Patrick Breen
Gig Seeker Pro

Patrick Breen

| Established. Jan 01, 2014 | INDIE

| INDIE
Established on Jan, 2014
Band Rock Singer/Songwriter

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"North of Nittany jams onto music scene"

It's not often that you'll find a local band with such school spirit.

North of Nittany, an up-and-coming alternative jam band, derived its name from North campus and shows the members' school spirit, said guitarist and vocalist Pat Breen (sophomore-theatre).

"We all love our school," Breen said. "You want a band name that everyone's going to remember, and I think we got it. Plus, I lived in North last year, and that's where we really practiced, in my room or in the North Hall's basement."

The band is quickly becoming a rising star in the Penn State music scene. The five-piece, which features the unusual addition of a saxophone, has been developing a major fan base on and around campus. It also plans on putting out an EP sometime in November -- even though the band just got started last year.

Breen said the band came together quite naturally. Last year when he was a freshman, he met a few other freshmen also interested in making music.

"We just wanted to get together and play a few times, you know, just for fun," Breen said. "But after we played through a few songs that we made, we knew that we had something."

From there, the freshmen dove headfirst into songwriting and started playing a few local shows around campus. The audience always seemed to like their music, and they had a lot of supportive friends, so they kept the group going, Breen said.

"We were just looking to get our feet wet and get our sound going," he said. "And pretty soon after that, I met Kyle Snyder, who played saxophone. I didn't think our sound was really saxophone-oriented, but the first time he played with us, it fit perfectly."

Snyder (sophomore-music education) and Breen both categorized their band as an alternative jam band, saying that they've taken a lot of influence from musical groups like Phish and Dave Matthews Band.

"We're more about the music, and we'll play our song out for 10 minutes and not care," Breen said. "We're going to play our song different every single time. We're going to solo different every time, and we're going to sing something a little different every time.

"People who regularly come to our concerts have told us that even though they've heard the song before, it's refreshing to hear it played differently because it keeps it new and interesting."

Breen said he thinks North of Nittany has a different sound than other local bands, mainly because the band has "something for everyone." Describing his music as both funky and easygoing, Breen said he believes that whoever listens to the band will find something to like in its music.

Snyder said he also thinks North of Nittany has more chemistry than some other local bands.

"I do, I think we have a really good chemistry that makes us really fun to listen to," he added.

The band plans on putting out two new EPs in the next few months, with one of them being released in November. The November release should be a self-titled EP with six tracks that their regular fan base should already be familiar with. If that goes over well, the band will put out another EP, tentatively scheduled for April, featuring six of its newer songs.

The band members are recording and mixing their EP themselves.

"We want to keep it really simple," Breen said. "Our goal with this particular EP is just to get our sound out there. The six tracks on there are really different; they're really diverse. We feel like you'll get a really good feel for us through this CD."

They've already released one song, titled "Piece of Mind," which will be featured on their upcoming EP.

Breen said the song is saxophone-oriented, and they released it early to hook people into wanting to buy the CD.

The song is available on their MySpace, www.myspace.com/ northofnittany, but Breen said to not let their released track stand as a substitution for seeing them in concert.

"We're definitely a live band, and I think if you see us live and then get the CD, you'll appreciate the CD more," Breen said.

Locally, North of Nittany has been doing a lot of recent work with State College booking company Nittany Booking. Breen noted that the band Cloverleaf, which has strong ties to Nittany Booking, tends to help them out a lot.

"Cloverleaf is like our mentor band; they look out for us," Breen said.

Garrett Bogden (junior-marketing), co-founder of Nittany Booking and drummer for Cloverleaf, only gave the highest praise when asked about North of Nittany.

"I love those guys," he said. "I think they write really cool music and I'm really glad that there are more local bands out there who are trying to be original."

Breen said that while they are trying to get their name out there more, they're just in the band for the basic reasons -- to play music and enjoy it.

"We're not trying to be rock stars with a huge sound," Breen said. "Yeah, we're serious about what we do, but if it was all over today, I'd be happy with what we've done thus far. We just want to hav - The Daily Collegian


"North of Nittany jams onto music scene"

It's not often that you'll find a local band with such school spirit.

North of Nittany, an up-and-coming alternative jam band, derived its name from North campus and shows the members' school spirit, said guitarist and vocalist Pat Breen (sophomore-theatre).

"We all love our school," Breen said. "You want a band name that everyone's going to remember, and I think we got it. Plus, I lived in North last year, and that's where we really practiced, in my room or in the North Hall's basement."

The band is quickly becoming a rising star in the Penn State music scene. The five-piece, which features the unusual addition of a saxophone, has been developing a major fan base on and around campus. It also plans on putting out an EP sometime in November -- even though the band just got started last year.

Breen said the band came together quite naturally. Last year when he was a freshman, he met a few other freshmen also interested in making music.

"We just wanted to get together and play a few times, you know, just for fun," Breen said. "But after we played through a few songs that we made, we knew that we had something."

From there, the freshmen dove headfirst into songwriting and started playing a few local shows around campus. The audience always seemed to like their music, and they had a lot of supportive friends, so they kept the group going, Breen said.

"We were just looking to get our feet wet and get our sound going," he said. "And pretty soon after that, I met Kyle Snyder, who played saxophone. I didn't think our sound was really saxophone-oriented, but the first time he played with us, it fit perfectly."

Snyder (sophomore-music education) and Breen both categorized their band as an alternative jam band, saying that they've taken a lot of influence from musical groups like Phish and Dave Matthews Band.

"We're more about the music, and we'll play our song out for 10 minutes and not care," Breen said. "We're going to play our song different every single time. We're going to solo different every time, and we're going to sing something a little different every time.

"People who regularly come to our concerts have told us that even though they've heard the song before, it's refreshing to hear it played differently because it keeps it new and interesting."

Breen said he thinks North of Nittany has a different sound than other local bands, mainly because the band has "something for everyone." Describing his music as both funky and easygoing, Breen said he believes that whoever listens to the band will find something to like in its music.

Snyder said he also thinks North of Nittany has more chemistry than some other local bands.

"I do, I think we have a really good chemistry that makes us really fun to listen to," he added.

The band plans on putting out two new EPs in the next few months, with one of them being released in November. The November release should be a self-titled EP with six tracks that their regular fan base should already be familiar with. If that goes over well, the band will put out another EP, tentatively scheduled for April, featuring six of its newer songs.

The band members are recording and mixing their EP themselves.

"We want to keep it really simple," Breen said. "Our goal with this particular EP is just to get our sound out there. The six tracks on there are really different; they're really diverse. We feel like you'll get a really good feel for us through this CD."

They've already released one song, titled "Piece of Mind," which will be featured on their upcoming EP.

Breen said the song is saxophone-oriented, and they released it early to hook people into wanting to buy the CD.

The song is available on their MySpace, www.myspace.com/ northofnittany, but Breen said to not let their released track stand as a substitution for seeing them in concert.

"We're definitely a live band, and I think if you see us live and then get the CD, you'll appreciate the CD more," Breen said.

Locally, North of Nittany has been doing a lot of recent work with State College booking company Nittany Booking. Breen noted that the band Cloverleaf, which has strong ties to Nittany Booking, tends to help them out a lot.

"Cloverleaf is like our mentor band; they look out for us," Breen said.

Garrett Bogden (junior-marketing), co-founder of Nittany Booking and drummer for Cloverleaf, only gave the highest praise when asked about North of Nittany.

"I love those guys," he said. "I think they write really cool music and I'm really glad that there are more local bands out there who are trying to be original."

Breen said that while they are trying to get their name out there more, they're just in the band for the basic reasons -- to play music and enjoy it.

"We're not trying to be rock stars with a huge sound," Breen said. "Yeah, we're serious about what we do, but if it was all over today, I'd be happy with what we've done thus far. We just want to hav - The Daily Collegian


Discography

Debut Album coming soon!

Photos

Bio

Patrick Breen is a 27-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist & Syracuse NY native. In July of 2012, after working on several different projects, within a variety of genres, and doing everything from session work to engineering/music production- Patrick finally embarked on project of his own.

In July of 2012, Patrick began work on his debut album with producer Ron Alan Cohen. The album will feature songs, all written by Patrick Breen & arranged by Patrick and Ron. In October of 2013, Patrick released his debut single, Lay Me Down which was accompanied by his debut music video (available on YouTube & iTunes). Closing out 2013, Patrick released one more single titled Winds of Change which is available on iTunes.

January 14, 2014 marked Patricks first release of the New Year! Too Late is another music video/single combo and is available on YouTube and iTunes. Patrick is still writing and recording new material and plans to have a full-length album available in 2014! Patrick has also started production on his next music video, titled The Ride coming soon!

Band Members