Ben
Burnley - Vocals, Guitar
Aaron Fink - Guitar
Mark James Klepaski - Bass
Jeremy Hummell - Drums
Imagine
an unsigned act so good,
it persuades not one, but
two musicians to quit their
already signed band, join
forces, and start the process
anew. It happened in late
2000, when guitarist Aaron
Fink and bassist Mark James
Klepaski bolted Universal
recording artists Lifer
to team up with vocalist
Ben Burnley and drummer
Jeremy Hummell in Breaking
Benjamin.
"Everyone told me I
was crazy," laughs
Fink, "but I didn't
see it that way. I've known
these guys since high school,
and heard hundreds of Ben's
songs-all of which sounded
like hits to me. I sat in
with them one night and
everything clicked. I thought,
'This is it.' How many musicians
can say they were a fan
of the band they joined?"
Says
group co-founder Hummell,
"Ben and I opened for
Lifer a few times, and always
wanted the band to be the
four of us because we're
all friends, but it took
some time. We talked about
it for awhile, and I'll
never forget the night Mark
called while on tour in
Arizona and told me it was
official, that he was leaving
to join us. When you think
about it, it was a pretty
big move. But we all knew
this band was gonna happen."
Adds
Klepaski, "Every once
in a while, I'd get up and
do a song or two with them
and it always felt good.
It's like falling in love:
you don't question it, you
go with it because it feels
right. When the opportunity
presented itself, I went
for it and never looked
back. We're family."
One
listen to Saturate, Breaking
Benjamin's explosive Hollywood
Records debut, and Fink
and Klepaski's move makes
perfect sense. Uncompromising,
cathartic and from the gut,
the Ulrich Wild-produced
(Deftones, Powerman 5000,
Static X) album reveals
a band with hard smarts,
a keen sense of pop savvy,
and influences that include
Tool, Nirvana and Korn.
Laughs Burnley, Benjamin's
refreshingly candid main
songwriter, "I find
that music works best when
you take a bunch of your
favorite bands and rip a
little something off each
one to make something new.
It works for us."
Clearly,
Burnley's learned his lessons
well: tracks such as "Home"
and "Water" are
thick and heavy, with the
songs accommodating the
band's metallic crunch without
relinquishing melodic ingenuity.
Then there's the powerfully
primal "Medicate,"
which fuses Hummell and
Klepaski's iron-fisted backbeat
to an undeniable addictive
hook, and
"Shallow
Bay" which tempers
the speaker-melting riffage
of Fink with Burnley's soulful
vocal grit. Lead single
"Polyamorous"
is arguably the best of
the bunch, mixing amp-joy
intensity and compelling
atmospherics with tuneful
urgency and poetic wordplay.
"Listen
to the radio today and you'll
hear a lot of bands singing
and complaining about how
miserable life is,"
says Klepaski. "Maybe
it's just me, but life can
be shitty enough-music should
make you feel good. Our
songs give off a positive
energy, and I think our
fans appreciate that."
Among
Breaking Benjamin's fervent
followers is "DJ Freddie"
(Freddie Fabbri), an on-air
personality at 93.7X WBSX,
a modern rock station in
the band's hometown of Wilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania. In addition
to putting "Polyamorous"
in rotation, where it quickly
became the station's number
one most requested track,
Freddie then decided to
give the band funding for
their 5 song self-titled
EP-a disc which sold 2000
copies locally.
"It
was amazing," says
Burnley. "All of a
sudden we were getting airplay
and playing to packed-house
crowds. We became sort of
a local phenomenon."
As Benjamin tore up the
east coast club scene, word
of their frenetic live show
and hook-laden sound spread
through the A&R community.
When the band announced
a two-night showcase in
early 2001, over a dozen
labels showed up, and the
band subsequently signed
with Hollywood Records.
For
Burnley, who taught himself
to play guitar at age 14
by listening to Nirvana's
Nevermind ad nauseaum, the
recognition was a long time
coming.
"I've
been at this for a long
time," says Burnley.
"It wasn't all that
long ago that I survived
by playing cover songs in
coffeehouses for scraps.
I was like an acoustic jukebox,
playing for people that
ignored me while they ate
and drank. It totally sucked.
You eventually get to this
point where you really want
to be signed and make something
happen, but you get so frustrated
from all the bullshit, that
you just don't give a fuck
anymore. But of course,
that's when you get signed."
"Now
I wake up every day and
can't believe it's finally
happening, and that we get
to do this for a living.
Talk about a dream come
true."