The State Of The Breakfast Address....(A Stephengenc\'s Perspective)

[leith]

Steve I love their vocals but I have grown used to them. Just as I got used to Jerry and  got used to Trey.
No they still have a long way to go in the vocal dept. I still get the complaint from people that they play great but the singing could be better. These are folk like me that happen to really really be into lyrics and singing not just jamming all the time. Well your typical westcoast Deadhead ya know? We all know that Jerry\'s voice was not the best but NO ONE could bring that emotion to each and every song the way he did. Jerry Garcia is my favorite vocalist of all time. So I may not know what the hell I\'m talkin\' about anyway. I\'m just saying that their vocals can be better and they are improving every gig but for a majority of non Breakfast freaks the vocals are the only real weak link in the band.

[Stephengencs]

Leith, Jer is most definitely my most favorite singer of all time.  I dont think we will see, in our lives, a singer that can evoke such emotions with his voice - not to mention what he did with a guitar....

I guess I get what you are saying.  And again, I am a bit biased, but I love to listen to the vocals now.  Sure they can improve.  And if this band has proven anything its that they get better every fucking show.....

Definitely an exciting time to be a fan of The Breakfast....

[delfunk1]

Timmy Tour is definetly the factor that improved Tim\'s lyrics.  Brought my parents to see Tim @ Porters a while back and they comented on how he has a nice voice.

The Breakfast is a band you just have to go out and see to get the whole experience.  Brought my roomate who isn\'t even into this type of music to the WheelHouse last week and he loved it.  Once they get over their mishaps jump on the road again, and attract some new people to their shows they will get bigger.  They just gotta do it the old fashion way.....but thank god for .info!

[leith]

Puppethouse Sgt Pepper\'s set listened to it with a few friends. There was some mopping up of drool and some looks of " UH WHAT?" during some parts but the one comment that stuck with me was from an old tour buddy. His words were " The most impressive thing about that was the balls those guys have to try Sgt. Pepper\'s with voices like that." I scoffed but upon having some of the "cringe worthy" moments replayed for me made me realize that my mind covers up alot of the mistakes just as it did w/ other favorite singers. The thing is I do not think they translate as well on disc as when they are pouring the love all over you live.

[Spunk]

The thing is I do not think they translate as well on disc as when they are pouring the love all over you live.

that has to do with a different sound system and different room every night (not to mention different sound board) I think the vocals need more compression in the live mix ezpecially to balance out the harmonies

[leith]

The thing is I do not think they translate as well on disc as when they are pouring the love all over you live.

that has to do with a different sound system and different room every night (not to mention different sound board) I think the vocals need more compression in the live mix ezpecially to balance out the harmonies

Yeah well tell that to Dobs. I know I like what I hear live and I know a bit about sound but I\'m a lighting guy. Soundguys are weird.

[FrankZappa]

This is not really true in the fullest. Phish has said that they were really surprised at the amount of people that knew their music when they got to Colo. and were AT the shows.  Phish did not have a crowd following them on their first national tours. It took some time for that but they still toured.

According to the Phish book, they took a shot and went directly from VT to colorado to do several shows all at the same bar. Some of those shows were taped by locals, but the crowds were light. They only saw crowds a year+ later when they did a proper tour and came back through, only to find that those tapes had been circulated all over and people stuffed the house, knowing every word to the songs that were circulated.

[weekapaug19]

Leith, Jer is most definitely my most favorite singer of all time.  I dont think we will see, in our lives, a singer that can evoke such emotions with his voice - QUOTE]

Disagree all you want, but Eddie gets my vote

[WALSH]

The in-ear monitors are the main reason in my mind why they can sing better now.  They can sing well, because they can actually HEAR each other.  Yes there are moments when there is an off note, but with the music being the way it is(read:intense), it is almost a given that you cannot be thinking vocals at some points.  Trust me after being into the Disco Biscuits(let\'s not turn this into a Biscuits suck war), i have learned to live with avg voacls at times(they have gotten better, nut won\'t use in-ear monitors???), in exchange for mind-altering, soul shaking, aural orgasm music.  Both bands make me happy, i just wish I could win the Powerball and start my own commune with LAVISH encoutrements like a "Breakfast Stage" and a "Bisco Stage" at different areas throughout the compound.  I wold just pay the bands to play there and have festivals all year round.  AAHHHHH Winter Festivals would be CRAZY!!!

[Jim Cobb]

i\'d live there.

[SlimPickens]

I couldn\'t live there, but I\'d definitely vacation there.

[Steffmo]

Stephen....

Management are not fans.  It happens more than anyplace else on the phones of the world.  Both Alex Defelice and I spend a ton of time everyday dealing with both everyday issues and forward looking affairs.  Considering the fact that a year and a half ago the bands future was questionable at all, with huge debts to Sonance and Josh....its pretty cool that they are on solid ground now.

As much as issues of "selling records and making money" might seem secondary to you, these guys are not kids anymore, and they need to be able to support themselves in a reasonable manner, which they still don\'t do.  Trying to get them into venues and situations that bring the band to that level....which VERY few bands evr achieve, is the most important goal of all.

The band doesn\'t need cheerleaders on the gigs...you guys do that fine.  What they need are level headed people behind the scene who know how to deal with the other upper eschelon people in the biz.

And I still find time to get to an occassional gig.

But hey...I don\'t mind the rant, I know its because you want the best for the band.

[kindm's]

I think a lot of the issues can be seen in this thread.

Sure a lot of other sites take that your band sux route, but this site is no better and sometimes worse. Just in this thread alone raq has been called trust fund babies, particle has been called similar and worse. I can dig up many many posts on this site alone that say this band sux or that band sux.

Guess what particle doesn\'t suck. You might not like them but having money of your own doesn\'t get people to your shows. It doesn\'t get Mickey hart to Tour with you. Again you might not like them but why diss a band that has been able to break through a little (and they dont sing, go figure). The manager that has helped them tremndously is a friend of a friend and is very connected with the Grateful Dead family. He also learned from the Best (Bill Grahman). RAQ is another band that has been dissed in this thread and I like to compare The state of the Breakfast with the State of RAQ.

Raq just played a farm in Northern NY (the LEW-AU) they had roughly 500 people there. Do you guys seriously think that the Breakfast could get 500 people to drive 5+ hours to go see them ? As much as I want to see that happen I dont think they could get that many people up there. To quote a stat from an earlier post if there are 900 members, more than half of us would have to go to the show for it to even come close.

The big difference is that these 2 bands above have had MANAGEMENT! nothing more nothing less.

[Spunk]

kindm\'s

Guess what particle doesn\'t suck. You might not like them but having money of your own doesn\'t get people to your shows. It doesn\'t get Mickey hart to Tour with you. Again you might not like them but why diss a band that has been able to break through a little (and they dont sing, go figure). The manager that has helped them tremndously is a friend of a friend and is very connected with the Grateful Dead family. He also learned from the Best (Bill Grahman). RAQ is another band that has been dissed in this thread and I like to compare The state of the Breakfast with the State of RAQ.

I never once stated any of these bands sucked, I gave my opinion on what I think of each of those bands, nor did I compare the singing abilities to Particle who has none.

Its my personal opinion to think something isn\'t mind blowing or grabbing my attention. I never dissed any of their musical abilities, cause they are all great players. It just musically doesnt appeal to me, but as I stated I still go and support music, I will continue to do so as well.

All Im saying is that if the breakfast had some cash and good connections they\'d be a lot further then they are, the aregument out there is "why isnt the breakfast huge?" and I was making some comparisons.


and this

Raq just played a farm in Northern NY (the LEW-AU) they had roughly 500 people there. Do you guys seriously think that the Breakfast could get 500 people to drive 5+ hours to go see them ? As much as I want to see that happen I dont think they could get that many people up there. To quote a stat from an earlier post if there are 900 members, more than half of us would have to go to the show for it to even come close.

is completely irrelevent

 this little festival was Free and included  Jazz Mandolin project and DJ logic, also is the number of people posting on their fan board. So in your eyes, since there are only 427 people on Raq\'s fan message board, and 500 show up to their free festival, that would mean if the breakfast has 900 people on their message board then over 1000 would show up.........

[kindm's]

for instance  why is every Raq and particle move, tour, show, sit in, etc... announced on the daily jambands.com news, personally I think both of those bands are generic crap, I dont give a rats ass

The North East is retardedly competitive as well. If you go on someone elses message board and say "hey, the breakfast is playing come check it out" they reply with Fuck you, this band (whom ever message board it is) is the best band in the world and fuck the breakfasst sucks.... go to phantasy anything, Bisco radio, BP radio, Hyperfunkalicious.com (Raq, these guys are serious jokers, the band isnt just a bunch of Breakfast wannabee\'s but their fans are too, you know how we have teams, all of a sudden they have clans, I am a lurker over there, but anyway they just started covering Message in a Bottle and they sadly hack Echinda\'s Arf, and their guitarist suddenly plays telecasters, I hate Raq) Enough of that rant

I go see these bands dont get me wrong, AGP (zzzzzzz) Raq  (cheeseball) particle(trustfund, need i say more) Brothers past (dtssdtsssdtss), I give them a chance but none of them are mind blowing, the breakfast is mindblowing, I get so pissed when I see people dissing them. Then they say their vocals suck, thats a load of horse shit because they are doing harder harmonies then any band out there, they go beyond the simple triads, they\'re cool jazzy chords. The simple minds just dont get it. I just went on another rant

Perhaps you don\'t read your own posts. The above sounds exactly what you were talking about when discussing other borads. raq = cheeseball, AGP =zzzzz, Particle = trustfund.

And it is relavent. Free or not do you think that the Breakfast can get 500+ people anywhere ? I was making the point that if we have 900 memebrs on this site that 1/2 would need to show for the show to get those numbers. The Show was "free" meaning they asked for donations and you know what they made enough to cover the show and make improvements to the venue. So I will add this. If the Breakfast fans base was asked to step up for a show like this do you 1 think that they could get 500 or so folks and do you think those 500 or so would kick down ?