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In late 2000, guitarist Aaron Fink and bassist Mark James Klepaski made an unexpected decision: they left Lifer, an alternative metal band originally called Strangers With Candy. They made that move so they could join forces with singer Ben Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel to form Breaking Benjamin.
Why would Fink and Klepaski leave a band that had a contract with Universal to form a new, unsigned alternative rock band? According to Breaking Benjamin’s press releases, the ex-members of Lifer had so much faith in Burnley’s songwriting talents that they were willing to take a gamble and uproot themselves. So in late 2000, Breaking Benjamin got started with a four-man lineup that consisted of Burnley on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Fink on lead guitar, Klepaski on bass, and Hummel on drums.
All four members of the band are from Wilkes-Barre, a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania. When Breaking Benjamin started playing around Wilkes-Barre, they were far from a carbon copy of Lifer-instead, they favored a radio-friendly, post-grunge approach that was aggressive and forceful, yet melodic.
The band’s various influences include, among others, Live, Bush, Pearl Jam, the Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Korn, and Tool. Breaking Benjamin doesn’t have strong hip-hop leanings and isn’t quite alternative metal-hard alternative rock. These Pennsylvanians do incorporate the sort of choppy, downtuned guitars that are quite prevalent in alterna-metal, and even though Breaking Benjamin has a lot in common with post-grunge bands like Creed, Default, Cinema8 and Third Eye Blind, they tend to be a bit heavier.
In 2001, Breaking Benjamin’s Wilkes-Barre gigs caught the attention of a local radio DJ named Freddie Fabbri, an on-air personality at alterna-rock station WBSX-FM. Fabbri put their song “Polyamorous” in rotation, and he also financed the recording of their self-titled debut EP-which, in 2001, ended up selling about 2000 copies in and around Wilkes-Barre. It was also in 2001 that Breaking Benjamin signed with Hollywood Records, which united the band with Ulrich Wild (a busy producer/engineer who has worked with Powerman 5000, Stabbing Westward, White Zombie, Static-X, Pantera, Slipknot and quite a few others). Wild serves as both producer and engineer on Breaking Benjamin’s first full-length album, Saturate, which Hollywood released in August 2002. “We Are Not Alone” followed two years later, complete with a few collaborations with Billy Corgan; the band landed a primo spot on the Evanescence tour in support of the effort.
The Strings that give Breaking Benjamin their unique sound are Dean Markley Nickel Steel Electric Custom Gauges, Alchemy Gold Phos CL and MED, Blue Steel Bass ML and MED 5-String.
Be sure to visit the Breaking Benjamin website at:
www.BreakingBenjamin.com.
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