Too Many Zooz @ the Sylvee
Words by Elijah pines, photos by bailey krause
When thinking of making a great show, it's easy to want to add more. More lights, more bass, more dancers, more sound, more lasers, more and more and more. You can get an amazing concert when you have so much stuff. The audience may walk away dazed and awed, dizzy but adrenaline pumping. Doing more, done right, can be a greater performance.
But the core of any good performance isn't how much stuff you can fit into a song or on a stage. What makes a great performer is wanting it bad enough.
Too Many Zooz is three dudes with four instruments. Leo Pellegrino is on a baritone saxophone, Matt "Doe" Muirhead is on the trumpet and sometimes keyboard, and David "King of Sludge" Parks is on the drums. Originally from New York, the trio started performing in subways. Their music incorporates jazz, funk and house into a style they call Brass House.
Their performance was defined by how physically engaged the band is.The King of Sludge, for example, wore his mighty katamari ball of drums on his hips, despite the Sylvee easily being able to accommodate a standing drum set. Wearing the drums is part of the music, as there's an underlying bounce and embodiment of the sound in the performance that makes the set electric.
Leo P. is the front man, the one most easily able to move and the best one at it. He dances, spins, moon walks and kicks like crazy. He could not keep those legs down. Doe and him would often face each other when playing, a sort of battle of the brasses. Their sound was jazzy and fun. Their playing off each other is something they're fluent in. It's effortless yet high energy.
The street performance aspect wasn't lost in their set. I imagine there's a sort of grit that comes from performing in the New York subway. The Sylvee stage may be a more well-mannered environment, but in the venue it felt more like jamming out with your local busker. They were confident, improvisational and fun.
The crowd was very millennial. Lots of young families, people wearing suits and converse, funky patterned button ups and graphic tank tops. None of this is a diss. We as Gen Z need to embrace a certain truth: the millennials were right about the club. The point of the club is to have the best time possible, which means the music has to enable the best time possible. The first song I ever heard from Too Many Zooz was a cover of 'Get Busy' by Sean Paul. If that doesn't show unabashed dedication to fun, I don't know what song will.
It's just nice being in a crowd of people unafraid to have fun. Someone was juggling glowing balls at one point. Sure, why not? The woman in front of me, as far as I was aware, was all alone. Yet she was putting in 110% into throwing down. This undiscovered talent was getting low, rolling shoulders and fucking it up, all while wearing fringed skinny jeans.
Too Many Zooz just brought an impeccable vibe, and that vibe can only come from effort. I wouldn't say they're underground, they've been out of the subway for some years now. But it's nice to see a band be popular for something people might consider pedestrian in the literal sense. Street performers and buskers can be found in any city, that's what makes it harder to stand out. It takes a true passion for the stage to make it, and Too Many Zooz has it.
