Theon Cross is a stunning tuba player, a member of Mercury-nominated group Sons Of Kemet, and a central figure on London’s new music scene. He’s also just released a solo album full of inventive ways of processing and extending the tuba’s sound, while drawing on Caribbean music, grime, jazz, and the city’s spoken word scene.  He and his quartet offer live, instrumental versions of some of those songs for the Soundcheck Podcast.

On his latest album, Intra I, there are TWO tubists, his teacher Oren Marshall, and himself, along with guest vocalists Remi Graves, Shumba Maasai, Afronaut Zu, Ahnansé, Consensus. Theon Cross speaks to how he pushes his sound with processed tuba, exploiting all the technological tools that he can get his hands on, in addition to beat displacement for more unpredictable rhythms. Also, Cross clears up the marching band’s sousaphone versus the tuba, and how they were developed (yes, he has classical training in his background.) - Caryn Havlik

Set List: “We Go Again,” “Forward Progression II,”  “Play To Win”

Watch videos of these songs, as filmed and edited by Nathan Webber:

Watch "We Go Again":

Watch "Forward Progression II":

Watch "Play To Win":