This New Jersey alt/pop band are bringing together their influences and catchy choruses with style and fun. After a couple of singles already, the band are standing out already with their rock/pop sensibilities. From meeting a Beatle, our their origin story and discussing their songs, I hope you enjoy these lovely guys answers and music!
Instagram: @thebreakpans
Was there any music you all loved that brought you guys together when the band was in its early stages?
This a great question! I think to answer this best, we need to explain how the band formed. LOL! So we formed as a band in a pretty strange way, although I’m sure there are many, other strange ways, we or other bands have formed. But yea, Colton was trying to make it as a solo artist and failing miserably. Mikey was down and out of music pursuing a more “post bachelor” lifestyle, although he still maintained that itch to play. As the story goes, Colton placed an advertisement on “craigslist” looking for band members that enjoyed, Coldplay, The Killers, One Republic and Beer, as well as posting a huge photo of himself! Luckily, Mikey responded to the advertisement because he loved for all three of the bands, especially The Killers! So to answer the question yes! The love for upbeat, rock, dance anthem music is what brought us together! Being able to play instruments and yet still keep that huge, dance anthem music present in our songs!
And not to forget about Dan — but Colton and Mikey had been a duo for about a year and half writing a bunch of the songs, but when it was time to start working on the live show, we found Dan! And we all instantly hit it off with our collective love for pop music and creating that fun energy that I suppose makes us The Break Plans!
What were your first memories of music growing up?
Growing up we all have different but similar memories of music. For example Dan and Colton grew up listening to a lot of The Beatles. In fact “Let it Be” was the first song Colton learned to play on the piano. Mikey also met Paul McCartney at an ice cream shop when he was younger which must have been unreal. He really enjoyed listening to The Beach Boys growing up and distinctly remembers seeing Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) from Full House playing drums for them on tour. And finally, Dan’s dad always had different kinds of music playing growing up everything from early Beatles to modern pop. That definitely kept him in touch with what was new and upcoming as well as the classics, where modern music takes its roots.
Your pop sensibilities sound so lush, what made you guys decide on your sound?
Well thank you for saying that! We absolutely take that as a high compliment. I think it all goes back to what we like listening to. When we were started working on music we knew that we loved Coldplay and The Killers style of huge choruses that bring energy. So really creating a song that builds in the verses so you get that “drop” when the chorus opens up. Now, whether we have done that well or not is up to the listener, but we are pretty satisfied!
‘Lipstick Number’ was the first single, it’s a great title! How did you think of the title?
Thank you so much! A lot of our music comes from stories in and around our lives. So believe it or not, that song title “Lipstick Number” did really happen. To give the quick PG-13 story of that song title, Mikey was on vacation with one his best friends in the Dominican Republic. It was the last night of vacation so Mikey and his friend decided to make the most of it! LOL! As the night was coming to a close, Mikey and his friend, along with some company, snuck into the resorts, closed pool. They all had some silly fun and somehow didn’t get kicked out, BUT as the night was coming to a close, Mikey’s friend wanted to get the phone number of his “new” lady friend. Since cell phones didn’t work because they were out of network, Mikey’s friend was almost at a loss. However thanks to some quick thinking, the new lady friend whipped out her lipstick and wrote her phone number on Mikey’s friends chest! So, that’s where the name, “Lipstick Number” comes from. Ha!
How important is playing live for you guys? What do you think is important to ensure you guys nail it live?
Playing live is a huge portion of what we do as a band. I think a great live show can really show people that you can keep them engaged and entertained. Plus a great show can make you stand out from the rest. To put on a great show it takes hours and hours of practice. We practiced for 3 or so months before our first show. It also helps that our singer, Colton, has a ton of energy that our fans and other people at our shows really enjoy and gets people moving and dancing. We would have to say that whether we’re performing in Colton’s parents basement or playing Madison Square Garden we perform every show like its our last!
Your latest single ‘Let Go’ sounds very atmospheric, how did it come about?
So ‘Let Go’ just like most of our music comes from a personal story. In this case it comes from a moment in life when you feel like you’re standing still and just observing life passing you by. Almost like a movie montage where the actor is stuck in a trance of images and objects speeding past them. Oddly enough that song was sort of written a few years earlier when Mikey was getting out of the music game and trying to come to terms with the next phase of his life. However when Mikey met Colton they both fell in love with what Mikey had written and with Coltons song writing and production skills they both rebirthed the song into what is today! Serendipitously enough (if thats a word/phrase) LOL, the song was a great place to start because it really was like a rebirth when Mikey and Colton met!
To completely answer the question, the atmospheric sound that ‘Let Go’ gives off is a lot of trial and error to finesses the song into what we hoped would be an anthem. The “whoops” that give the song a proper build and allows the listener or audience to chant them back to us and the driving chorus/bridge that allows for people to feed off the energy of the song!
What are yours plans as band in the future?
Well first and foremost; we hope that the virus pandemic gets handled sooner than later; A) for the sake of everyone who is sick, will be sick or in danger of getting sick, and B) so life for everyone can get back to normal.
But as for the future, we just want to keep making music and playing music for people. There’s a venue right near us in Asbury Park, NJ called The House of Independents. I think we all agree that it would be amazing to play there someday. We’d also love to tour around the U.S. and play shows with other amazing bands! But really we just want people to vibe with our music and enjoy us as people. We are very approachable and always willing to interact with our fans or really anyone. We are doing this band out of our love for making music, so as long as we have that we’ll go anywhere the road takes us.
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