Why,YEAR AFTER YEAR....

[spacebrush]

Although I don’t see them as aggressively as I used to, I have been following your beloved Breakfast since day one. These guys are great friends of mine that I care for.  I would love to see them succeed at tremendous proportions, as they definitely deserve to. But for the last three years going into the fourth, I’ve asked myself and “The Save” Spears over and over again…
    “WHY, YEAR AFTER YEAR,  DO I HAVE TO THUMB THROUGH RELIX AND SEE FESTIVAL AFTER FESTIVAL NOT INCLUDING THE BREAKFAST?”
    Even though I don’t post here ever, I do read and see what you guys and gals have to say about the band. Yet this issue is rarely brought up. There seems to be more love for the “side projects” rather than the band’s success.
Now, I know one thing for sure. (Sorry Al Z) Going out to San Fran to play at a bar is not going to get it done. ("Sports, live music and food make this Potrero Hill bar a favorite for locals and ex-New Englanders.
¬weekend nights with live music. Jam bands deliver blues, funk and post-Grateful Dead vibes from a tiny stage. There is no jukebox but the proprietors keep a library of good CDs on hand for background music. The vibe is friendly and mellow.)
T.B. should be at higher level of touring whether it’s touring with a band or not. I would assume that the management would know that starting in the spring and continuing until the fall, playing festivals is where it’s at for the jam band scene. That’s where the buzz is created. That should be the tour…..festival to festival all summer!
    I’ve seen, as have all of you, a drop in production. There’s been talk about the drop, but nothing’s really been done about it.  As of now, the drop could only be attributed to one thing - the dismissal of J. Kroop. If T.B. doesn’t rise to their potential in the near future, letting Josh go could have been a mistake.  The kid got it done. And with that said, this present management is not getting it done. So I do have a couple of questions that I think about…
1.   Could it be that the Breakfast isn’t that well known and promoters don’t know who they are?
2.   Is it that the management doesn’t have the pull to get them onto festival bills? There are tons of them every year.
3.   Why not a tour of just festivals?
4.   Does the management just suck?

I’ve seen, heard or watched just about every band that was at the same level as T.B back in ‘99- 01. I do know that a bunch of them ARE playing big time festivals all the time and are playing at big time venues. In addition, I do know that T.B. has just as much or greater talent than most of them. So I guess it’s either a matter of not making the right decisions or just not being able to get the break you need to get to the next level. But I do know that playing festivals is where it’s at.

[freddiewaht]

this months relix really pissed me off.
i scratched my head at one point and asked myself if maybe the band broke up without me knowing about it or something..
not 1 word about the breakfast...sad really...

jut,good to have ya!!

[Spacey]

:thumbsup:

Well done!

For someone who doesn\'t post at all really, for you to come out and make a thread and post it, is exceptional.

I couldn\'t agree more with ya.

[bdfreetuna]

I can\'t say I\'ve ever read Relix, but I read jambase online and it seems to me there should be a bit more Breakfast coverage.

But Breakfast does/has played StrangeCreek, Wormtown, Havest Fest, 10K Lakes (I think), moe.down, gathering of the vibes (I think), and probably a couple more I\'m not aware of. At least in these small/medium festivals it seems like they have been moving up the ranks in the last few years.

The problem is, not too many people have heard of the Breakfast outside of the northeast. If Wakarusa or Bonnaroo or Langerado was held in CT I have no doubt Breakfast would be playing there.

However, I think it\'s probably in the band\'s best interest to keep playing lots of Northeast shows to much larger and enthusiastic audiences than they are likely to find in other parts of the country. You have to blow up a region before you can blow up the whole country.

One things for sure, at least in my observation of the crowds and venues they\'ve been playing from 2002 to 2006, this band certainly isn\'t getting any *less* popular.

...

Also I don\'t know jack about the management or production really. But I do know if the *only* thing they played in summer \'06 was festivals I\'d be pretty dissapointed. Festivals are important but frequent smaller shows where its easy to drag out a few newbies for $10-$15 are just as important.

[Spacey]

The mid-west has a big fanbase for the breakfast from my understanding.

[antbach]

well said just, i have no comment (yet), i think i\'ll sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride this thread is going to take

[Wolfman]

In addition to relix, how about the 6-page jambase 2005-year-in-review?  Complete festival recaps, NYE recaps, and they asked all 20-odd people who work there to list their favorite shows, artists, albums, and up-and-coming bands from the year.  The Breakfast\'s name was not mentioned once in the entire thing.  (Was Real Radio ever actually released?)

Spacebrush, anyone who wants to gripe about the band\'s management can make an easy case.  On your festival premise, I actually think the band has been playing a lot of festivals.  Even if they\'re not the best ones, at least they\'re festivals.  I don\'t think the managment necessarily sucks, but they sure aren\'t doing anything special.  This band needs the Bill Parcells of band management to turn around the culture of mediocrity.  They need a miracle worker.  Unfortunately they keep getting average to below-average help.

[freddiewaht]

bring back josh kroop!

[Wolfman]

To keep myself sane I look at it this way (selfish as it may be):  "If the band really takes off and starts playing decent shows across the country (say like Umphrey\'s level) and has $25 tickets in New England that sell out fast and only play here 10 shows a year, what does that do for me?  Makes my life much tougher.  I\'m just enjoying my hassle-free 25 shows a year at $8-15 a pop and not worrying about it."  Sure, this state of existence doesn\'t help the band, but thinking like this at least keeps me sane.

*   *  *

The Comprehensive JamBase Top Ten List of Best Albums of 2005:  
1. My Morning Jacket - Z [rhapsody]
2. Beck - Guero [rhapsody]
3. Mars Volta - Frances The Mute [rhapsody]
4. White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan [rhapsody]
5. Dungen - Ta det Lugnt [rhapsody]
6. Steve Kimock Band - Eudemonic [rhapsody]
7. Wilco - Kicking Television [rhapsody]
8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl [rhapsody]
9. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - The Sameness of Difference [rhapsody]
10. Devandra Banhart - Cripple Crow [rhapsody]
 
I have never even heard of Dungen, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, or Devandra Banhart.  But hey, maybe Real Radio will make this list in 5 years kinda like they won the "Best New Groove" jammy after 5.5 years of touring and 600 shows.  :end venting:

[Overexjoesure]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Justin Maturo!!!  God Bless....

I also agree, bring back Kroop. I don\'t care what went on between him the band and he-who-shall-not-be-named, I still think Kroop was most positive force behind this band. He was the one who let me backstage 10/20/00 so I could interview the band for a short documentary on the jamband scene I made senior year of high school. He was the person who PRAISED anyone who made a serious effort in spreading The Breakfast.  He was always there to listen and from what I remember from time to time, he was the serious manager.  God willing If I knew how to manage a band I would have approached the band with a business model earlier this year, but that fire died out over the past few years and I only know of one person who could handle those boys.....

Bring back Kroop is all I\'m saying.

[Jim Cobb]

some of those records suck. (i.e. the mars volta.  their first record was the shit, but frances the mute is nothing but self-indulgent, narsicistic garbage)

[moebass]

I can\'t really provide insight on the old-to-new Breakfast transition since I\'ve only seriously been attending shows for the past year, but I\'ve heard disheartening stories from people about how the entire vibe has changed. These guys have so much potential and they definitely aren\'t being utilized to their fullest. They can keep playing and pouring their heart and soul into the music, but the key ingredient is management. These guys will never thrive if there is no one backing them with a strong desire to help them succeed. I\'m not sure exactly what the problem is, but they definitely need a change for the better, or else they will remain at this exposure level forever... and it\'s not good for a band to get stagnant like that.

Playing at more festivals will definitely increase their fanbase... as long as the people at the festival decide to walk to the stage when the band plays. Just getting onto the bandlist is not enough. They need better promotions so that people can get excited about giving them a listen. Their old manager left for reasons I\'m not aware of, but I\'m sure they must\'ve been good ones. If there are unreconcilable differences, then maybe the answer is not looking back to an old manager, but rather looking ahead in search of a new manager that has as much excitement about the Breakfast as any one of their devoted fans.

As for Relix... yes they are considered a "jam band magazine" but I\'ve always thought they are biased. 90% of their cover photos are Dead or Phish related. It\'s about time they start recognizing that there are a multitude of bands out there that don\'t get enough credit for the beautiful music they create. Maybe if their writers took a little time away from interviewing Bob Weir or Trey for the billionth time, then maybe they\'d open up their eyes to the other bands waiting in the shadows.

[Overexjoesure]

Relix Readers are sheep....




BRING BACK KROOP!!!!

[bdfreetuna]

Keep adding shows to archive.org, tapers.

And keep adding 5 star ratings to the ones that definitely deserve it, fans.

Its almost impossible for a "jam band" to make waves with a studio album. The shows are so much better anyway.

[Branch]

:banghead: :hair: :gulp: :huh: :wacko: :?: :idunno: :confused: