recordbreaker

I know you're always reading bios of bands that read like they were written by some unsolicited rock journalist wannabe, so let's cut the shit. I'm the singer and principle songwriter in Recordbreaker. Obviously, I'm biased, but give me two minutes of your time and allow me to convince you.

It's Rock 'n' Roll. That's the best way to describe it. We play high energy, hook-laden, melodic songs with themes of love, anger and change. There are five of us: two guitars, bass, keyboards and drums with lots of vocals and (on the recording) even some horns. Our influences are clearly there: from The Beatles (duh) and The Who all the way through to Supergrass, Sloan and Wilco. But we do it our way. And as far as I've observed, nobody does it like we do it. Like I said, I write most of the tunes but we all contribute and we always make a Recordbreaker song. We write what we wanna hear. Most of the stuff we do hear, we don't wanna hear, and the stuff we do wanna hear, we never hear. So the music that emerges is carefully crafted to be both enjoyable to the mainstream listener but complete with doors and windows for true music fans to discover and open.

If you want to know how we got together read ahead; if not skip the next two paragraphs. It started shortly after I moved to Toronto from Winnipeg. I met up with a buddy, also from the 'Peg and he introduced me to the guitar player in his band. Musically, we hit it off, so I swiped him from my friend’s group. He brought in everyone else. High school friends Marco Ursi and Daniel Primerano, the "Package", came with sticks and keys respectably. Phil Snell, the quiet, but explosive guitar player, slumming it on the bass and me, Graeme Lang, playing rhythm guitar and singing. We put together a hard rockin', 70s thing, gigged around Toronto and made a record, but friction between the guitar player and the rest of the group soon escalated to the point of self destruct. After regrouping without the guitar player, we all realized how much we loved playing music together, and decided to forge ahead. We moved Phil to his rightful spot on lead guitar and got in long time pal Matt Cameron on the bass.

Dropping the 70s template, we soon developed our own unique flavor of Rock 'n' Roll and were finally gelling as a band. Having Marco's rock solid, intricate drumming, Daniel's mood-setting keyboard tones, Matt's melodic, soulful bass playing, and Phil's mind blowing guitar leads combined with my songs was the culmination of my Rock 'n' Roll dreams. Everything was perfect, we were writing feverishly, playing shows to our friends who couldn't believe it was us and couldn't be happier, and neither could we. Then Phil got sick and couldn't play. We were devastated. Our good friend and musical virtuoso, Tyler De Witt filled in for some shows but couldn't take Phil's place. We were lost and our future was on the line. But just before we were about to give up, Phil made a miraculous recovery and rejoined the fold. It was the second time it was all at stake and we bounced back at full steam. We are truly a blessed band. Renaming ourselves for the last time we unanimously decided on the fitting Recordbreaker, and set straight to work on our first record. The resulting EP is City Heat and we are very proud parents.

With City Heat, our debut EP, out and selling quickly, an incendiary live show and five engaging musical characters, Recordbreaker must be recognized. We do Rock 'n' Roll the way it should be done, with no inhibitions, no bullshit and a genuine passion for making music exciting, interesting, and indispensable. We want you to feel about music the way we do, and the best way for us to to do that is make honest, believable Rock 'n' Roll, that you haven't heard a thousand times before. Just take one listen to City Heat. I guarantee you'll believe every word I've written.