Today we’d like to introduce you to Ormide Armstrong.
Hi Ormide, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2010, I was the high school band director at Reagan High School in Austin. (Northeast HS) I started a student brass band at the school called “N.O.F.B.” (New Orleans Funk Band) with eight seniors and 1 Freshman. During that time, N.O.F.B. was getting many performance opportunities around the Austin community. At the end of 2011, one of the seniors asked me if they could continue playing after they graduated. I said yes! So a few of them wanted to keep playing and I recruited other former students of mine to join.
When we first started rehearsing, we didn’t have a band name. “Quarter Pounder Blended Smoothie” was my first idea for the band name but was quickly rejected. I thought of the name “Boss Street” because that was the name of the street I grew up on in La Marque, Texas. Everyone really dug the name and it stuck.
Being a young band, it was very hard for us to get paying gigs. When we did get paying gigs, it was hard to pay the band much because we had eight people in the band. We were very fortunate to be able to land a few gigs at Joe’s Crab Shack on Riverside starting off. It just so happens that they gave NOFB performance opportunities as well. We got our most exposure early on from playing at the street band festival HONKTx. It seems like the other bands from the festival always like us. They were very supportive in the beginning. (and still are to this day.) In 2014, we were able to release our first all original album, “Speaking of Funk”. Unfortunately, all the original members didn’t get to record on the album, but 7 out of 8 were on it.
We met Erin O’Donnell from the Carousel Lounge during HONKTx and she gave us performance opportunities. In addition to that, she helped us get other gigs and introduced us to Jason White, the owner of the Brass House. The Brass House became our home once a month and was a very exciting time. We were doing so well, Jason invested in our second all original album, “Put It On You” in 2016. “Put it On You” is the album where our sound changed. We went from a Bass Drum and a snare player to one drum set player. By this time, we were hitting 6th street hard every weekend, Bat Bar, Chuggin Monkey, Dizzy Rooster, Aquarium, Firehouse Lounge, and Maggie Mae’s. By this time, we were bringing in great jazz musicians from the Texas State Jazz Department while we were hustling on 6th street. Many of the original members had moved on by now to pursue other interests, so the time was right to hit up Texas State for some hungry musicians.
We were mainly a weekend band because at first it was a hobby, just playing for fun. But after our second original album, things got more serious. People started asking me what I see in the future with Boss Street, and I would always reply, “I want to win a Grammy!”. By this time, we were subbing in on some Sundays for the Big Band Brunch at Banger’s. That was a great venue for us and it exposed us to not just the Austin Community but from people all over the world. Our wedding and private parties started picking up. We even got an invitation to play at the Kentucky Derby, but we couldn’t make the numbers work.
Before covid hit, we would always make a trip to New Orleans every January and play at Bamboula’s on Frenchman st. That was always fun! The people there always loved us! Before Bamboula’s, there was Lucy’s in Austin and New Orleans. Susan would always take care of us and would always get us private events.
The Rustic Tap on west 6th became our first regular venue that we performed at that actually fit us on stage! It was such a relief. When we played on east 6th, we would have to bring our own sound system and break it down and carry it through the crowds on 6th uphills both ways. It was a relief to start getting gigs where we didn’t have to bring our own sound system. Eventually, we became the house band at Bangers on Rainey Street for the Sunday Brunch.
10am -1. That was a true blessing to be able to work every Sunday with great food and great people…
In 2019, we put out our 3rd original album, “Boss Street and Friends.” At this time, we acquired many top call musicians in the many. Most of them with either a Master’s or Doctorate in Jazz. We had the pleasure of recording a Salsa song on the album with Houston Tejano Band, “Las Fenix.” An amazing all female band of sisters. On this album again, you can hear the sound change in Boss Street. The growth of the band was very refreshing to be experienced.
Post covid, we now are focusing on a project in March of 2022. When I was a great school at UT in 2018, I managed to run into Hila Plitmann, a grammy-winning Soprano singer. She was at UT preparing a concert with the UT wind ensemble. We met and remained friends since then. She mentioned to me about do an album with Boss Street a few times, and finally we are making it happen. One of the composers of the project Ginny Wang applied for a great at UT and was able to help fund the project. We have performances at UT and Monk’s in March. Then we will go into the Orb studio on March 12 to record the album. Our musical engineer for this project and all Boss Street projects is Victor Gaspar, original Boss Street member and I was his middle school and high school band director.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It was hard at the beginning to find gigs. At the time, I didn’t know anyone. And there are some club owners that won’t allow you to play at their bar if they don’t know you. No matter how good your band is. We have been around for ten years and we were fortunate enough to be able to keep band members for a long time.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have been a middle school/high school band director for 22 years. I have been mostly known for rebuilding programs. I am currently the band director at Decker Middle School Fine Arts Academy in Manor. This year, we started a Jazz Academy with the primary ensemble being the Latin Ensemble. It’s at the beginning stage, but I am looking forward to where this will lead.
When I was at Reagan High School, our marching band and Drumline were always being called to perform around the community. The band performed on stage with Kanye West in 2011 at SXSW, the Drumline was the Drumline for the NBC show, “Friday Night Lights”.
Our marching band was the first “show style” band to make a division 1 rating at UIL and was the first to advance to Area Marching Contest.
What’s next?
My plans are to continue to grow in music and collaborate with musicians.
Pricing:
- Our pricing starts at $800
Contact Info:
- Email: info@ojaempire.com
- Website: www.ojaempire.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boss_street
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BossStreetBrassBand
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2XNJEjv9NpTb6okXCTHEsw
Image Credits:
Joan Brooks Stoney Williams Mimi Dauherty Sarah Brightly
