Ron Spears and The Breakfast to Part Ways

[Gfunk]

I\'m speechless. I\'m just gonna do my fucking best to go to every one of these last shows. :sigh: :sadban: :doh: sorry chip.

[Kaliguitar]

Good luck RON!!!!  Me and my family have only been around the Breakfast for a little more then a year but we\'re so happy we were able to experience the band with you holding down the bottom and always with the fullest, funkiest, most groovalicious playing possible.  Good luck with the family...as one door closes another incredible one is opening.

Best of luck!!!!
Chris, Lisa, Caitlin, Carly and Cori

[galenas]

the news of ron\'s departure fills me with sadness on so many levels.... i just can\'t imagine what it would be like to see "the breakfast" without ron holding strong on the bass... such a great musician and an even better person... always keeps it real... obviously all i can do is wish ron and his amazingly beautiful wife all the best as they embark on the journey of parenthood...

and in a way, i do see your point, kindm... do tim, adrian and matt find a new player and embark on their own new beginning? it\'s a tough question. in many ways, the name "the breakfast" is getting to be better known and so it would be tough to start from scratch. but on the other hand, if the new group that forms offers up a different style of playing than we currently know, it may be benefitial to have people come to a show without as many preconceived notions as they may bring to a "breakfast" show... definitely a topic to be debated, with merits on both sides.... as is the case when anything changes in life, it will be interesting to see how this all unfolds.... personally, i\'m looking forward to the unknown and have high hopes for good things to come...

love you, ron. thanks for all the great times.

[leith]

ron you will be missed to say the least, you better drop by every now and then unlike a certain former member...

Dude it\'s not like Jordan was all that welcome to sit in. Have you noticed they don\'t play any Breakfast songs when he sits in?

IMHO

the death of the breakfast has occurred.

Tim should finish the Buquebus epic and the name should die with ron.

with only 2 original members I can see no real reason to carry on as the breakfast.

I felt that PB died when Jordan left but not The Breakfast. They have put too much time and effort into and under The Breakfast moniker. It would really be shooting themselves in the feet to change their name yet again. They would not recover from the loss of visibility in promoter/booking areas to even bother continuing.

KindMs pull it together bro...... like Tim and Adrian aren\'t the heart of the band anyway. Absolutely no way they should disband as long as these two are still playing.

I mean, this sucks, but lets be honest. The band can find another great bass player to fill Ron\'s shoes and maybe even do better.

As long as these virtuoso talents on guitar and drums are with us , long live The Breakfast!

^That\'s pretty much how I feel.
 Tim and Adrian are the heart of the band no doubt about it just as I feel Trey and Fishman were the heart of Phish.
 Ron was a great Bass Player for this band because of how and who he learned the Bass from. He took those lessons and def. made a space for himself well earned on the same stage as Tim and Adrian but there is no doubt in my mind that a completely competent if not better replacement can and will be found.

[The Save]

Now that the news has been announced, I wanted to take the opportunity to use this forum to personally thank everyone who has supported The Breakfast throughout the years. I also wanted to say a few things that I couldn\'t include in the "formal" press release.

Since the beginning of the band I have held the same aspirations as the rest of the band, to tour continuously and do everything we could to succeed. We did it, and we did the hell out of it. However, since Jordan left the band I have had mixed feelings as to what I really desired out of the band and life. We continued to tour and play as many shows as we could, but I no longer had that same drive as I once had. Coming to terms with that was the hard part. I didn’t want to admit to myself that I wasn\'t entirely satisfied by touring with The Breakfast. It was something I had done since I was 18 and a change of that magnitude is not easy to deal with. Although I was still giving 100% every night, something inside me felt incomplete. I just wasn\'t happy being on the road. I would find that many times on tour I was only satisfied when I was on stage. The band and I talked about things we could do to mutually appease both parties but we just couldn\'t reconcile the desires. They still wanted to tour, more than we had been, and I wanted to just focus on the north east. In the end we both decided that since the band still wanted to tour nationally then I should leave my post as bass player. It was a difficult decision and thoroughly considered. The conclusion is that I don\'t have the mental, emotional, or physical stamina to tour nationally anymore at our level.

As for the support and encouragement of the fans, I cannot say thank you enough to all the people who came to the shows and bought our merchandise. Some of you have been there from the early incarnations of The Breakfast and some of you are new, but each fan is so important to this band and your support is sincerely appreciated. The fans are truly the hardest thing for me to leave, and I will be forever grateful to all those who love The Breakfast as much as I do. There are many people who have poured their personal efforts into this band throughout the years and spent countless hours driving to shows, talking about the band, promoting, helping, and pushing us in every way possible. The dedication of many of the fans was something that kept me focused and on track during some of my doubtful times. However, I don\'t want this to sound as if I won\'t be around anymore. That\'s not the case. I still love the music The Breakfast makes and I will be at as many shows as I can be. Only this time I\'ll be on the other end experiencing what many of you have been experiencing for a long time. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Lisa for all her support throughout the years and the many rough spots that this band has seen. She has never given up on the dreams of The Breakfast or me. She is a remarkable woman and that\'s why I love her.

This won\'t be the last you see of me. I\'ll be at the shows, performing in different side projects with Tim and Adrian (how could I quit playing with them cold turkey?), and participating in various musical endeavors that I hope you\'ll all support.

Ron Spears

[Overexjoesure]

Thank you Ron. May God bless you and your family.....


....and so it goes

[Inner_Score]

Thanks Ron, for all you did. I\'m a new TB fan, so I don\'t know the whole catalogue--but I loved the intensity that you brought--that everyone did.

You\'ll surely be missed.

[leith]

Thanks for the personal post Ron.
Good to know you\'re not disappearing.
Trio and GTB fans have something to look forward to at least.

[Kaliguitar]

Ron, Very nicely put.  I\'m sure there are some very disappointed people .....but your honesty is to be respected.

[Drew_Kingsley]

Thanks Save. Good luck with all of your future endeavors: personally, professionally, and musically.

[Ren]

Well I guess that just about says it all.  The music that Ron and the rest of the band made will forever be in my head and heart.  Those guys make me feel things I\'ve never felt before when seeing and listening to music.   I\'m acting like it\'s all over, maybe in a way it really is.  

    Ron, Tim and Adrian are the the obvious core considering how hard they ripped without even having a keyboard player, which is even more obvious with the Good Time Boys.  Back in the day, I used to play Psychedelic Breakfast to this older friend of a friend who was a drummer and way into jazz and r & b, his comments were always the same, "Yeah the drummer and guitar player are unreal but, without that dude thumpin\' out the rhythm, it\'s just a bunch of noise, to be able to keep up with them is NOT easy."  

     What will the Breakfast be like in \'08?  Who knows.  This is something that cannot be forced or rushed for any reason.  Will it be the same?  Will it sound good?  Huge shoes and personality to fill.  To say that Tim and Adrian are the "real" core of the band is stupid, I don\'t really care who I offend, but it is.  And it just isn\'t true.  No band is worth shit without a tight rhythm section, bottom line.  The interplay between these three guys is something you just can\'t go out and find right away, or maybe not at all.  So i guess we\'ll all have to wait and see what the new year will bring...

     I wish that I could find that crazy red-headed, long-haired Ken guy who used to live upstairs from that house I hung out at in New Haven in \'98-\'99, and thank him from the bottom of my heart.  Every weekend he was like, "dude, you totally have to come see my friend Tim\'s band, it\'s like nothing you\'ve ever seen!"  It actually got to be annoying.  I avoided him by going in the back door sometimes.  One night he dragged us to Toad on 3/12/99, and I was speechless.  I was way into DBB, Phish, LOS, and Gov\'t Mule at the time, and the they just knocked me out.  Wish I\'d listened to him earlier.  Who knew it would be for me what it ended up being....

     Ron, I sincerely hope you find happiness and fulfillment through all that you do and with your soon to be little family.  Good luck with EVERYTHING!   I\'ll never forget how approachable you guys were and are, that says a lot, and that is why I came back over and over and over...and over.  

See ya \'round.

Brandon

"Save Side for mutherfuckin\' life!!!"

[helluvahat]

Ronnie, thanks for all the great music buddy!  I give you all the respect in the world for making such an incredibly difficult decision.  There may be other bass players, but they will never fill your shoes....nor will they have such cool shoes!

I look forward to raging with you at some shows!  Also glad to hear side projects will live on.  GTB fo life!!!!

[ds673488]

i agree with rens comments about how much of a talent ron was.  i always was blown away by rons ability to hit the 1st note of a measure perfectly on time while adrian was going nuts on some tension buildup.  its REALLY REALLY difficult to do this as a bass player.  finding someone else who can do it this well will be tough.

[sallyalli]

Oh Ron! Your a great guy and Im going to miss seeing you up in the stage. I dont think that things will ever be the same, but im going to continue supporting this band.
Wow, Im really really sad to see you go. You are the man. hugs
Give Lisa my love and dont think Iwont babysit for you now.




The breakfast has been through so much.




what are they gonna do now?

[postom]

best of luck to you ron.