Two Bands that Definitely Exist.
Solipsis and Breaker Breaker are two rad young bands from Massachusetts, playing together on Thursday May 18. In advance of the show, we asked some Qs and heard back from Solipsis’ Gage Bard, and Delina Brytowski of Breaker Breaker.
atac: Hey there. What’s up? Who are you?
Gage Bard: We’re just some guys that play instruments in a band in Massachusetts.
Delina Brytowski: I am the lead singer of Breaker Breaker!
atac: Where are you originally from, and when / how did you discover music?
GB: We’re from the third stone from the sun. We discovered music when we gained awareness.
DB: I’m from Hopedale, it’s probably the smallest town in Massachusetts. I grew up in a musical family; my grandfather was a guitarist in rock bands in the 70’s. My dad is a massive fan of nu metal and likes to drum along. He swears he’s not that good, but I think he’s a great drummer.
atac: What are your top desert records?
GB: As a band, we like In Through the Out Door, Led Zeppelin 1, Dark Side of the Moon, and Rubber Soul.
DB: Hmm, that’s a good question. Probably Vol 3: (The Subliminal Verses) by Slipknot. I’ve been listening to that a lot recently. Then probably The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance—I’ve loved that album since I was like 10. I’m a die hard MCR fan.
atac: What are some great live shows you’ve seen?
GB: I saw the Beatles back in the 30s; Led Zeppelin back in the 50s. I saw Nirvana back in the 70s and Beethoven's 3rd a couple hundred years ago. Went to the cantina from Star Wars and saw that one song. We’ve been around since before the dawn of time and can travel multiverses.
atac: Ah yes, I think I’ve heard this one before…
DB: There's a J-rock band called Radwimps; my boyfriend loves them and we went to NYC to see them. They put on an amazing performance; how to keep the crowd entertained. Also a local band called The Dragonflies who we overlap with and play shows together. I am enamored by them. Such amazing performers and musicians—it’s crazy.
atac: What’s your practice, or pre-show routine like?
GB: Never practice any of your material and just wing every show you play. It will definitely go well.
DB: It’s normal to be nervous! I've been performing in recitals and concerts since I was 5 years old and still get extremely anxious before every show. I always worry about whether I'll mess up and what people will think. You just have to try to focus on the music, not on other people. Make sure you’re having fun and you’re enjoying yourself because that’s what makes a show a show.
Above: Breaker Breakeratac: How about a rough gig? What when wrong and how’d you recover?
GB: The one we did on the sun was a little hard. Took a while to get there and they didn’t have adequate air conditioning.
atac: It’s going to be like this the whole interview, isn’t it Gabe? Moving on…Breaker Breaker?
DB: Oh lord. It was probably one I played with at an old music school I went to. It was a Halloween show, and we were playing at some festival but none of us knew where we were going. The coordinators didn’t give us an exact location, so we all just walked around aimlessly until we found the stage. By then we were already behind schedule but one of our drummers realized he had completely forgotten to grab his high hat…then my guitar broke on stage, unplayable for the rest of the show.
atac: I'm curious how you approach promo. I was talking to some MassArt students recently who seemed super ambivalent about social media...how do you get the word out about shows? Serious answers only.
GB: It’s probably our weakest aspect, if I’m being honest. We have instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. but aren’t very great at promoting ourselves. It used to be a lot worse, I ran the old channels but was terrible at it. John, our drummer, has recently done a much better job of promoting our stuff. I’m very thankful he was willing to do all that, it’s a big reason we gained a lot of our followers and views. I still run the instagram and book shows, but still have no idea how to set up tours or anything like that. It's hard enough getting one gig.
atac: If you're familiar with the MetroWest / Massachusetts scene, who are some artists around here you love and want to get people hip to?
GB: Solipsis. As far as we know they’re the only band in Massachusetts, I don’t even think people play instruments in this state besides us.
DB: Like i mentioned before, The Dragonflies are an amazing band. I'm also quite fond of Nectarine Girl and Ted Rabbit! They’re both amazing!
Above: Solipsis. Not sure about that timestamp though...atac: Not sure how much travel you’ve all done but, got any memorable spots to note from other cities? Or locally.
GB: Burt’s Gentleman Club in Arkansas was pretty cool. They didn’t card at the bar. They just gave minors alcohol.
DB: Armageddon. It’s a small record shop. There's one in Providence and one in Cambridge. Thousands of records from metal to new wave bands. It’s got such a good atmosphere and just an overall great place.
atac: Love Armageddon. I was at the one in Providence last week and they had all three Skullshitter records in stock. Where else could you get that?! So is music your main creative output, or are you up to other things, too?
GB: I’m mostly busy with school (thankfully over soon since I’m a senior), work, or stuff with the band. Back before ever wanting to be in a band or learning any instruments, I wanted to make movies. I filmed them with my sister on my iPod touch and edited them on iMovie. They weren’t the greatest films of all time by any means, but I enjoyed doing them, and my parents at least pretended to enjoy watching them. They’re still up on a channel called “Gage Bard Productions”. Nothing but Lego stop motion videos that I meticulously crafted for hours on end.
DB: I write poetry. It's always been an outlet of mine, a way I can put my thoughts out in a way that makes sense to me. It doesn't matter if other people don’t get it because I do.
atac: Let us conclude by nerding out. What are your favorite pieces of gear?
GB: My favorite gear is old stuff. I really, really like old stuff. Old video games/consoles, old music, old computers, old record players and cassette decks, old cars. Why don’t they just make new cars look like the old ones? It would be so much better! All of our earliest band recordings were done on 4 track cassette recorders because I love the process and the sound; recording on tape makes you a better musician cause you can’t fuck up—it’s more fun. It also just sounds the coolest. Eventually I got a mixer that connects to my computer, which makes things a lot easier, but I still love recording on tape. I also have a guitar that was made in the Soviet Union in the 60s that I really like. It’s the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen but it’s awesome. I plan on bringing it to our show at atac in Framingham, Massachusetts.
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Come out Thursday, May 18th to see both of these awesome bands shred on our stage. You can grab tickets right here.
Editor’s Note: A few follow up questions were asked rather last minute, which is why a few replies from Breaker Breaker are not present.
