Last night I traveled to The House of Blues in Downtown Disney to check out a rock outfit by the name of The Breaking. Unfortunately, I was too busy drinking and roaming around Downtown Disney to catch any of the opening acts, but I managed to stagger back to the HOB in time to catch The Breaking.

The fact that they were playing a free show at one of the more prestigious venues in Orange County, CA, suggested that these guys probably had their act together. Since one of my cohorts, Jason Decell, just so happens to be the man that engineered and mixed their latest album, I got to listen to them in depth on the road to Anaheim.

There are studio bands, and there are kick ass bands. Studio bands usually suck supremely when it comes to playing live without the studio magic handicap. Kick ass bands of course excel at kicking ass live, and you never really know what they’re going to produce in the studio. After hearing the polished, produced recordings, I must admit part of me feared that The Breaking might in fact be a studio band. Luckily, that was not the case.

Aside from the vocals being a bit lower in the mix than I would have liked, these guys sounded incredible on stage at the House of Blues. I was off to the side (because I get separation anxiety if I wander too far from the bar),  but the band still sounded phenomenal from where I was.

The crowd was engaged but definitely could have been a bit more involved. Most of the kids were just standing there staring at the band, waiting for opportunities to yell and clap in between songs. I think one of the reason there wasn’t much going on during the show on the floor is because the audience was dominated by females. Which of course is definitely not a bad thing. It’s also a bit of an accomplishment for a rock band with a little more edge and a lack of wimpiness (like The Breaking).

If you’re into melodic hard rock, you should definitely check these guys out. Even if you’re not into the genre, you should try to catch these guys live simply for the fact that they’re the only color-coordinated hard rock band around with matching ties.

Check out their official site for more info.

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Tags: The Breaking

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 7:03 pm and is filed under Rock. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.