A band will often times spend hours, days, even weeks coming
up with the perfect name for their band. Many times they’ll even come up with a
name before making music. Even
more so, they want to make sure it has a hard-hitting meaning.
Hailing from Ocean County, the members of Breathing Blue
went the opposite direction. Using a name that came on the fly, Breathing Blue
has made a name based on their music.
Dolla Bil Facciponte: Let’s talk right away about what’s
new with you guys. You’re working on the release of your first full-length
album. How’s that all going?
Matt Basilotto: It’s
going good. We recorded at The Pilot Studio with our friend Dave Ryan. We
finished recording in February and we’re all really happy with it. We’re looking at a late spring/early summer
release.
Chris Dechert: It’s
all new songs that no one has ever heard. These songs were written strictly for
the record and they haven’t been played out, so it’s all fresh and new.
DB: Do you have a title?
CD: Yeah, it’s
called “Inner Animal.”
DB: Is this album
different from your previous work?
CD: It’s a whole
different ballgame.
Rob Bost: We
found our new sound. Our first EP was like we were trying to find our sound.
Now with the full length, we know what we want to be which is hard-hitting rock
and roll.
DB: Your fans
have gotten used to the sound you had when, as you said, you were trying to
find your sound. Do you think they’ll accept the new album just as much?
MB: We kind of
weaned them into it. We released a couple of singles so they kind of knew what
to expect. We kind of frankensteined a couple of songs. We took some dead songs
and brought them to the new album.
CD: A lot of the
songs had hints of our new rock and roll, southern rock style. All in all, the
thing of us is we’ll always have the same sound. Our singer is very different
and we’re pretty particular about our tones and way we have everything sound.
DB: So now let’s
talk about your past a bit. What brought you guys together to form Breathing
Blue?
MB: Breathing
Blue started about three years ago.
CD: Yeah, we were
all in other bands, some together some separately. Our drummer was in another band and Matt, Rob and I were in
a band together where I was the singer. We broke up and Matt and Rob started a
new band with J.T our current singer. They called me out of the blue and said,
“Hey man, why don’t you come jam and play bass?” I thought it’d be cool so I
went over for our first practice, and the rest is history.
DB: Well where
did the name come from?
CD: We were going
to play our first show and the promoter kept hounding us because he needed a
name to put on the bill. We didn’t
care about a name or even try to think of one. Then for whatever reason, Rob
turns around in the car and says “first band name off the top of your head.” I
said Breathing Blue and we just carried on with it.
DB: Aside from
the upcoming album, you’ll also be playing Bamboozle this year for the third
straight year. What’s that like?
MB: It’s cool.
Especially since it’s in Asbury this year, it’s probably going to be the
coolest Bamboozle yet.
CD: Plus we’re
all big Foo Fighters and Incubus fans, so it’s unreal for us to be playing with
them in our home area. We’re
pretty excited for that and a bunch of other shows we have lined up. We have a
couple of small tours coming up. We’re really just trying to hit the road and
play outside of Jersey. Although,
we do have a big show coming up at the Starland Ballroom with Eve 6 that we’re
getting ready for.
DB: Are you doing
any of your new stuff at the Starland show?
CD: Since the
record has been done, all we do is play new stuff. Whatever our set time is –
oh we have 30 minutes, we can do the first four tracks.
DB: You guys are
pretty young and have done a lot for your age. Is that a weird feeling?
MB: I think sometimes
we forget, but when you put it like that it makes us stop and think, “oh damn.”
CD: It’s like if
you’re a football player and you win all these trophies. After that you think,
“oh I want to get into this college” or “I want to get into the NFL.” So all
the other stuff is cool, but when you think about it and look at all your
trophies, you think “damn” and you’re always just striving to do better and
progress. We have our glory moments, but the next day we’re right back to work.
RB: It goes so
fast. It’s an insane feeling. You forget about it while you’re up there,
especially big shows like Grammercy Theatre. It feels like we’re up there for
two seconds then it’s over.
DB: What kind of
struggles have you guys gone through?
CD: Being in a
band. If anyone ever thinks it’s a great idea to start a band and get a trailer
and go on tour, don’t do it.
DB: Then why do
you do it?
CD: We’re in too
deep at this point. It’s all we know how to do.
MB: Aside from
that, it’s just rough. We’ll get in several fights a day. If you could imagine
a struggle between two people and then on top of that you need money and then
you have a deadline for something and then you have a struggle for trying to
promote stuff. Everything just adds up and it’s a struggle. Sometimes I don’t
even want to tell people I’m in a band because they’ll look at me like a
con-headed-ninny-mugget. Nobody knows there’s more to it than playing music.
RB: Everyone
thinks it’s just fun, which it is, but it’s still a job. It’s one of the
toughest jobs there is.
DB: Have you
found it hard to balance the band and your personal lives?
CD: Absolutely.
MB: I think we’re
getting used to it because we’ve been doing it so long, but it’s still really
hard.
RB: It’s brought
some problems especially with girlfriends and things like that. There were some
situations where it’s torn us apart and changed us. Now it’s all back to the
way it was and we have our sixth member, it was all for the better. If that
didn’t happen then this stuff now probably wouldn’t have, either.
DB: You guys
clearly put a lot of work into what you do and people respect it. Especially
with this interview, you guys were on board right away.
RB: It gets tough
because people hear we’re in a band and think, “oh there’s a million others
just like you.” It doesn’t get me down because the more people tell me that the
harder it makes me want to work. It’s a little discouraging but then I’ll be
like “well I just played to 1500 people last night.”
MB: Sometimes
I’ll laugh with them and just think “I hate you,” but it doesn’t get us down
too much.
DB: Which goes to
show you guys are doing this for the love rather than the glory and money.
CD: When we go on
a weekend tour or do any shows, it’s like, how do you think we get six or seven
hours away? We didn’t make money at the last gig. It’s about whose got money to
put in the van or for a hotel. That all comes out of our pocket and it’s so
worth it to me because there’s no greater feeling than that.
RB: All bands go
through it when they start, you know, going on tour and trying to build a
following.
DB: Some bands
are fortunate to be financially back, but most aren’t, and I think the ones
that aren’t get the most respect because people see bands doing it themselves.
RB: That’s the
goal. Hopefully people give us more of a push because we do do it ourselves. We
want to build a big family of friends and fans that’ll stick with us forever.
CD: We don’t want
to have one big hit and have that be the end of it. I’d love to play to 5,000
people a night. That’d be great, but I’d be perfectly content if we went on
tour and there were 60 to 100 people there if every single one of them came to
the show because they love our music.
DB: In the worst-case
scenario that it doesn’t work out, do you guys have a back-up plan?
CD: (Rob and I
have both said) if you have a back-up plan, then maybe you don’t care that much
about your plan A.
DB: Finally, if
you’re only remembered for one thing, what do you want it to be?
CD: That we’re all
around badass. Cool dudes, cool
music. I mean, think of Led Zeppelin. If you had one word to describe them,
what would it be, you know?
DB: You guys do
what you want to do and it works for you. You’ve found your sound and know
where you want to go which is the biggest part of the battle. You definitely look like you have fun
on stage and I’ve had a great time here. Do you have any final words?
No comments:
Post a Comment