When word first came down that JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound would be playing Lollapalooza this year, the reaction from the band's leader was a bit muted.
JC Brooks knew it was kind of cool, but didn't realize how big of a deal it was until he started hearing the reactions from others.
"A lot of my friends and people I meet are really floored by the whole thing, and now their excitement is making me nervous," Brooks says.
At first the band considered pulling out all the stops by presenting a visual spectacle with help from Redmoon Theatre, but they ultimately decided to do what they do best.
"People who go are just going to get a solid show. We don't want to lose what got us there in the first place," Brooks says.
What got them there is a throw-back style of soul music, which started picking up steam with the popularity of the likes of Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings in recent years. But the band has designs on pushing beyond that.
"We've experimented with a bit of an EDM sound -- our drummer can sound like a drum machine," Brooks said. "It borrows from Morrisey and The Cure, so it's really different but I hope it doesn't alienate what people know us for."
The band isn't exactly in a high-profile slot on the Lollapalooza schedule -- they take the Playstation stage Saturday at noon -- but Brooks says all it takes is the right person to see their show to help vault the band to another level. Sort of like what happened when Jack White saw Alabama Shakes at South by Southwest and decided to take them under his wing.
"We only got 45 minutes to wow 'em, so we're definitely trying to do an all killer, no filler, melt people's faces and get the @#$% out of there," Brooks says.
