Miss Mojo band members Piper Browne and Leo Skovron cite a Southport Hall Live Music and Party Hall event for Browne’s sorority being cancelled as the event that gave them momentum. With the venue booked, Miss Mojo capitalized on the situation and filled the entire venue.

Formerly known as Cakewalk, the band was started by a group of Tulane students. Its name has since changed to Miss Mojo and this January it released its first EP, “Up & Personal.” Currently, the band consists of eight members: bassist Leo Skovron, vocalists Piper Browne and Jenna Winston, keyboardist/organist and singer Rob Kellner, guitarist Cody Greenstein, drummer Mack Major, trumpet player Ashton Hines and Jeremy Phipps on the trombone.

The sound that the eight person band delivers is what it calls “soul pop.”

“A lot of the music that we started playing, before we had originals that we were really proud of, a lot of it was covers of old funk and soul tunes from the ’70s and some New Orleans R&B songs,” Kellner said. “We definitely draw from those influences, we have a lot of funk in what we play and we love doing that.”

The energy of the city, combined with the two brass players, who are natives of New Orleans, also contributes to much of their inspiration. Independent from Miss Mojo, Phipps is currently playing with Solange, while Hines leads his own band, Ashton Hines and the Big Easy Brawlers. Browne believes that Hines’ talent as a live performer contributes to elevating Miss Mojo’s performances to another level.

“When he plays with his band he’s the singer, he’s the trumpet player, he’s the hype man,” Browne said. “He literally does everything for three hours straight very late into the night.”

Over the summer, the band traveled to Neptone Studios in Destin, Florida where the EP was recorded. Donnie Sundal, the operator of the studio, hosted the band for four nights, the whole time of which was spent working.

Moving forward, Miss Mojo’s goal is to reach audiences on a global scale.

“We know how to connect with the crowd and get the crowd moving and to ensure that it’s just gonna be a really fun night, but in order to really reach the nationwide audience and the international audience, we need to be online,” Skovron said. “The release of this album is a big step in that direction.”

“Up & Personal” can be found on Spotify and iTunes.

Miss Mojo has upcoming shows this month, starting Feb. 23 at The Boot, Feb. 26 at The Howlin’ Wolf, where the band will be opening for Dumpstaphunk and Feb. 27 at Maison, where Miss Mojo will perform all night.