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HopMonk presents NEW MASTERSOUNDS (funk / soul / funk)

As a band, and as individuals, they have since clocked up collaborations with an impressive array of musicians DJs and producers, including: Lou Donaldson (Blue Note), Corinne Bailey Rae(EMI), Quantic (Tru Thoughts), Carleen Anderson (Young Disciples / Brand New Heavies), Keb Darge & Kenny Dope (Kay Dee Records), John Arnold (Ubiquity), Mr Scruff (Ninja Tune),Snowboy (Ubiquity), Fred Everything (2020vision), Andy Smith (Portishead), James Taylor(JTQ), LSK (Faithless), and Karl Denson (Lenny Kravitz / Greyboy AllStars)

In 2006, as well as playing club gigs in France, Spain, Belgium and Italy, the band toured the USA & Japan. In August they finished recording their fifth album, 102% (released on One Note Records in 2007). The album features collaborations with sax and flute player Rob Lavers who performed as a guest with the band on several subsequent live tours. In the same year producer/guitarist Eddie Roberts had already released a live album in Japan (Roughneck - Live in Paris), and produced a studio album of his own arrangements of traditional Italian songs calledTrenta.

2007 started auspiciously - on their very first Jamcruise (an American funk festival on the high seas) the NMS were playing Meters tunes with George Porter Jr sitting in - just one of the highlights of a legendary 3-hour set. On their return to the UK the band were greeted by a capacity crowd at London's prestigious Jazz Cafe venue, for the album launch of 102%. They also performed tunes from the new album for Mark Lamarr on BBC Radio Two. At the end of January, organist Bob Birch reluctantly retired from the band due to commitments at home. In February Eddie, Simon and Pete ushered in another Leeds keyboard player, Joe Tatton, who had depped for Bob in the past, as well as working with UK soul star Corinne Bailey Rae and funk renegades The Haggis Horns. Joe's real initiation took place in April with the band's first trip to New Orleans during which they played late night at the House of Blues and the Blue Nile and where Eddie stuck around for the following week to sit in with the likes of Idris Muhammed, Lonnie Smith, Galactic, Papa Mali and The Greyboy Allstars. Having thrilled audiences at Wakarusa, Harmony, Gratefulfest and High Sierra music festivals, the NMS returned to the US at the end of July - to Chicago, to play Wicker Park and to open for The Headhunters.
After a well-earned break, the NMS regrouped in October for a 2 week tour of France during which they rediscovered the joy of the original 4-piece NMS sound: bass, drums, guitar and Hammond.

On the record front, German label Legere Recordings released their compilation An Introduction to The New Mastersounds on CD and LP back in May, while Milan-based labelRecord Kicks was putting together an album of NMS tunes remixed by a host of talented underground funk and beats producers. "The New Mastersounds - Re::Mixed" was released on CD, LP and itunes on October 15th.

As an example of the respect this band commands, Peter Wermelinger - DJ, collector, and author of the crate-diggers' bible The Funky & Groovy Music Lexicon - places the 2001 NMS track 'Turn This Thing Around' in his all-time top-ten tunes, along with the likes of Eddie Harris, Funkadelic, and Herbie Hancock. The New Mastersounds are at the very top of an elite selection of acts that bring the true soul out of funk.

along with... SALVADOR SANTANA (funk / soul / jazz )

In the late 1990's, guitarist and producer Eddie Roberts was running a club night in Leeds called "The Cooker." When The Cooker moved into a new venue with a second floor in 1999, there was space and the opportunity to put a live band together to complement the DJ sets. Simon Allenand Eddie had played together in 1997 as The Mastersounds, though with a different bassist and no organ. Through friends and the intimate nature of the Leeds music scene, Pete Shand and Bob Birch were added on bass and Hammond respectively, and The New Mastersounds were born. Though it was raw, and more of a boogaloo sound at first, it was powerful from the start. Their first rehearsal was hot enough for Blow it Hard Records to release on two limited-edition 7" singles in 2000.

Music is a burst of choices. Not only what note to play when and with what instrument, but whether to play a note at all. Salvador Santana, the 26-year-old keyboardist, vocalist, composer, and songwriter with strong Bay Area roots, knows what it means to navigate the infinite options of music. His 2008 innovative debut with the Salvador Santana Band--simply called SSB--pursued the scope of his ability. But for Santana, it wasn't enough. He has no choice but to push himself further.

He's fast at work, up and down the West Coast, recording a follow-up album that has him dropping the Band portion of SSB's moniker, placing the focus solely on Salvador Santana. Of course, he's not doing it alone. Collaboration has always been the centerpiece of his creations, and his yet untitled record is being built around the inspirations of two legends: Beastie Boy studio wizard Money Mark and Bay Area MC/producer Del the Funky Homosapien.

"With all the people I've ever collaborated with or just working by myself, I have never produced so many ideas into songs as I have during these Money Mark sessions. That guy is just a machine."

While Del is helping Santana hone his writing skills, Money Mark is opening up a way of recording that was previously unknown. He has turned Santana's ADD, something he heard was a handicap his entire life, into a tool for genius.

"ADD isn't a deficiency, it's actually just another way of learning. The way most schools want you to learn, doesn't apply to me. And kicking it with Money Mark, him being older than me and kind of mentoring me, he's showing me that it's cool to be all over the place. It's cool to sit there and work on a song, then out of nowhere, interrupt everything and work on another idea. To just go with it."

The disparate sounds of SSB were born out of live performances remade in the studio, with the exception of "Summer's Day," a catchy California anthem produced by Jurassic 5's DJ Nu-Mark. The song stood out among many stand outs, melding hip-hop and Beach Boys breeze, on an album that seamlessly moved through rock, funk, R&B and traditional Latin rhythms. Nu-Mark's production and Santana's keyboards are the foundation of "Summer's Day," eschewing the live instruments found on the rest of SSB, and it's the spark that drives the new record.

"With the last record, even though you get a variety of music, I feel like it was limited. And I don't want anything to sound limited on this new record, I want each song to be its own thing. And it's already turning out like that."

Santana is pushed by a need to step out of his comfort zone in a quest for new ideas. He jokingly says that he wants to combine polka and trance for a whole new genre of music, but as the saying goes, there's truth in every joke. "Even if there's a jazz song next to a reggae song, because there's something reoccurring, a through-line across the whole record, people will be able to feel why those songs are linked together."

Easy going and humble, Santana exudes the Bay Area vibe. He began playing the drums at age three--sitting on his father's lap, controlling the snare and tom, as his father worked the hi-hat and kick drum--but his true love was discovered when he began taking piano lessons when he was six. Later, he studied at San Francisco's heralded School of the Arts before attending Cal Arts in Valencia, CA. His education, passion and lineage has turned Santana into a monster on the keys, leading him to say that he's "a musician first, a vocalist second and a performer second-and-a-half."

Music truly thrives in his veins. His maternal grandfather was blues pioneer Saunders King and his paternal grandfather was the internationally celebrated violinist and mariachi bandleader Jose Santana. And, of course, his father is 10X Grammy-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Carlos Santana...who's also a frequent collaborator (Salvador got a Grammy for co-composing "El Farol" from 1999's smash album Supernatural).

But with his upcoming project, Salvador Santana will truly become a brand of his own.

"With the last record I was very passive and insecure, only because I wasn't listening to my gut, allowing my second opinions to get to me. Knowing what I know now, I could have played that part better. I don't ever want to have that feeling ever again."

In addition to his musical desires, Santana has worldly efforts on his mind. After a trip to South Africa and inspiring work with Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA), something triggered inside of Santana to make sure his music wasn't only about personal glory. Once the record is released and he begins touring the project, Salvador will be posting various non-profit organizations on his website that will receive a percentage of the profits. "I want to use music in a positive way, and give back to people in need. There can never be enough people who do that." And there can never be enough musicians pushing their art to the brink.

Purchase tickets here

** please note - We cannot accept US passports as valid form of ID

(show times are subject to change for reasons beyond our control)