Mining nuggets of funk, hip-hop and hi-octane rock from the musical coalface and throwing in a few chunks of Balkan brass, ska and contemporary jazz for good measure, the Hackney Colliery Band (HCB) are as diverse as the London borough that gave them their name. Following on from the huge success of their first two singles and sell out shows at the Scala & Jazz Cafe (featuring an infamous stage invasion from Amy Winehouse) HCB deliver their mouth-watering debut long-player on July 4th. The self-titled debut features quirky covers, such as the sousaphone led, heavy hitting take on Blackstreet's "No Diggity", deep afro jazz inspired cuts like "Pigmy Goats" and even a gorgeous ballad or two! The HCB album is already getting huge support from DJs as diverse as Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 1), Huey Morgan (BBC 6 Music) and Robert Elms (BBC London) and the band look set to take the mainstream by storm with their energetic, thunderous sounds. "Make sure you get with the HCB – and that's coming from the HBE!" Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (Chicago, U.S.A.)