The Breakfast

The Breakfast
Origin East Haven, Connecticut, USA
Genres Jam band, rock, progressive rock, funk rock
Years active 1998 – present
Labels Horizon Music
Website http://www.thebreakfast.org, http://www.thebreakfast.info
Members Tim Palmieri (guitar, vocals)
Adrian Tramontano (drums, vocals)
Chris DeAngelis (bass, vocals)
Jordan Giangreco (keyboards, vocals)
Past members Ron Spears (bass, vocals)
Matt Oestreicher (keyboards, vocals)

The Breakfast (formerly Psychedelic Breakfast) is an American jam band known for its style of progressive and funk rock.[1]

History

The band was formed in East Haven, Connecticut in 1998 with the original lineup consisting of guitarist Tim Palmieri, bassist Ron Spears, drummer Adrian Tramontano, and keyboardist Jordan Giangreco. They decided on their first name, Psychedelic Breakfast, based on the suggestion of Tramontano's cousin. It is a reference to the Pink Floyd song "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", from their album Atom Heart Mother.[2][3] The original idea of the band's name was a play-off of that song; "Adrian's Psychedelic Breakfast" (after Tramontano), and was later shortened to just "Psychedelic Breakfast". The band then began playing shows in Northeast and released their first album, Psychedelic Breakfast, in the summer of 1999. Four songs from that album were featured on the MTV series Undressed.[1][4]

The band released their second studio album, Deuce, in the summer of 2001, followed by their first live album, Bona Fide, in the winter of 2003, a time during which they began supplementing their Northeast shows with the occasional national tour.

The band then won a Jammy Award for being "New Groove of the Year" in 2004,[3] and shortly thereafter decided to change their name to The Breakfast.[3] Also around this time, Relix Magazine printed an article about the band.

In the summer of 2005, The Breakfast released their third studio album, Real Radio, and embarked on a national tour that saw them open for popular bands such as The Wailers, moe., North Mississippi Allstars, and Gomez.

The Breakfast then released their fourth studio album, Moxie Epoxy, in the fall of 2006.

On July 7, 2006, shortly after The Breakfast played its 1,000th show, Giangreco played what was intended to be his final show with the band at Beardslee Castle in Little Falls, New York. Palmieri, Spears, and Tramontano then continued on as a trio for the next 13 months with Palmieri playing both keyboard and guitar.[4]

On August 12, 2007, Matt Oestreicher played his first show as The Breakfast's new keyboardist at Gathering of the Vibes in Bridgeport, CT.

On Dec. 31, Spears played his final show as The Breakfast's bassist at Electric Company in Utica, N.Y. At Spears's second-to-last show two nights prior at Toad's Place in New Haven, CT, Giangreco joined The Breakfast for four songs to close the performance, including a stellar version of one of the band's most highly regarded songs, Mooboo's Voodoo (Episode 2), and then a cover of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Karn Evil 9", with Spears on lead vocals. A 'Thank You' video montage featuring Spears, the other members of the band, and their friends was also shown.

On January 11, 2008, Chris DeAngelis played his first show as The Breakfast's new bassist at Sully's in Hartford, CT. DeAngelis, a Connecticut native, had previously played with Vermont's Turkey Bouillon Mafia and shared the stage with members of Parliament-Funkadelic, Eric Kalb (Deep Banana Blackout), Dave Grippo (Trey Anastasio Band), Fred Hersch, Chris Parker, and others.

On September 25, The Breakfast announced that due to creative differences Oestreicher would leave the band at the end of October. The band then embarked on a national tour, playing dates as a trio with Palmieri handling guitar and keyboard duties until Oestreicher's final run with The Breakfast, which began on Oct. 13 and culminated with his last show at Docksider Tavern in Erie, PA on Oct. 25.

On October 30, RAQ keyboardist Todd Stoops sat in with The Breakfast to begin their yearly Halloween run, The 10th Annual Fongoulish Freakout, which consisted of that night's performance at The Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, a show at The 'Sco at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio on Oct. 31, and then a Nov. 1 show at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge in Burlington, Vermont. The run commemorated The Breakfast's 10th anniversary, featuring the theme of 'Cartoonage', named after one of the band's songs, "Tunage", and consisted of them interspersing famous cartoon theme songs with their own material.

On November 7, Giangreco joined the band for their entire performance at Bear and Grill in Fairfield, CT. He then played with the Breakfast for their shows at Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Nov. 28, followed by their performance at Daniel Street in Milford, CT on Nov. 29.

On December 12, The Breakfast announced that Giangreco would rejoin the band as their keyboardist and he then began his second stint with their show at Mill Street Brews in Southbridge, MA on Dec. 26.

In late summer of 2009, The Breakfast released their second live album, entitled The Breakfast: Live As Is, which consists of selected material from the group's February 28 show at The Field in Bridgeport, Connecticut on Palmieri's 30th birthday.

On October 31, 2009, the band played its 11th Annual Fongoulish Freakout show, for which the theme was a celebration of music by Parliament-Funkadelic. Rico Lewis, who played with P-Funk, joined the band for their second set that was entirely composed of P-Funk songs.

Lineup

The Breakfast is known for a high level of musicianship as all four members of the band are proficient at playing each instrument, something they occasionally do by "switching up" during a live performance. Palmieri is the primary songwriter, lyricist, and vocalist with Tramontano, DeAngelis, and Giangreco providing backup vocals and some lead in addition to their own compositions.

Discography

Notes

The Breakfast has 85 original songs—most of which are still played regularly—and also plays a wide variety of covers, including live performances of the albums Morrison Hotel (The Doors), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles), and Lawn Boy (Phish) in their entirety. The performance of Lawn Boy took place as part of the band's yearly Halloween show, The 9th Annual Fonghoulish Freakout, on Oct. 27, 2007 at the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge in Burlington, VT. Phish bassist Mike Gordon was in attendance and then joined the band for the encore and their cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive", which featured Gordon on bass, Spears on guitar, and Palmieri on vocals and dressed and singing as Tony Clifton. Other Freakout themes have included The Big Lebowski and the Star Wars series, where the band has played sets that interspersed their own music with songs from the movies.

Side projects

In addition to performing with The Breakfast, Palmieri also regularly plays solo acoustic shows in the New Haven area—known to the band's fans as 'Timmy Tour'—which feature a mix of covers and Breakfast originals.

Palmieri, Tramontano, Spears, and Breakfast archivist, Dave Pecoraro, also perform in a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band called The Good Time Boys, which features Pecoraro on lead vocals and the other three on their respective instruments.

Palmieri also conceived and engineered a project entitled 'The Beatles A-Z', which consisted of himself, Spears, and Sean Miller playing every original song and cover from The Beatles' proper discography, as well as selected material from The Beatles Anthology, and performing them acoustically in alphabetical order through the course of five Sundays in August 2008 at Daniel Street in Milford, CT. All totaled, the project consisted of 224 songs and featured sit-ins from a handful of other musicians, including Tramontano and Giangreco. Tramontano then joined Palmieri, Spears, and Miller for a reprise of the project in August 2009, although this time the songs were performed electrically with 25 unofficially released rarities added to the list. Once again, a bevy of special guests contributed to the project.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jesse Jarnow. "Psychedelic Breakfast at Allmusic". Retrieved 2006-12-19.
  2. ↑ Lee Seelig. "Backstage Pass - What's In A Name?". Archived from the original on 2006-07-24. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 AJ Keirans (February 28, 2004). "The Breakfast of Champions (Or What's In a Name?)". Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Breakfast bio". Retrieved 2006-12-19.

External links