Junkyard Empire - Early History

Early History

Junkyard Empire was formed in the Fall of 2006 as an acid-jazz/hip-hop collaboration between friends Brian Lozenski (a.k.a. Brihanu) and Christopher Cox and has evolved through stylistic and instrumental experimentation throughout the years thereafter. During this time the band morphed from a jazz sextet with two horns - with one Jamie Delzer on Saxaphone - in their first studio album, Reclaim Freedom (2007), to a rock/jazz quintet in Rise of the Wretched (2008) - always with Brihanu rapping brilliantly over the top.

The band evolved into a rock jazz quintet with the addition of Dan Choma on Bass and Chris beginning to incorporate and experiment with electronics and keyboard in addition to his trombone. The “electronic trombone” has since become a very significant element of Junkyard Empire’s subsequent recordings and compositional direction.

As a highly politically active group, Junkyard Empire geared up for the 2008 election by campaigning, canvassing and participating in many direct actions in protest of the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC) in Saint Paul MN by performing an “Anti-RNC Tour,” coinciding with the pre-release of the groundbreaking EP “Rise of the Wretched.”

It was at this time that Junkyard Empire first came into real local and tepid national prominence with their infamous performance at the "No Peace for the War Makers" on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol during the third day of the RNC, when their show was interrupted by hundreds of riot cops attacking a group of bicyclists in the crowd. Tension raised to a fever pitch, nearly to point of rioting, all while the band improvised freely over the tune Wretched (from the album Rise of the Wretched), as rapper Brihanu chanted to the police "let them go." Parts of this performance were featured in the documentary “Terrorizing Dissent”.

In these early years, Junkyard Empire shared the stage with Desdamona, Michael “Eyedea” Larsen (R.I.P.), Carnage The Executioner, Blue King Brown, Broadcast Live, Boots Riley and The Coup, Los Nativos, Kill the Vultures, Toki Wright, and numerous others.

For their third studio album, the band partnered with Marc Nicolas at a start-up independent music label MediaRoots Music based in Santa Monica, CA. to produce Rebellion Politik (2009). Shortly after recording the material, the band and a Media Roots team embarked on a hugely successful tour of Cuba, where they were invited by the Ministry of Culture in Havana.

Upon their return to the states, Junkyard Empire had some noticeable success on college radio, landing in the top 10 on well over a dozen college radio stations across the country. It was with great anticipation that their second album on MediaRoots Music in the spring of 2010.

The band’s current lineup of Brihanu, Christopher Cox, Bryan Berry, Steve Hogan, and Graham O’Brien was finalized shortly before the release of this fourth album, “Acts of Humanity (2010), mixed by Brian Susko at Dharma Sound Studios (Santa Monica, CA) and mastered by Tom Garneau at Audio Active (Deephaven, MN).

Having four successful studio albums under their belt the band briefly toured throughout the Midwest, East and West coasts, but found that to be less than representative of what they stand for as a band. Having members now spread across the United States (Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Portland, Ore., Brooklyn, NY), Junkyard Empire had decidedly shifted their energy from playing standard club performances to making major dissident political appearances.

Homing in on the impact of performing live during the RNC protests, Junkyard Empire traveled to New York in spring of 2010 to perform at the first annual "Sounds of Resistance" protest and direct action rally at Union Square Park in New York City. Here they performed during a march on and subsequent occupation of the nations leading foreclosure firm, Bank of America, on Tax Day.

The following fall, Junkyard Empire was invited to perform in Washington D.C. in support of an occupation of Freedom Plaza, located on Pennsylvania Avenue. This performance was to mark the start of the October 2011 occupation of D.C. and served as a supporting coalition for the burgeoning Occupy Movement, in fact organized long before Occupy Wall Street was under way.

The following winter, the band met up in a rehearsal studio in Minneapolis to write new material for their third self-released project and fifth overall album “Butt Naked in the Matrix”, recorded at Waterbury Studios in NE Minneapolis during an intense three day marathon in the heart of winter - January 2012 - mixed in-studio by Adam Krinksy, and mastered by Bruce Tempelton at Magneto Mastering in Saint Paul, MN.