After blowing us away with the recent track ‘Hollowed Out’ we caught up with one of the Uk’s new hardcore band Breacher to find all about the band and their music.
Give us a potted history of you / the band (when did you start, how long have you been going, where are you, what the current state of play is with you, anything of note you’ve accomplished etc etc – open forum)
Luke (guitar/bv) – I started writing on guitar after a long period of not making music at all. Being a touring sound engineer I was more focused on other people’s music. I had written a few songs and thought I’d do a solo project as I was originally a drummer so could do everything myself. I asked my brother (Jordan/drummer) if I could use his kit to record something. I showed him some riffs and he wanted to play with me. After a few months my good friend Jay (bassist) moved back to our neck of the woods and ask him to come on board as a bassist. We practiced for a couple months then finally coaxed Dan (vocals) to a session and that was us. We had 7 tunes ready to record and our first gig then Corona hit. After the initial lockdown we managed to record those tracks and have now done our first few shows. We have 2 new tracks out now, one with a video and we’re hoping it leads to some more gigs for 2022
Who inspired you to start making music (could be someone / a band / a teacher, anything – might be one per member of a band or as a whole)
Luke – I remember my intro to ‘rock’ was when, in year 6, my mate swiped his brothers tape of Nevermind. I played that start to finish then waited while it rewound every night for weeks, then asked my mum for a drum kit and that’s where it started for me. The real inspiration came from our local punk scene. The Indian Queen in Boston was a small pub with a gig room upstairs but it pulled in amazing bands from around the world. The time and experiences I had there will continue to inspire me in music and in life
DAN/VOCALS: When we were young, my cousin played in a ska punk band. I’ve always been into music, but seeing someone I was close to playing in a band made me realise I could do it. Even though I was shite at guitar then & now a shitty vocalist. What you gonna do?
And the one (or maybe two) records that inspired you artistically (and why) And the one (or maybe two) records that inspired you artistically (and why)
Luke – For me Defeater – Letters Home is a perfect record. Birds in Row – You, Me & The Violence
DAN: I can remember clearly being sat at my friends house years ago, a young pop-punk kid & hearing Kill Your Idols – Funeral For A Feeling & my world being turned upside down. I wasn’t in to any hardcore that I’d been exposed to at the time & to hear a band with hooks & melodies, singing about real life shit was a game-changer. It was that eureka moment where everything made sense. Another one from an artistic point of view would be Hope Conspiracy – Cold Note. Anyone who says they aren’t the best band are dead fucking wrong.
If you’re trying to explain who you sound like to someone that’s never heard you, what do you say
DAN: It depends. If it’s someone who has an understanding of hardcore punk, I go with I Adapt/Touché Amoré/Defeater/Birds In Row. If it isn’t, we sound like Motorhead!
Tell us about your new track / single / release (label, who you did it with, where, the inspiration / story behind it, what gear you used, anything like that)
DAN: With Hollowed Out & Brick By Brick, we wanted to try something a little different with the recording process. Previously, certainly with anything I’ve been involved with, we’ve tried to get as much done as possible in the day or two we had in the studio. This time, we focussed on having two songs as complete as we could and knew them back to front, before going in with Boulty at Stuck On A Name. Another variation to the process, we’d made a conscious decision to have the songs mixed by different engineers, to get an outsiders perspective of how the songs should sound and make a decision on what came back. I’ve worked with Boulty so much over the years and I always love what he does, but with a new band, we wanted new ears from someone outside of our bubble. In the end, the mix we thought really bought the songs to life, was by Owen Claxon, from Kill The Ideal. He works out of his studio in Rotherham, hadn’t really had any contact with us as a band and so did some things we wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. We’re really happy with how it turned out.
We’re mostly from a DIY hardcore background, putting on shows, putting out records & all it entails & today, more than ever, there isn’t really a need for a label to get your music out to more people than you can ever imagine. That’s not to say that if we ever got to the stage where someone wanted to do something with us we’d turn it down, but it’d have to offer something that we can’t do for ourselves. But for the level we’re operating at, there’s no need to over complicate things.
Where can we get hold of it.
DAN: We have a Bandcamp page, YouTube page & the singles are available on all the streaming platforms.
Tell us how you write? (As a band, do different people have different roles, words / music first, from jamming etc)
LUKE: Usually starts with me writing either a whole song or a couple of riffs. Take it to practice and get the drums and bass involved then everyone will have input on tweeks or changes. Jordan will play around with drum patterns and fills while Jay writes some more complex bass lines. Dan will be there for the whole process but will write lyrics at home then just come and nail it next time
Tell us about you’re live show? And how much have you been missing it recently (in lockdown etc)
LUKE: I’d been missing playing live for about 10 years so when we were finally ready and then went into lockdown, I was gutted. Happy we’ve got a few under our belt now. We have practiced so much but nothing compares to playing live for really tightening up as a band. Our show is full on and high energy from start to finish. We’re all so stoked to finally be playing live and I’d hope that comes across in our performance.
What can we expect from you in the near future? (In terms of releases / album / dates
LUKE: We’re working on more new material and will record in small batches just to keep putting stuff out. Hoping for a record in 2022 and starting to book gigs just to get out there and play shows. That’s what we’re in this for.
Tell us your favourite record(s) (apart from your own) that’s rocking your headphones / tour bus / stereo
DAN: My favourite record changes every 5 minutes! This year Turnstile has got a lot of spins, the Kenny Hoopla & Travis Barker Survivors Guilt Mixtape has got heavy play, as has Dying Wish – Fragments of a Bitter Memory, ETID – Radical, Citizen – Life In Your Glass World…oh Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry is amazing. Waiting for my vinyl copy to turn up! Keep going back to Epi-Fat stuff of my younger days, Green Day & Alkaline Trio are never far away.
Check out the bands track Hollowed Out, below:
Find out more via the bands Facebook or Bandcamp
