“Pack your suitcase for adventure! Funk explorers Headphones Jones serve up tasty grooves with a blend of Funk, Nigerian Afrobeat and Afro-Latin styles. With a reputation for high energy performances featuring both vocal and instrumental tunes, the 9-piece dance band invite you on a journey to move your feet and your heart. Watch out for colourful antics, big horns and driving rhythms. Dress loud, dance hard.”
“Always good vibes, always a party!” – The B.EAST
“If you like soulful fusion bands like Saskwatch, The Cactus Channel and Cat Empire, you’re sure to fall in love with Headphones Jones.” – Happy Mag
FULL STORY:
Headphones Jones are a Melbourne based funk collective that perform energetic dance music to create an irresistible atmosphere and a pumping dance-floor. Their special blend of vocal and instrumental tunes allows for a varied and dynamic performance that offers a range of ways to engage for all audiences. At the heart of every song is danceable groove and storytelling, but there is also plenty of complex arrangements and improvisation for audiences to dive into. The core of the live experience is the energy created by having the large ensemble working together on stage to create a specific show for that audience and the connection that is shared from that responsive encounter.
The band is strongly influenced by traditions from around the world – such as American Funk, Cuban and Brazilian Folkloric music and Nigerian Afrobeat – and the interconnections between these styles that all have their roots in West Africa. The band love paying homage to these traditions and finding creative ways to incorporate these influences into their original compositions – creating an eclectic and unique sound that is tied together by the thread of grooves that make you want to move.
The band have performed at festivals including Woodford Folk Festival, The National Folk Festival, Firelight Festival, MOOMBA, Brunswick Music Festival, Eltham Jazz Festival & Creswick Folk Festival to audiences of all ages, as well as packing out venues all over Melbourne and touring the East Coast. Other career highlights include supporting touring Canadian artist Alysha Brilla, creating a fully themed 80s Horror warehouse gig in honour of the launch of their ‘Gym Junkie’ music video – complete with activities and costume prizes and writing and performing three interactive Gameshows at the National Folk Festival in 2025.
The band has earned a reputation for their on stage antics with venues such as the B. East saying: “Headphones Jones are absolutely one of the most fun colourful bands we’ve EVER had! DON’T MISS THEM!” and have been the talk of their recently played festivals with Woodford Folk Festival dubbing them “electric” and “a colourful party favourite ” .
The band independently recorded, released and distributed their first single, ‘Gym Junkie’, and four track EP, ‘Hectic Zebra’ in 2018 and followed it up with the music video for Gym Junkie in 2019, which was a finalist in the International Music Video Awards in London in 2020, the Music Video Awards 2021 in LA and an official selection for Kalakari Film Festival and GINDIE 21.
Following that up the band recorded and released a double single on 7″ Vinyl – ‘Baggage/Tapioca da Maria’ – recorded and mixed on analogue tape with Alex Bennett at Sound Recordings near Castlemaine.
The band is currently working on their debut album.
Praise for Headphones Jones
“Headphones Jones were a colourful party favourite this Woodford.” – Woodford Folk Festival
“I tell you who absolutely kicked it last night… Headphones Jones… the funkiest thing this side of a set of congas” – ABC Canberra
“Nothing short of musical brilliance” – HappyMag
“One of our absolute treasured acts to have the honour of hosting again and again!!!” Open Studio
“I’ll always have a soft spot for you loonies” – Heidi Pritchard (MD National Folk Festival 2024)
“Always good vibes, always a party” The B.EAST
“If you like soulful fusion bands like Saskwatch, The Cactus Channel and Cat Empire, you’re sure to fall in love with Headphones Jones.” – HappyMag
MORE PRESS:
HappyMag ‘Gym Junkie’ Premiere Write-Up
HEADPHONES JONES 