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

[Spunk]

I stated my opinion, I didnt say they sucked, its all good music, but it isnt mind blowing, and yes I do think its generic, but they dont suck, and yes the fans on all the sites I mentioned, say those things "the breakfast sucks, they cant sing, they cant hold a groove" Let me repeat, they dont suck, I just dont dig them as much, and those are the reasons, mabye raq is a little too happy for me, and yes mabye AGP doesnt throw down hard enough, and particle doesnt do it for me in many ways, but i didnt say they sucked.

and Yes because eve 150 kids from Oneonta show up to see the breakfast here and go crazy, I bet I could get 1/3 to half of them to go, 30 kids from here went to moe.down to prettymuch see just the breakfast.

mabye it isnt like that where you live, but it is in enough places to get 500 kids to come out, especially if it was advertized Free with DJ Logic and JMP

[kindm's]

Honestly I have never seen the breakfast draw more than they did at the puppet house and they had maybe 200 folks. It was a local show. So that should be a decent benchmark and it doesn\'t involve their local fanbase driving 5 or more hours to get to the show.

If the band can draw 500 or more than I havent seen it. If it means getting 1 or 2 bands to fill the line up then who ? Who (what bands) does the Breakfast have good relationships with that can bring some people out ?

[weekapaug19]

Honestly I have never seen the breakfast draw more than they did at the puppet house and they had maybe 200 folks. It was a local show. So that should be a decent benchmark and it doesn\'t involve their local fanbase driving 5 or more hours to get to the show.

If the band can draw 500 or more than I havent seen it. If it means getting 1 or 2 bands to fill the line up then who ? Who (what bands) does the Breakfast have good relationships with that can bring some people out ?

RAQ....they packed the webster during that show and that was 2 years ago...think of it now.

[Steffmo]

The band has drawn maybe 600 at Toads and generally does close to 500 at Webster.

What moct of you don\'t realize is how few bands ever get to the point where they can consistantly draw over 150 people out of their home area.  The Breakfast are actually doing fairly well in that respect.

The other point difficult for you all to understand is that there is a huge segment of the populace for whom The Breakfast don\'t work.  Kids that are fans of MTV type bands, bouy or grrl bands, hip hop, etc. tend to be very song centric in their tastes and don\'t care about gow hard a band jams.  I\'ve also had plenty of people tell me that The Breakfast wears them out with jamming.  Some don\'t like the vocals.  And then there are reviewers....that want the opposite.

IE.....it takes what it takes, as long as it takes.  Moe. has been around how long??  Pjish were together for years before they started to break out of New England.  I remember hanging with those guys at trade shows in 1988, and they were already together.

You can analyze it to death.  The point is that as exceptional as The Breakfast are, they are a challenging listen in an environment where lots of folks want mindless music.

[kindm's]

well like i have said before I know the people in charge of the farm where they had the Lew AU. many of you here probably do as well. THG presents is the folks they used to throw some killer shows at Tobacco Road. They never really got going with the Breakfast because Dave from Tobacco Road though of (PB) as his to book etc. The folks surrounding THG have been big PB/TB fans and have always wanted to get the camps together but things just never panned out. Lets make it happen.

[FreeSpirit]

[Stephengencs]

Vic, thank you much for coming out here and helping me (us) understand this thing a little better.  I understand that the band needs to get to point where they can support themselves with the music that they make.  My concern is "at what cost?".  

Playing venues like The Lions Den, because it pays more doesn\'t make sense to me when they are going to play for 60 or so people of whom only 20 or so really care what is going on up on stage and coming out of the speakers.....

But then again, I really dont know what is best for the band from a business standpoint, but I am glad that there are people out there like you (Vic) who can help us fans, who genuinely care about these kids and what they are creating, understand what they are going through....

[Steffmo]

Stephen...

Sure...I think its cool the fans care enough ask the questions and make suggestions.  And I don\'t mind trying to give some insight into stuff that doesn\'t necessarily make sense.

The part that most here don\'t realize is that it isn\'t strictly up to US....we have to do business with the industry at large.  In order to do that you have to keep in mind that any business deal has to benefit both parties in order for it to work.

The Lion\'s Den seems tto be a bit of a lightening rod....but the fact is Howie digs the band and wants to make the band work there.  Because the draw is still iffy in Manhatten, they stick all those bands on there.  If we could guarantee him, or if he felt secure enought to let the band do to sets with two short openners, he would.  But I don\'t blame him for doing what he\'s doing....if you saw his rent check for that place you\'d freak.

We would all like to build a bridge back to the Knit, but the stars haven\'t lined up right for them to be motivated to do it.  Don\'t think its from a lack of trying.  I think Crescendo does a lot of stuff at Tribeca....though I don\'t knowe that will be much better than The Lion\'s Den.  So it becomes a question of do we we piss off the guy that supports us for an unknown when neither of the solutions really address the issue.  I think generally we feel we might as well stay where we are until the Knit comes around.

The bottom line is that for wnatever reason we really haven\'t developed a great following in Manhatten itsef...the gigs pull fans from out of town.  NYC is a really tough place to build. and since the Wetlands closed there is no really good Jam room in town where that kind of fan base can focus.

Remember....if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.  This summer was the best growth the band has ever seen.  Enjoy it more, analyze it less.

[Stephengencs]

Enjoy it more, analyze it less.

You gotta know that I enjoy the shit outta this whole thing as much as I possibly can without spontaniously combusting or even suffering cardiac arrest....  Its hard not to analyse it with the ole internet and whatnot.  However it is great that there is a forum like this for us.....

I guess the whole NYC thing is real tricky.....  So does that mean a band can\'t make a name for themselves and make themselves prosperous (dare i say it?  Okay, I will) WITHOUT a steady/constant NYC "THING"?

[SlimPickens]

 Enjoy it more, analyze it less.

ie.  Put a sock in it, dope.  Cause you don\'t know SHIT!

[Stephengencs]

I never admitted to knowing anything....and if anything this is an attempt to try and learn somthing about this crazyness that I have dedicated the past 6 years of my life to...

[SlimPickens]

being aware of how little you know surely didn\'t stop you from slinging shit at band management earlier in this thread as a bunch of money hungry ship sinkers who didn\'t care about the fanbase.

[kindm's]

welll in response to NYC

Just got an e-mail saying moe. was playing back to back nights at roseland Ballroom Nov. 25th & 26th. Perhaps The Breakfast can play 1 night and bill it as an after moe. party.

[SlimPickens]

Hold the damn phone!!  Did a photo of Dorothy, Rose, Blanche & Sophia just get moderated because there was a little yellow happyface guy thrusting his nonexistent hips under it, when there still exists a thread titled ANT-MAN that has a picture of an ASIAN getting fucked by a dog in the mud in it?!!!

[Mamalakabubadaya]

not cool!!!!!! :mad: