Breakfast vs. UM chat

[Wolfman]

I think that this is good exposure for the band because it is not one of us from the boards who started this thread. It means we have fans outside of this small 800 person community. People want Breakfast, and you have to give the people what they want.

I guess now all we have to do, is get these people to the shows...

I completely agree with you here.  The fact that someone over there was comparing the 2 bands in any way and that other people were acknowledging and responding to it as a legitimate comparison is nice.

[Stephengencs]

4/9/05 Ep.II>No Quarter>Ep.II = most amazing breakfast i have heard in my ears......until saturday

[Marcial]

Tell those in search of a slow jam to check out \'Gypsy Girl\' from 1/26/01.  Beautiful!

Zurflu.... we are trying to GET fans here, not lose fans....

[Marcial]

KindM\'s Droppin SER Breakfast Science on our asses....NICE!!!

like if his name was Buttafingas...

[skalnbyc]

Tell those in search of a slow jam to check out \'Gypsy Girl\' from 1/26/01.  Beautiful!

Zurflu.... we are trying to GET fans here, not lose fans....

I knew I could count on a rebuttal from you Marcial, the #1 Gypsy Girl antagonist.  I\'ll stick to my position that it is a great song, even if Mark is the only one that agrees with me.  

"Gypsy Girl where can you be?"

[Spacey]

...if the breakfast was from chicago theyd have a huge fanbase already. its strictly power in numbers....

if the Breakfast was from NYC they would have been a traveling circus show following them right now.

Sorry buddy, but there\'s only evidence to the contrary on this.  The Breakfast is from New Haven, which is a decent enough city to start off in.  New Haven is in New England, which as we all know has about 20 legitimately gigable cities all within 4 hours of each other, and has given rise to all sorts of bands.  There\'s no way to know if being from Chicago would help, I\'m sure plenty of bands flop there.  And they might as well be from NYC, they\'ve played there about 25 times in 5 years.  It has nothing to do with being from New Haven.  4 years ago PB and UM had equal products and did about the same shows.  However, PB could play 20 cities within 3 hours of their home, while UM driving 3 hours in any direction from Chicago would get them nowhere.  Today, the products are still equal and they\'re still from the same places but UM is 3 times bigger.  So clearly it doesn\'t come down to home location.

legitimate reasons and i accept, respectfully decline to comment anymore on this subject
 :bowdown:

[Igziabeher]

You could argue that the Northeast does have a large influx of really great young talent, so that it spreads the fanbase thin between all the bands.  Look at bands like the Breakfast, Raq, the Russo Benevento Duo, Brothers Past, etc.  all vying to gain a larger fanbase, all of which from generally the same region.  Whereas bands like Umphrees(Midwest) and Perpetual Groove(Southeast) seem to have gotten more attention and are growing at a faster rate.

[Rujah]

i have never been to a um show but seen plenty of breakfast, imo every show is a different one and i mean everyone plays unselfishly and the feed off the engery of the crowd everynite, so if the crowd is lacking, their is onlt so much a band can do.  granted i dont really even listen to um much but  i did put a show in the other day, then went back to the breakfast.  most of hte shows ive seen tb at have been in the north east and im sure this summer they are going to everyone will catch a glimpse of them, unfortuantely im not really to give up the free show at nectars just yet., its evitable. hopefully i can catch some shows this su

[Klout]

i have enjoyed all the umphreys shows I have been to. I enjoy both guitarists playing. I dig em but no one rocks out harder and holds my attention better than the breakfast.

[Wolfman]

I like The Breakfast better because I love them, they\'re the fuckin\' Breakfast.  But I will give UM the highest compliment I can give a band by saying that their product is equal to The Breakfast.  They are freakin good.

Did I forget to mention forget to mention that they have the best jamband light show since Phish?

[Wolfman]

You could argue that the Northeast does have a large influx of really great young talent, so that it spreads the fanbase thin between all the bands.  Look at bands like the Breakfast, Raq, the Russo Benevento Duo, Brothers Past, etc.  all vying to gain a larger fanbase, all of which from generally the same region.  Whereas bands like Umphrees(Midwest) and Perpetual Groove(Southeast) seem to have gotten more attention and are growing at a faster rate.

True dat.  There is definitely a phenomenon that occurs in isolated cities where the people can get very attached to a band very quickly because they only get one or at most two shows in town a week so everyone goes to the same shows.  The community is strong.  Bands from outside town can get a nice draw even on their first time through because everyone goes to the same show.  And a good band that is actually from that town can quickly own the better part of the city because it\'s rare for the people there to be able to see the same band over and over.  In New England and New York you lose that opportunity for quick superfans because everyone\'s running around seeing all sorts of shows.  However, you make up for it by having the chance to gain lots of good fans across several different towns.  Overall I think that each setup has an equal chance of launching a band.  It\'s up to the management to understand the region and work with it.

[Gordo]

i see what youre saying Wolfman, but i disagree still. if TB had frequent gigs (twice a month at least) in chicago, as UM did for about 3 years, the chance of people just showing up to a show through friends or just from hearing their name frequently, they would absolutely have a more rapid growing fanbase. their music is head & shoulders above any chi-town based band ive seen in this genre (UM is obviously the one exception), and yet TB still had less fans on a Saturday night in the city than these other mediocre bands ive seen on a wednesday night. playing only 1 night every what, 8 months to a year, in a huge city like chicago is not gonna spread itself like it could. i agree, umphreys is really good, but...

West Haven\'s population = 60,000 people
Chicago = 3 million people

i know you cant really prove anything in this debate, but come on, guy, thats a huge difference. even their chances of having someone show up to a show in the music industry with connections and $ that could help them move up is way better in chicago than in staven. but this is all hypothetical, i know, i just hope you see what im saying. more people=more exposure. and i do agree that there are a lot of big cities nearby their hometown, but they still arent FROM nyc where timmy could be playing solo shows before frequent weekend gigs at bars in the heart of nyc. i personally just think it makes a huge difference.

[Gordo]

and leith, yes the tortoise will win.

but bayliss does not have soul. actually bridgeless makes me cringe, i think its one of his whinier tunes.

[Spacey]

IMHO,
The main reason I stopped listening to the Umph is because of the lead vocals. The music and the songs were tight and the jams were decent but then came th vocals and it\'s something about them that I just don\'t like. It, to me, seems like they don\'t match with music. I still have a couple favortie Umph tunes. Push the Pig is probably my favorite.

[kindm's]

i see what youre saying Wolfman, but i disagree still. if TB had frequent gigs (twice a month at least) in chicago, as UM did for about 3 years, the chance of people just showing up to a show through friends or just from hearing their name frequently, they would absolutely have a more rapid growing fanbase. their music is head & shoulders above any chi-town based band ive seen in this genre (UM is obviously the one exception), and yet TB still had less fans on a Saturday night in the city than these other mediocre bands ive seen on a wednesday night. playing only 1 night every what, 8 months to a year, in a huge city like chicago is not gonna spread itself like it could. i agree, umphreys is really good, but...

West Haven\'s population = 60,000 people
Chicago = 3 million people

i know you cant really prove anything in this debate, but come on, guy, thats a huge difference. even their chances of having someone show up to a show in the music industry with connections and $ that could help them move up is way better in chicago than in staven. but this is all hypothetical, i know, i just hope you see what im saying. more people=more exposure. and i do agree that there are a lot of big cities nearby their hometown, but they still arent FROM nyc where timmy could be playing solo shows before frequent weekend gigs at bars in the heart of nyc. i personally just think it makes a huge difference.

I would counter chicago with NYC. Psychedelic Breakfast made a name for themselves during the last revival of "Jam" music in NYC. The shows that they played at Tobacco Road not to mention Tims month of solo shows really got them in front of the people you are talking about. The unfortunate aspect is that fan friendly hip venues are a thing of the past around here. NYC is just like any other place (venue wise) there aren\'t that many good places to play (acoustics), gone are the days of partying in the city. Sure you can do it but it is sooooo much harder to do. The lure of NYC as being that place to cut loose is gone. PB had mucho support from all of us freaks at Tobacco road, but when the bar closed it kind of closed a era (short lived but still) and with it went the bands direct connection to the city. they have played No Moore Bar, Lions den, Knitting Factory and all of those places are fine but that connection isnt there. I have never been to Chicago but what is it like out there ? Do they still let you smoke in bars ? are there really cool fan friendly venues that let you cut loose ? If so I would love to hear about it