XM Luvin’ (RIP)

Latitude Magazine Article

From old time to punk rock,
36 CAROLINA MUSICIANS

EXCEPTIONALLY GIFTED

30

Generic Hustle: Funk, Greensboro. Five guys, a lot of skill, strong musical backgrounds and many years of combined experience all fuse together to form the uniquely funky brass jam band Generic Hustle. Brad Haywood, a teacher hailing from High Point, plays the trumpet and flute, Brian Thacker is on the trombone, Brett Beardsley serves as the band’s drummer, Brooks Kaplan plays guitar and vocals and Kolton Wades’ heavy metal influence is truly apparent on the bass and sousaphone. Paired with an impressive live show, after years of much anticipation, Generic Hustle has released their collective CD featuring a mostly instrumental mix of jazz, funk, ska and metal.

GilbertNeal.net

The Generic Hustle debut (eponymous) offers up some sublime funk, some off-kilter riffing, and a whole lotta good bass/tuba. What can we say? We’re a sucker for the kind of Crimsonesque driving arcanity offered up in the slithery “Billy Goat”, the cool ska of “Skank Chase” (I presume they mean the thing that happens on the 2 and the 4 and not a local female college student) which evolves into a jazzy half-time swing. There’s lots of excellent musicianship all over the place, and there’s a definite Dixieland vibe in the middle of the CD which I suppose derives from the instrumentation of choice (at times, three horns and a guitar), but also from the hyper-educated arrangements of the songs themselves. We think GH is too hip for the room and probably needs to find an educated clientèle, but the funky vibe should get that critical mass forming nicely. The brain follows the booty. Gandhi said that… Don’t try dancing to “Groovin’”, though. You’ll break a hip.

Chris Lathrop, Playboy.com

By definition, a band cannot be classified as “generic” if it features a sousaphone in its instrumentation. By calling itself Generic Hustle, this fantastic 5-piece outfit thumbs its nose at all preconceptions, be they musical, verbal, or otherwise. Truly a breath of fresh air in a world full of groups that actually deserve the “generic” label, these guys are the real deal: organic, inspired and talented. If you seek to be excited by music again, especially if it seems like forever since you were, Generic Hustle will do you right.