It’s heavily influenced by jazz and hip hop creating a sound that makes the use of the work ‘funky’ acceptable again.” (BBC )

Courts are a five-piece band from Basildon, Essex made up of Chris Moody (vocals and guitar), Dan Baker (bass), Joe Choppen (drums), Luke Baker (guitar and keyboard) and Reece Baker (guitar). With inspiration deriving from Disco, Hip Hop, Indie, and beyond, Courts’ sound lends itself to the influence of Stone Roses, Mac De Marco, and The Streets. Creating a hybrid genre, that’s almost impossible to define, Courts serve the purpose of filling an open gap on the UK Scene, making self confessed ‘music with a message.

The bands first release was ‘Refresh’ which was premiered on key A&R blog TKIAP and received over 2000 downloads within four days. As a result, the bands Soundcloud had a flurry of hits leading to 5000 plays in 2 days. Refresh highlighted the bands diversity and hybrid of genres. Support across the BBC Radio network further increased with the band clocking plays from Huw Stephens, Tom Robinson and BBC Introducing. Amazing Radio’s Chris Martin made the release his ‘record of the week’. Local radio station BBC Essex also got behind the band and supported ‘Refresh’, leading to a coveted slot at T in the Park and Tom Robinson at 6music requesting Courts to play a live session on his show.

Early 2015 saw the release of ‘Part Of’ the bands second release, premiering on Line of Best Fit and video on Noisey. ‘Part Of’ showcased the bands seamless ability to fuse multiple genres, a clearer identity and developed sound. The utterly chant worthy chorus lead to ‘Part Of’ proving it’s worth online, with tastemaker support from the likes of Line of Best Fit, Clash, The 405, Indie Shuffle, Earmilk, Artrocker, and more. However the welcoming reception to ‘Part Of’ didn’t stop there, it spread into the Airwaves, with ‘Part Of’ being hailed as Zane Lowe’s last ever ‘Next Hype’ on Radio One. Further radio support come from BBC Introducing Essex, Huw Stephens, Phil Taggart and XFM.

In September 2015 Courts released ‘Sanatana’ which showed just how musical the band actually are. With the media taking notice of the bands exceptional musicianship and a guitar solo worth of Carlos Santana’s playing ability. Paul Lester of The Guardian stated “its like Santana fronted by the Streets”. Santana went on to get support from a number of key online publications and played on BBC Radio1 as well as Xfm. They were invited to play Bestival Festival and headlined the Jagermeister Tent, as well as performing at Boomtown festival, Brownstock festival and Cambridge University Ball. Just after the release of ‘Sanatana’ legendary iconic brand Converse invited the band to take part in there RubberTracks Sessions, in which Converse grant free studio time to chosen bands in iconic studios throughout the world.

Courts have cemented themselves as a group of musicians who’ve worked hard to find an individual sound, rather than imitating the cliché benchmarks, that so many arena fillers have set over the last decade. The live show is as equally an energetic and boundary crossing experience as the recorded music, having played for amazed music fans at festivals such as ‘T in the Park’, Bestival, BoomTown ‘1234 Shoreditch’ and ‘Brownstock’, as well as venues ‘BarFly’, ‘The Old Blue Last’ and ‘The Nest’.

Courts continue to pave the way as an up and coming act to watch out for.