Brass Queens excited to make history as first all-female band to lead annual Village Halloween Parade
NEW YORK -- The annual Halloween parade in the Village returns Monday night.
It kicks off at 7 p.m., traveling along Sixth Avenue from Canal Street to 15th Street.
For the first time in its 49-year history, an all-female band will be leading the march.
The Brass Queens are an eight-piece brass band hailing from Brooklyn, and the musicians are all women. They formed in March 2019.
"Little girls are always really excited to see us," band member Jenna Murdoch said.
Band lead Alex Joseph says she wanted to create Brass Queens to expand the space for women in a male-dominated industry.
"We wanted another space that we could explore together and be more comfortable playing together," she told CBS2's Zinnia Maldonado. "People will look at a stage of women and underestimate what we do, so we always like to surprise and delight our audiences."
Inspiring young girls is also part of their mission.
"The light in their eyes when they see a woman pick up a sousaphone and just play her heart out on it, it's the best thing in the world," band member Stephanie King said.
Being one of the few all-female bands in the city, the ladies say it's allowed them to create a special bond that shines through their music.
"That's the great thing about Brass Queens, we genuinely just really like each other and have a lot of fun. I think people hear that in our playing and our sound," band member Elizabeth Arce said.
"Beyond just playing instruments together, it's just seeing women have that kind of comradery," Murdoch said.
Comradery and talent -- the band has notable clients including Saks Fifth Avenue, the Met Gala and the Governors Ball Music Festival.
Up next, they'll not only be performing in the annual Halloween parade in the Village, they'll be leading it, making history as the first band led by all women to do so.
"We didn't know we were going to be leading the parade when we were initially asked to do it, so when we found out, that was just very exciting," Murdoch said.
But the Brass Queens say after dedicating countless hours to perfecting their craft in their rehearsal studio, they're not feeling any pressure.
"We're just going to have fun. We're going to do our thing. This is something we can do in our sleep. We do it all the time, so we're just going to go have fun and we hope everyone else does too," Joseph said.
CLICK HERE for more Brass Queens and where to find their music.
