Hi guys, for those who might not be as familiar with your band as I am; please let our new readers know, what type of band you are?
Hi guys, for those who might not be as familiar with your band as I am; please let our new readers know, what type of band you are?
Thanks for taking the time to chat with us John! We are a 4 piece Indie Rock band from Buffalo, New York. We play music that makes us feel good!
Can you give us a brief history of your band, how did you all come together?
I (Nicholas) was playing out acoustically when I was a wee little lad, but that wasn’t completely satisfying my hunger of wanting to be a dirty sweaty rockstar. In 2009, I decided to ditch the acoustic and grab an electric. Shortly after my decision, I met Bud. Bud joined me in making music on lead guitar. We went through some member changes when it came to bassists and drummers, but now we’ve returned with a lineup that has us feeling confident. Our bassist David, who’s been with us in the past has returned to the lineup for good, and our new drummer Jared will be rockin the kit the next time you see us.
I know your big fans of the band Mae, but who else are your musical and non-musical influences?
Haha. It’s funny you mention the band Mae (see question 5). When it comes to musical influences, the list is endless. I think we absorb something from every tune we listen to and like, and the influence of those artists can vary from being microscopic to being immense. For example; Sigur Ros has always been a huge influence, but if you listened to that band and then our music, you would say “Not even close”. We take tiny elements of artists we like and try to incorporate them into a melting pot. Other artists would be Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Brandon Flowers, etc.
Who writes your songs, and what would you say they are mostly about?
Songwriting in The Breathing Tree only varies a bit. I’d say about 80% of the songs are written by me (Nicholas) at home, and then I bring them to the band for them to add their own stylings and flavor to them. Occasionally, we will start a jam in practice that will lead to us writing an entire song collectively. Lyrically, I do write all of the lyrics and the topics vary from love, to loss, to self discovery.
So why did you guys go to Nashville, and what did you learn while you were there?
We took an eleven day trip down to the music city to track a new EP with frontman and founder of MAE; Dave Elkins. It was a blast and we learned a ton throughout our time there. We learned how to deal with 106 degree weather on a daily basis. We learned to talk in our souther drawls. We learned that catfish isn’t much different tasting than your standard fish fry. But most of all, we learned about ourselves. How to push our musical creativity to new heights and really shine in the studio.
What type of reaction did you get from those in Nashville when you told them you were from Buffalo?
I don’t think we needed to tell anyone. Everyone was sizing us up from 50 feet away.
How do you promote your band and shows? What social media do you use, are there twitters and facebook pages we should be following?
Word of mouth will always be the most reliable way to get the word out. We’re very fortunate to have platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to help us reach audiences that we couldn’t otherwise. These social medias are an insanely helpful way to stay in touch with fans.
facebook.com/thebreathingtree
and twitter.com/tbtmusic8.
So I understand there’s a music video, when will we be seeing that, and what’s it about? Does it have anything to do with Bud’s beard?
We don’t want to give too much away about it. But it’ll surface near the fall. Bud’s beard will make a cameo, I’m sure.
What can we expect on the new EP that’s coming out?
Flamenco and Salsa! But not really. Expect 4 songs that each show a different side of The Breathing Tree. When this band started out, I always had the mindset that we would never write the same song twice. We wanted to challenge ourselves by always changing, progressing, and finding a new sound. I think this idea is vital to a bands lifespan. It helps keep things fresh and interesting. I’m not saying that you’ll pop in the new cd and hear me screaming along to double bass on the first track, and then hear a polka on the following track. All I mean is that each song shows off different elements of who we are.
What’s been you’re best rock star moment?
Honestly, recording this new EP. Working from 9am to 3am day after day to quite literally put our blood sweat and tears into these songs. It’s definitely the hardest we’ve pushed ourselves and we think it was well worth it.
Now that we got the general stuff out of the way, lets do some speed round questions and we’re going to get a little geeky or pop culture on you for our readers:
Pepsi or Coke?
Coke, for sure.
Food Network shows or ESPN?
ESPN
Dogs or Cats?
Dogs allllll the way
Autobots or Decepticons?
Megan Fox
Darth Vader of Anakin Skywalker?
Vader!
The Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin?
3:16 baby
Soft Chocolate Chip or Hard Chocolate Cookies?
Soft and heated up in the microwave for a few seconds
Storage Wars or American Pickers?
Storage Wars because Barry is a saint.
Avengers or X-Men?
X-Men, hands down.
Zombies or Vampires?
Zombies, but not the ones from George Romero’s last few films. (eeek)
Thoughts on: 80’s music:
80’s music is great. No body will ever be able write a ballad like they did back then. And those big snare sounds??
90’s music:
Decent, but no 80’s. I feel like you’ve gotta really dig deep to find the good tunes from the 90’s. However, One Headlight by the Wallflowers still may be my favorite song of all time. Nothing gets me quite like the hum of that Hammond B3.
Music of the last 12 years, the 2000’s
Shoot me.
And finally, will you guys be performing live any time soon, and where can we see you play?
It’s been quite a while, but alas we have returned. Our first show back in about 8 months (!) is on August 1st at Mohawk Place in Buffalo, NY. It’s only a $5 show. Can’t beat it!
Is there anything different about Buffalo crowds than elsewhere?:
Every crowd we’ve played in front of has been different. Not only from a tour standpoint, but even within Buffalo. You never really know what kind of crowd you’ve got in front of you, so we do the best to pull it out of them. I will say though, that playing Buffalo will always be a treat to us. We have had more fun here than any of the other cities we’ve played.
Thanks guys, I'll be sure to be at that show on April 1st and we'll have a follow up right here on The BOOM Page and some pictures as well.
