New York City

So after a crazy beginning, the Breckenwood NYC trip is coming to an end. Cam came up on Wednesday with Kelly, Garrett took a bus up on Thursday and Claudia and I drove up on Friday. I was supposed to pick up Garrett's guitar and amp from his house, but the door was locked with no way in, so we had to leave without it, prompting him to purchase a new Fender guitar for the show. For us, the drive in was uneventful and we're hoping the return journey will be to. Cam is leaving around nowish according to his plan and Garrett is leaving tomorrow. While we were here, we go to see a lot of the city, eat NY pizza and play a decent show for a great crowd.

Bar East

About 24 hours ago from now, Breckenwood took the stage at Bar East in Manhattan, and it was an interesting one with lots of talent throughout the night. We found out we were the headlining band after we got into the building, which added to the night. By the time we finally got to perform, the tube amp Garret borrowed wouldn't warm up properly, so we ended up borrowing the house guitar amp as well as the bass amp. It started out iffy at best, but we all grew more comfortable, except Cam, who wasn't able to use 3 cymbals for the show he was used to using. We got a live recording that sounds really good (except for all of our mistakes). Garrett says Nothing Left to Prove sounds the best and Life After You is terrible because I don't know the song at ALL. Its on my to do list now. Before our next shows, we definitely need to get a few more rehearsals in. We even added All the Small Things to the set, which we still have never played in practice, and pulled it off alright, thanks to the crowd singing along. I'd just like to thank Garrett's cousins, Cam's uncles, Kelly and Claudia as well as everyone else who stuck around to watch us. As of initially posting this, I have found out that Bar East would like us to perform there again, so look for us in the warmer months!

Buffalo Harbors Benefit Show

In a hidden gem of Buffalo, The Game Room on the 2nd floor of 700 Main Street was a great place to see. There was a giant Twister like floor design right in front of the stage with a 6 foot chess board on the floor complete with 1 foot tall pieces. Along the back wall were probably 15-20 old school arcade and pinball machines. This is definitely a cool place to check out. The people who work there were mad chill and easy to get along with. The stage itself was raised about 2-3 feet from the floor and had all kinds of cool lights and even a smoke machine. There were even local businesses representing themselves including the Liquid Energy Juice Bar. They had samples of wheat grass shots that were surprisingly good, so everyone should check it out. There was also a food station and a beer distributor, that I wasn't able to check out. The opening bands/acts were pretty good, but of course everything ran a little behind, but it was a very successful event for producer Andrew Stanek. Our set was quite good, despite Lambros not showing up. The crowd response seemed really good as we played a nice full set consisting of Rediscovery, The Middle, Emergency, Nothing Left to Prove, Are you Gonna be My Girl, Our Acoustic Song I cant remember the title of and ending with Loser of the Year. We then bullshitted a cover of All the Small Things due to the demand for an encore. After the second or third song though, Garrett cut open his finger again and was bleeding profusely all over the stage, his guitars and own hand, but he made it through. All in all, it ended up being a great night, and hopefully we will have some new video and audio posted online on our facebook.

Second Show

Breckenwood goes on to perform their second show tonight at 11:15 at The Game Room in Buffalo, NY. We currently have some momentum going for us, with a recent second place victory at a battle of the bands and a few more shows coming up in the next few weeks. We are hoping to get a good live recording to use as part of a promo pack for use to get into the University at Buffalo battle of the bands on March 11. Despite all that is going for us, there is bad news. Lambros has decided to part ways with the band after the show tomorrow, leaving Breckenwood a power trio. After a run through of the set list earlier this week, Cam, Garrett and I decided we can pull off the trio, and just "hire" a guitarist when needed. For anyone who wants to check us out tonight, we go on late, but there are great acts tonight, including Stu Fuchs of Babik,On Guard, Mel Latimer and A Relative Term all for Buffalo's waterfront!

2nd Place

So, I got a call two nights ago while in the library from Garrett saying we took second place at the Tralf, meaning we won $200 in a mastering gift certificate from Supernova. That said, there is still a lot going on in the next couple of weeks. We headline a show next Friday at 700 Main Street in Buffalo starting at 8 P.M. then we're off to the Big Apple. There are also two more shows in the works. One is a Battle of the Bands at UB on March 10th and the other is a show my friend is helping put together at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.