the group was started when raines and mercurio, childhood friends from affluent chevy chase, maryland, moved to new orleans together to attend college at tulane and loyola universities, became enamored of the local funk scene, populated by such legendary acts as the meters and dirty dozen brass band and inspired by local legends such as professor longhair. there they teamed with noted new orleans drummer stanton moore, saxophonist/harmonica (now producer) ben ellman, rich vogel, and theryl de clouet. in 2004, the band parted ways with vocalist declouet, and continued as an instrumental group until 2007 when they released "from the corner to the block" featuring rappers ranging from juvenile, chali 2na, boots riley, and lyrics born. they continue to tour with different vocalists: 2011-2012 with cyril neville, 2011-2014 with corey glover, 2014 with maggie koerner, 2015-present with erica falls. they have also toured with trombonist corey henry from 2009-2016 and trumpet player shamarr allen from 2016 to present. they have been releasing albums consistently since 1996.