Jacob "Jewtrane" Garchik, a New Yorker since 1994, is one of the most in-demand, most unknown and least monetarily-compensated trombone players in town. At age 13 he began his long love affair with the upbeat, moonlighting in a polka band of retired Germans. He does not play violin, viola, cello, saxophone, or flute. www.jacobgarchik.com
Shane "Bubbie" Endsley plays rotary valve flugelhorn (on loan from bandleader Matt Moran) in Slavic Soul Party! When not performing with SSP! he is most often mentally preparing for the next show and adhering to a strict physical regiment, akin to what you would see in most Jean Claude Van Damme films, in order maintain his edge. Cutting edge. www.kneebody.com
Brian "Biran" Drye dwells in South Brooklyn devising sensational variety shows, creating magical dishes, hosting fierce trombone jousts, and teaching the martial arts. Brian Drye's Internationalesque Cookbook of Gourmet Amusement Cuisine, in it's 6th printing, has sold over 17 million copies in 16 languages. Do not look into his eyes lest you plan to buy him a beer.
Accordionist Pere "Peter" Stan has been the subject of numerous debates in the field of linguistics, as scholars compete to accurately parse the numerous ethnic influences in his accent. Undoubtedly New York's best Romanian Serbian Gypsy Australian accordion player, Peter Stan actually did study accordion at the Acme Accordion School in Trenton, NJ. He is a wizard of the accordion, and has been known to actually steal things from people's ears with his music.
Take "what's up, Robot?" Toriyama came to the US after a successful career with a major rockband in his native Japan. Why he's playing snare drum with Slavic Soul Party! is anyone's guess, but we think it has to do with the proximity of Barbs to his house. He also plays jazz with New York's top players. Take's important non-musical roles in SSP! include being the key witness to Ron Caswell's discovery that blowing your nose in a restaurant in Turkey is a major social faux pas.
Ben "Lazer", "Hot Feet" Holmes plays trumpet and would love to find a truba that plays in tune. He is the undisputed band champion of that slapping game where one person puts both their palms under the other persons, and then slaps the other person's backs of the hands so hard that you can hear it about 200 yards away, if they can't get their hands away fast enough, which of course they can't, 'cause he's just incredibly fucking fast. And hard. For some reason his slaps hurt way more than you think they should. The band's theory is that he does some sort of exercise that makes his palms weirdly supple, so that he gets more flesh contact when he hits you. It's sort of a mystery.
Ron "RC Bubbles", "Casmanian Devil", "Ron Vodka" Caswell is one of craziest tuba players in the world. He also happens to lay down some of the most slamming tuba playing to ever hit the American Gypsy brass band world. One of the interesting things about Ron is that the longer you know him, the more surprises come out of him, like somehow it'll come up that he used to own a huge NYC nightclub, or that he keeps three Jaguars in a garage in Manhattan, or the knife-throwing story, or the triathlon story... who knows what's next? www.roncaswell.com
Matt "Mattycakes", "Moneybat" Moran plays tapan, bubanj, davul, and zabumba, which all sound really exotic, but actually just mean "big ol' drum" in a bunch of different languages. He also plays vibraphone, which sounds more erotic than exotic, but actually isn't. Anyway, this whole Slavic Soul Party! thing was his idea and he's sort of obsessed with it, so just smile and nod when you talk to him. Oh, and he wants people to know that he writes a lot of the music for the band. www.mattmoran.com
Saxophonist Oscar "Oscar!" Noriega is an expert in the marital arts, with a black belt in food preparation. He is considered Slavic Soul Party!'s secret weapon and gravest danger, though both aspects are as yet seen only in glimpses, giving Oscar a role in the band not unlike a summer thunderstorm gathering at the horizon on a hot day. Growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in Tucson, Arizona, Oscar played Mexican music in a band with his brothers, providing him an early education in the party music business.