Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
9 of 10
It's been a long time since I've had trouble writing about a record that I really love. I don't wanna list bands that they sound like, because people will automatically assume that they are a rip off. This record is true art. I can tell they are influenced by bands like Radiohead, DJ Shadow, Faith No More, U2, and Thursday. Campaign Moving Slow is We.re All Broken's collective influences clashing and creating an inventive and just plain original sounding record. "Baltimore" starts off with an eerie cleanly picked guitar riff, before the band follows the riff up with a solid rhythm to back it, and honest vocals that can't leave my head when I go to sleep at night, and some solid ass Dave Grohl style drumming. The musicianship of this entire band all fused together is mind blowing, because every musician in the band is phenomenal. Their songs are very diverse; you've got your heavy, catchy rock songs, and your totally mellow jams, with sweet and tasteful riffs that don't go overboard. This record was produced at Big Blue Meenie Recording Studios in New Jersey by Erin Farley (Whose Engineering Credits include: Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, Sick Of It All, and Christiansen). It's a solid production, and will sound awesome where ever you play it. "Long Pause/Short Pause" is a dark and dreary jam in the vein of Engine Down. "Estella" is one of my favorite songs on the album, it starts off with a tap delay guitar riff that is very dreamy sounding, and "The Red Carpet Welcome" has an amazing hip hop type DJ Shadow beat, and the band totally shreds on this song with Acoustic guitars, and play some things that I didn't even know could be played on guitar. If you're an open minded person that can sit down and listen to an amazing, diverse and musically phenomenal record, this is the album for you
- Absolute Punk
If you can describe the driving force behind the New Jersey hardcore punk band We’re All Broken, the word “community” comes to mind. This is a band that doesn’t sit around waiting for something to happen; they make it happen. And to up the ante, the members Warren Swan (vocals), Frank Giokas and Jarett Quintana (guitars), Joe Sudano (bass), and Joe Pedulla (drums), have quit their day jobs in order to focus more on reaching the masses, as well as help the Jersey/New York punk community pick up momentum. And for Pedulla, he’s seen both the apex and the bottom line of the scene.
“Overall, things are starting to pick up. I’ve seen legendary places like the Firehouse and the Pipeline go under. But it seems like things are starting to slope up. We plan to do our part. We’re still playing the same shows. We want to give the kids something positive, and getting out and building a new generation is something we can do.”
This has also allowed the band to spend more time touring their latest release, Campaign Moving Slow (Fidelity Records), and album that is diverse as it is heavy.
“We come from a broad spectrum of artists and influences. This album is very moody and covers a wide spectrum of style. Each song is uniquely different that was written over the course of five years.”
With that long to shuffle through songs, how does this affect the band today? Pedulla explains that they are simple different people who have grown together as a group.
So does this mean it’s time to work on some new songs? The band is one step ahead of you. Between shows, We’re All Broken plan to head back into the studio for a new release in the near future. –Andrew Duncan
- Chord
“Even when things may be going bad – no kids at the show, no money, no food-you can still have the best time you’ve ever had,” states Frank Giokas of New Jersey’s We.re All Broken. Giokas who is responsible for the one half of the dual guitar asult heard on the band’s debut, Campaign Moving Slow,insists that this mindset and attitude hakept the band going strong for nearly six years.
Although the band has shared the stage with hardcore mainstays such as Thursday, My Chemical Romance, and Dillinger Escape Plan, chances are this is the first time you’ve seen this band grce the pages of a magazine. Thankfully, these Jersey boys are as humble as can be, and they are more than thrilled that their garage project has excalated to a full time gig.
“It has really taken us farther that I had expected. We’re gotten to see areas of the country we would otherwise never have gone to,” basses Joe Sudano, “and wehave made incredible friends with people who have a genuine love and respect for music.”
Campaign Moving Slow is stacked with hard-hitting songs that will provoke the jaded hardcore kid in you. The record is jam-packed with metal riffage, operatic cameos, and thunderous drums; all fronted by refreshing vocals and lyrics of singer Waqrren Swan.
As ideological as a hardcore band can be, We.re All Broken’s moniker is a lyrical and credo from their oddly titled “Bovine Scatology..” Our music is an attempt at push the envelope,” calims guitarist Jarett Quintana. “We seek to creat art that is not generic, choosing a more difficult path to express the feeling that we all collectively share. It’s not just us: we’re all broken.”
- Law of Inertia
We’re All Broken/”Campaign Moving Slow” (Fidelity Records/2004)
The North Jersey five-piece formerly known as Unsound makes its full-length debut with an album that should play really well with the Mars Volta crowd, but could just as easily find an ear with open-minded punks. At times magnificent (“Long Pause/Short Pause,” “Ambrosia”), at times maddening (“Bit in the Head By a Woolf,” “Vomit On The Boardwalk”), “Campaign” attempts to find balance between a screaming hardcore foundation and a more melodic experimental bent. It’s a laudable effort, as the band envelops lead singer Warren Zwan’s achingly beautiful delivery with ambient guitar, driving riffs and even viola and operatic backing on “Hail Vagabond Bride.” The band pulls off its balancing act quite well… perhaps a bit too well. It’s hard to stick a finger on exactly who’s going to like this CD, but We’re All Broken’s sound is such that you’ll either be left looking for more or wondering just what the point was. A piece of abstract art, “Campaign” is brilliant, even if not fit for mass consumption. Personal favorites:
“Baltimore,” “Ambrosia,” “Long Pause/Short Pause,” “Estella” and “Bovine Scatology.” – Jason Notte hushnj.com
- Hush
Discography
7-Inch (title TBD) - Engineer/Koi records June 2005
"Campaign Moving Slow" full-length LP - Fidelity Records July 2004
(Various songs played regularly on WSOU Seaton Hall Radio also three songs streaming on Purevolume:
http://www.purevolume.com/wereallbroken )
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
We.re All Broken is the band that plays with everyone but never fits the bill. Descriptions of a spacey-mid-nineties-post-hardcore “slash” rock sound keep surfacing. The dichotomy of We.re All Broken’s sound evokes every thought from “I’ve never heard a riff like that before” to “that’s totally what I needed.”
Since 1998 a long, rocky shore has been traveled. The five-piece has always been an odd ball in the New Jersey/New York indie scene. Travel five minutes into New Jersey and you’ll land in Palisades Park where the band is based. During the late high school and early college years, the boys were a NJ hardcore band called Unsound that was heavily influenced the New York Punk rock/hardcore scene. Around 2000, the band changed their name to We.re All Broken and shifted their focus to better song structures. They intended to keep intensity and straightforwardness as a main priority, but expected more out of their listeners – with the exception of large pits for their breakdowns. Over the years they’ve developed a uniquely heavy sound that attempts to thwart expectations but still exemplifies a good, tight song.
After quitting their jobs in mid-2003, the outcasts finally left the NY area and completed a full US tour. Since then, self-booked east coast and midwest tours have brought We.re All Broken together with hardcore, rock, punk, and ska bands from all over. They basically teamed up with any band that was willing to go. Over the years these hard-working DIY guys have shared stages with bands like Thursday, My Chemical Romance, Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, Finch, Folly, Most Precious Blood, This Day Forward, and Murder By Death. The list goes on and on…and all this was done on their own.
We.re All Broken’s first full-length album on Fidelity records, Campaign Moving Slow (2004), had them on the road for eight months out of the year. In between tours last summer, Warped Tour dates became available and the band seized the opportunity playing to tens of thousands along the east coast. 2005 Warped Tour dates are in the works.
The band has recently completed a video directed by Grey Skies Production (video credits include My Chemical Romance) and co-directed by Steve Pedulla (video credits include Thursday, GlassJaw, God Forbid) for “Ambrosia.” While their video was edited, the group recorded acoustic and remixed versions of a few album tracks for a seven-inch due out in June 2005 on Engineer/Koi Records (Hot Water Music, Plans Mistaken for Stars, Chamberline). With constant touring and a new, early 2006 release WAB’s not letting up one bit. Check them out for yourself and you will find we.re all broken.
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