For several years, The Hot Sardines played free gigs for friends and at small open-mic venues such as the now-shuttered Banjo Jim's on the Lower East Side.
During this time, the band was "playing in New York for anyone we could get to listen to us, busking in the subway and dragging friends out to look for bars with open mikes."
Unexpectedly, they became part of an alcohol-fueled flash mob scene "in New York, where people go online and find the location and the secret password, and then 300 people show up dressed in vintage attire and party the night away."

"We never intended to start a professional outfit," Palazzo said regarding their formative years. "
We wanted to do it has a hobby, [but] we found ourselves getting gigs."
Over the next couple of years the band attracted musicians from prestigious institutions like the Juilliard School and Berklee, accomplished professionals who were unafraid to "get down and dirty" with early American jazz.
Slowly, the core group of the band grew to a septet and then an octet, with Mike Sailors on cornet, Jason Prover on trumpet, Evan "Sugar" Crane on sousaphone and bass, Nick Myers on saxophone and clarinet, and Alex "Tastykakes" Raderman on drums.

During the economic downturn known as the Great Recession, the band fortuitously benefited from the mid-2010s hot jazz revival, a Millennial cultural phenomenon emanating from Brooklyn.
As a result, there began in New York a "cyclical burst of Jazz Age nostalgia," and this hot jazz revival attracted "a young, fresh crowd" that clamored for a particular strain of throwback jazz "that once would have put it under the Dixieland heading."
This revival was largely ascribed to the popularity of television programs such as Martin Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire which renewed interest in the Roaring Twenties and, in particular, the frenzied underground music of the Prohibition-era speakeasies.

Amid this jazz revival, a turning point for the Hot Sardines came in 2010 when they performed for the first time at the speakeasy-themed Shanghai Mermaid, a 6,000-square-foot warehouse behind an unmarked door in Crown Heights.
During the apex of the economic recession, the "extravagantly theatrical" Mermaid recreated the decadent atmosphere of a red-walled 1930s cabaret and was the epicenter of the throwback jazz scene, with monthly underground costume parties and aerialists swinging from the ceiling.
Due to its local prestige, performing at the Mermaid was deemed a coming-of-age moment in the band's evolution. "
We all [still] love playing at the Shanghai Mermaid," Palazzo stated in 2015, "it's about as close as you can get to time-travel to the 1930s."

Soon after, the Sardines' next big break occurred in June 2011 due to Bougerol's ability to sing in both English and French.
She had received a cryptic email stating that an unidentified third party was seeking a jazz band that could perform songs in French for a last-minute gig on the forthcoming Bastille Day.
She submitted a few video clips of the band's past performances, and they clinched the job.
It turned out that the gig was Midsummer Night Swing at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
They performed before a youthful audience of 7,000 swing dancers and brought down the house.
After headlining at Lincoln Center, they were "heralded as one of the greatest jazz acts to come out of New York City."
Soon after, they served as openers for the jazz trio Bad Plus and French gypsy-jazz artist Zaz.

High-profile gigs started rolling in, and the Sardines' debut album Shanghai'd premiered in July 2011 to favorable reviews.
They went on to have 17 consecutive sold-out shows at Joe's Pub starting in 2012.
The Sardines were soon invited in 2012 to represent New York in front of 25,000 spectators at Festival d'Île de France in Paris.
For several years, The Hot Sardines played free gigs for friends and at small open-mic venues such as the now-shuttered Banjo Jim's on the Lower East Side. During this time, the band was "playing in New York for anyone we could get to listen to us, busking in the subway and dragging friends out to look for bars with open mikes." Unexpectedly, they became part of an alcohol-fueled flash mob scene "in New York, where people go online and find the location and the secret password, and then 300 people show up dressed in vintage attire and party the night away."
"We never intended to start a professional outfit," Palazzo said regarding their formative years. "We wanted to do it has a hobby, [but] we found ourselves getting gigs." Over the next couple of years the band attracted musicians from prestigious institutions like the Juilliard School and Berklee, accomplished professionals who were unafraid to "get down and dirty" with early American jazz. Slowly, the core group of the band grew to a septet and then an octet, with Mike Sailors on cornet, Jason Prover on trumpet, Evan "Sugar" Crane on sousaphone and bass, Nick Myers on saxophone and clarinet, and Alex "Tastykakes" Raderman on drums.
During the economic downturn known as the Great Recession, the band fortuitously benefited from the mid-2010s hot jazz revival, a Millennial cultural phenomenon emanating from Brooklyn. As a result, there began in New York a "cyclical burst of Jazz Age nostalgia," and this hot jazz revival attracted "a young, fresh crowd" that clamored for a particular strain of throwback jazz "that once would have put it under the Dixieland heading." This revival was largely ascribed to the popularity of television programs such as Martin Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire which renewed interest in the Roaring Twenties and, in particular, the frenzied underground music of the Prohibition-era speakeasies.
Amid this jazz revival, a turning point for the Hot Sardines came in 2010 when they performed for the first time at the speakeasy-themed Shanghai Mermaid, a 6,000-square-foot warehouse behind an unmarked door in Crown Heights. During the apex of the economic recession, the "extravagantly theatrical" Mermaid recreated the decadent atmosphere of a red-walled 1930s cabaret and was the epicenter of the throwback jazz scene, with monthly underground costume parties and aerialists swinging from the ceiling. Due to its local prestige, performing at the Mermaid was deemed a coming-of-age moment in the band's evolution. "We all [still] love playing at the Shanghai Mermaid," Palazzo stated in 2015, "it's about as close as you can get to time-travel to the 1930s."
Soon after, the Sardines' next big break occurred in June 2011 due to Bougerol's ability to sing in both English and French. She had received a cryptic email stating that an unidentified third party was seeking a jazz band that could perform songs in French for a last-minute gig on the forthcoming Bastille Day. She submitted a few video clips of the band's past performances, and they clinched the job. It turned out that the gig was Midsummer Night Swing at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. They performed before a youthful audience of 7,000 swing dancers and brought down the house. After headlining at Lincoln Center, they were "heralded as one of the greatest jazz acts to come out of New York City." Soon after, they served as openers for the jazz trio Bad Plus and French gypsy-jazz artist Zaz.
High-profile gigs started rolling in, and the Sardines' debut album Shanghai'd premiered in July 2011 to favorable reviews. They went on to have 17 consecutive sold-out shows at Joe's Pub starting in 2012. The Sardines were soon invited in 2012 to represent New York in front of 25,000 spectators at Festival d'Île de France in Paris.
The Hot Sardines