THE multi-award-winning New Orleans group The Hot 8 Brass Band are crossing the Atlantic to perform live in Southampton next week.

The eight-piece have been tearing stages apart across the globe for more than two decades, merging traditional marching music with jazz, funk, R&B, soul and hip hop.

Legends in their own right, the band touch down in Southampton on Friday, May 20, at the Social Club.

Founded in 1995, the original members of New Orleans’ Hot 8 Brass Band began playing together in high school. Over time the line-up has naturally shifted and changed, but any incarnation of Hot 8 Brass Band will still boast passion and noise, all buoyed up by the immense tuba basslines of band leader Bennie Pete.

Having survived one of the worst natural and political disasters the USA has ever known – Hurricane Katrina, Hot 8 have also suffered the loss of one of their members to violence on the streets of New Orleans. They have since thrown themselves into projects to aid their community’s redevelopment and recovery.

During the years since their first album, the band have gone from strength to strength, supporting the likes of Mos Def, Lauryn Hill and Mary J Blige and playing festivals such as Glastonbury and Big Chill, among others.

Support comes from the city’s funkiest vinyl-only heavyweights, the Soul 45 DJs, getting the party started with the hottest vintage selections on seven-inch. Plus there’s live support from Tuba-Libres, Southampton’s very own funkadelic brass band, laying down a mixing pot of 80s classics, modern pop and excessive original brass band tunes, and Southampton University Brass Band.

Tickets are available online in advance via eventbrite or on the door.