‘Shuffle’ is the first 2025 offering from BoolaBoom, and is a brass-packed floor filler for the festival season. Singable, chaotic, and littered with influences across various continents, the Cork-based 24-piece are an act not to be missed. Horns, party vocals and driving rhythms make the collective’s year opener an instant feel-good party hit.
Band leader and producer Darragh O’Connor explains:
“We love mixing big band jazz with a thumping samba-house beat and we’re delighted with how this track turned out. When we play this live we always get the audience chanting along ‘cup final’ style to the vocal hook – fists punching the air just before the drop – which really gets a packed venue or festival crowd bouncing.
It’s a band full of different nationalities from Chilé, Brazil and New Zealand to the UK, US, France and Ireland. You can really feel the wide range of contemporary musical influences coming together, all under a banging house bass drum being pounded by hand!
For a band just starting out with its first real release, the prospect of recording 24 musicians on a shoestring budget was a bit daunting, but we decided we really needed to capture the huge live sound in the studio and record everyone together. Having everyone play at the same time in the studio together helps with that because there’s so much energy bouncing around the room. You don’t want musicians on their own in a sound proof booth. Everyone in the band stands when they play – we don’t allow anyone to sit while playing. If you’re playing dance music you should be on your feet doing a little….Shuffle…while you play.”
Craig Charles already supports the group via BBC Radio 6 Music, Jazz FM, and festivals including Electric Picnic and All Together Now. The group has an upcoming show at Kaleidoscope Festival, which is certain to be a must-attend event for those lucky enough to have a ticket.
Listen to ‘Shuffle’ now:
