The Breakfast

Moxie Epoxy - The Breakfast
2006-10-24
Horizon Music Group

The Breakfast’s fifth album is essentially a farewell to the old. Also their second album with Horizon Music Group, this is likely the band’s final recording with keyboardist Jordan Giangreco, whose recent departure leaves the band as a three piece. Still, Giangreco's keys are all over Moxie Epoxy and at least the farewell isn’t a sour-sounding one. Actually, Moxie Epoxy is an album that should act to draw some talented keyboardists to any tryouts that might be in the works. If I could play, I’d be there in a second!

The tracks are band efforts, featuring the pen work of all four members, guitarist/vocalist Tim Palmieri’s words filling the bulk of the disc. “Psygn” ends near an impressive, and generous, 11 minutes, both allowing the band to explore the song’s base and give a taste of what the live version might sound like. At five-and-a-half minutes in, Giangreco’s keys start to shutter, words fall away and the jam is on, much in a Phish style at times, even borrowing on some of guitarist Trey Anastasio’s trademarked siren sounds. Though Giangreco’s contribution adds a lot to the effect of these songs, it’s easy to tell that Palmieri, bassist/vocalist Ron Spears and drummer Adrian Tramontano, still have plenty to say if they remain a trio.

For lack of anything to complain about, this is an album accessible to rock snobs (“Surreal Radio” has Queens of the Stone Age similarities and “Intension” has its Jane’s Addiction moments), jam-rock sticklers (all songs lend themselves to and perspire scene-familiar sounds) and blues-rock faithful (“Tricky Ways”), leaving a rather broad swath. Even when the energy falls, it does so tastefully -- the Beatlesque “Good Things,” for example, with its understated piano and guitar lines while Palmieri sings himself into realizing that “good things need a little rest."

Seeing Giangreco step away, it seems the split is a friendly one and the time they shared wasn’t for naught. They share memories, songs, music, fans and the knowledge that the only thing stopping them from playing together again (or not) is a simple decision. Here, at least, is a final statement from the four, one to buy, and a door swinging open for the remaining three to test the waters anew. Here’s to not stopping…
- Jambands.com - Jeremy Sanchez

Toad’s Place, New Haven, CTOctober 27, 2006

The show was billed as “The Breakfast’s 8th Annual ‘Fonghoulish Freakout’ Halloween Party and Costume Ball,” and signified a long-awaited homecoming from a lengthy road trip. As a result, the hardwood floor at Toad’s Place rumbled with anticipation as a costumed Breakfast took the stage.

There was no introduction, no welcome speeches and no banter to open the show. The band got right down to business, opening with a highly danceable drum beat from drummer Adrian Tramontano that pulsated alone for a few moments before the band launched into its opener, “May Fly Disarray.” The music was relentless and injected energy into an already intense, costumed crowd.








Early into its first set, the band launched into the highly progressive “Psygn,” which is the opening track on the new album, Moxie Epoxy. If the studio recording captured half the energy in the live performance of the song, it should be a great opener. Still in the first set, the band embarked on a jam at the end of “See the Light,” worth noting for Ron Spears’ bouncing bass line and the brilliant, ambient color provided by Tim Palmieri’s guitar. On the next song, an up-tempo 12-bar blues called “Tricky Ways,” Palmieri did double duty, soloing on both guitar and keyboards, and proving to be equally impressive on both.

The second set belonged to drummer Tramontano. His mid-set drum solo was jaw-dropping, and he added both complexity and intensity to the second set’s straight-ahead rock covers, Grand Funk Railroad’s “American Band” and Nirvana’s “Lithium.”

The highlight of the night was the funky (and a bit silly) original tune “Taboo or Not Taboot,” which fit in nicely with the lunacy of the band and the added comic relief of their costumes: Palmeiri as Jimi Hendrix, complete with a four-foot diameter afro wig; Spears as some sort of bizarre nutcracker with indescribable futuristic glasses; and Tramontano cleverly disguised as the drummer for The Breakfast.

“Taboo or Not Taboot” also showed what had been evident throughout the night: When it comes to pure musicianship, the members of The Breakfast can stand up with any jam or progressive band in America. - Relix Magazine- Keith McBride