...PLAYS THE NICK
Breaking laces is a threepiece rock band out of Brooklyn, New York and their current tour led them all the way down to Birmingham to play at The Nick last Tuesday. I’d like to say that it wasn’t a waste of gas, but gas is pretty pricey these days and a stellar crowd of nine people won’t get you a half tank.
This was my first time hearing Breaking Laces and though they are definitely a talented group of musicians, they have a really dated sound that is distinctly 90’s. I tried to describe it to a friend of mine and all I could think to say was that it sounded like Nirvana was raping the Barenaked Ladies. Most of the original songs they played were silly, up beat, poppy love songs that I could have imagined myself listening to on ‘107.7 the X’ about fifteen years ago. On a side note, I should probably admit that I’m not the best person to write an article on a band like this. I have never liked grunge, I hate ska, and the Goo Goo Dolls... my God, the Goo Goo Dolls. If there is one thing I can say that I really liked about Breaking Laces, it’s that they aren’t the Goo Goo Dolls.
On a positive note, the cover they played of the Radiohead song, ‘Talk Show Host’ was surprisingly really well done considering most bands completely butcher Radiohead tunes. They also did a Nirvana cover, but the lead singer was not quite angst-y enough to pull it off. That is by no means an insult though.
The lead singer has a great voice reminiscent of Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service); it’s just not really suited for grunge. He’s pretty charismatic as well. He cracked jokes in between songs and seemed genuinely enthusiastic, despite the size of the crowd.
One thing that I thought was really cool was that they were giving away their most recent album, so if nothing else at least everyone got to leave with a new CD to listen to. It’s called ‘ When You Find Out’. I can’t say that it will be on regular rotation in my iTunes library, but hey free music is free music and I can always appreciate that. They’ve still got some dates left so if you’re into a fun, poppy, ‘gen X’ sound then I would definitely go check out Breaking Laces. You can sample and buy all of their albums and check on tour dates at www.breakinglaces.com.
