth of Hogan's huge sound made the next record a real breakthrough. The band’s current lineup of MC Brihanu, Christopher Cox, Bryan Berry, Steve Hogan, and Graham O’Brien was finalized shortly before the release of this fourth album, “Acts of Humanity (2010), mixed by Brian Susko at Dharma Sound Studios (Santa Monica, CA) and mastered by Tom Garneau at Audio Active (Deephaven, MN). This record featured not only 8 brand new tracks, but also beautifully re-mastered tracks from the band's previous breakout record Rebellion Politik. Having four successful studio albums under their belt the band briefly toured throughout the Midwest, East and West coasts, but found that to be less than representative of what they stand for as a band. Having members now spread across the United States (Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Portland, Ore., Brooklyn, NY), Junkyard Empire had decidedly shifted their energy from playing standard club performances to making major dissident political appearances. Homing in on the impact of performing live during the RNC protests, Junkyard Empire traveled to New York in spring of 2010 to perform at the first annual "Sounds of Resistance" protest and direct action rally at Union Square Park in New York City. Here they performed during a march on and subsequent occupation of the nation's leading foreclosure firm, Bank of America, on Tax Day. The following fall, Junkyard Empire was invited to perform in Washington D.C. in support of an occupation of Freedom Plaza, located on Pennsylvania Avenue. This performance was to mark the start of the October 2011 occupation of D.C. and served as a supporting coalition for the burgeoning Occupy Movement, in fact organized long before Occupy Wall Street was under way. The following winter, the band met up in a rehearsal studio in Minneapolis to write new material for their third self-released project and fifth overall album “Butt Naked in the Matrix”, recorded at Waterbury Studios in NE Minneapolis during an intense three day marathon in the heart of winter - January 2012 - mixed in-studio by Adam Krinksy, and mastered by Bruce Tempelton at Magneto Mastering in Saint Paul, MN. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Junkyard Empire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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