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 Monday, October 1, 2007 12:31 PM CDT |
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Smashing, Breaking, and making some noise
There'll be a whole lotta breaking-shaking-smashing going on in the coming week, as two of the biggest fall rock concerts on the Twin Cities schedule collide head-on. Almost. The musical violence erupts Tuesday with a sold-out show by the newly re-born Smashing Pumpkins. They're performing in Illinois State University's Braden Auditorium, where the band last appeared in its mid-'90s heyday. Two nights later, on Oct. 4, comes a group that might be considered young upstarts by the 40ish Pumpkins: the Pennsylvania-begat Breaking Benjamin, who are poised to assault Bloomington's U.S. Cellular Coliseum and the captive audience inside (they're also still slugging away in the ticket-selling department, by the way, with seats still available). With a more-than-able assist by its co-headliner act -- platinum-selling Canadian metal-rockers Three Days Grace (see accompanying sidebar) -- Breaking Benjamin has a somewhat bigger support system than the Pumpkins. It includes two more high-decibel opening acts, Seether and Skillet. The Pumpkins, meanwhile, are getting by with a lone opener at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4: native New Yorkers and self-professed Pumpkins buffs The Bravery (see accompanying sidebar). Though the brands of rock being dispensed each night may very at the intensity level, all parties involved usually come bearing the "alternative" label -- the Pumpkins and The Bravery as alternative rock, and Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace as alternative metal. While those labels are doubtless open to debate and alternative interpretation, there still are certain threads that connect the two bands with the kindred names suggesting some mode of physical violence. As the legend goes, Pumpkins overlord Billy Corgan came up with the name when he was just another snarky Chicago 16-year-old, as a kind of private joke -- his satirical name for a non-existent rock band. After leaving his first flesh-and-blood rock band, The Marked, Corgan decided to turn the fake band name into the real thing when he teamed up with guitarist James Iha. As for Breaking Benjamin, the name origins are rooted in a more concrete form of rock reality. Group co-founder and namesake Benjamin Burley began his rock life as a solo singer-guitarist plying the open mic circuit in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. One night, as the legend -- OK, the anecdote -- goes, Burley dropped the microphone in the middle of covering a Nirvana song, inspiring the sound man to bark, "Thanks to Benjamin for breaking my (expletive deleted) mic!" Apparently it took some getting used to: After trying out the Breaking Benjamin moniker, the band switched to Plan 9, referencing Edward D. Wood Jr.'s fiasco of another kind, "Plan 9 From Outer Space," the movie that some might deem worthy of some smashing/breaking, or worse. Other parallels: • Smashing Pumpkins (hereafter, SP) came together in 1988, and Breaking Benjamin (hereafter, BB) in 1998. • Each band's original lineup consisted of four members: Corgan, Iha, D'arcy Wretzky and Jimmy Chamberlin, SP; Benjamin Burley, Jeremy Hummel, Aaron Fink and Mark Klepaski. • Each band eventually lost key founding members in much publicized departures/evictions: Iha and Wretzky from SP; Hummel from BB. • Each band achieved mainstream, major-label success within around 4½ years of their inception and via sophomore albums: SP with 1993's "Siamese Dream," BB with 2002's "Saturate." • Each band's third album pushed them to the pinnacles, with SP's 1995 "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness debuting at No. 1 on Billboard's album charts and BB's 2004 "We Are Not Alone's" reaching No. 2 on Billboard's mainstream rock chart. • Each band first played a major Twin Cities venue at around the 7 1/2-year marker in its existence: SP (after earlier gigs on the Twin Cities club scene in the early '90s) was unveiled at the height its success in a March 1994 show in ISU's Braden Auditorium, with "Siamese Dreams" riding high on the charts and the single "Disarm" all over Top 40 radio. Meanwhile BB's Twin Cities debut, at roughly the same point in its career, is occurring at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum. The album "Phobia," released in April produced the biggest single of their career, the No. 1 hit, "Breath." Whether the two bands' trajectories run parallel or diverge from this point is anyone's guess: SP's meltdown came 12 years into its existence, in 2000, when Corgan officially pulled the plug on the embattled band; BB's 12-year anniversary is still three years off (though rumors of a breakup circulated earlier this year in the wake of several cancelled concerts, which, as it turned out, were strictly a result of Burnley's illness). The rebirth of the Pumpkins began more than a year ago, in April 2006, when Corgan announced the band would be back, with only himself and Chamberlin back in the fold; new members would be bass player Ginger Reyes, guitarist Jeff Schroeder and keyboardist Lisa Harriton. The reunion began in earnest this past summer, first with a sold-out, nine-show residency in Asheville, N.C., followed by the July release of their album, "Zeitgeist" (which entered the Billboard charts at No. 2 and produced the hit single, "Tarantula") and a run of 11 sold-out shows at San Francisco's historic Fillmore Theater. The fall tour kicked off three weeks ago in Montreal and Toronto and ends Nov. 5 in Nashville. When ISU was announced as one of the dates on the tour, the show became one of the faster sellouts in recent Braden Auditorium history, with tickets gone after several days. At a glanceWhat: Smashing Pumpkins with The Bravery When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4 Where: ISU Braden Auditorium Tickets: $40 (sold out) Box office number: (309) 438-5444 At a glanceWhat: Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace, with Seether and Skillet When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Where: U.S. Cellular Coliseum, Bloomington Tickets: $37 Box office number: (866) 891-9992 In this corner ...In addition to Breaking Benjamin, Tuesday night's concert at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum features a co-headliner of equal import, Three Days Grace. Here's a thumbnail sketch: • Numbers: 4 • I.D.s: Adam Gontier, vocals, rhythm guitar; Neil Sanderson, drums, backing vocals; Brad Walst, bass, backing vocals; Barry Stock, guitar • Meeting ground: High school in Norwood, Ontario (Adam, Brad, Neil) • Confusion avoidance: Three Days Grace refers to the band's trio days of the late '90s, before guitarist Stock was added in 2003, upping it to a quartet but not, thankfully, Four Days Grace • Graceful debut: First album made it into the top 10 of the American Albums chart • Modus operandi: "For me it's like talking to a shrink. Some people go to a shrink and pay 'em a load of money to solve their problems. Instead I tend to pick up a guitar and try and write it down in a song." -- Gontier, who spent time in rehab in 2005 for an addiction to Oxycontin w• Tell-tale lyrical tropes: "I Hate (Everything About You)," "Pain" • Debut album: "Three Days Grace" (2003), via Jive Records • Hits: "Animal I've Become," "Pain," "Never Too Late," "Just Like You," "I Hate (Everything About You)" • Current (sophomore) album: "One-X" • Offbeat ingredients in above: The best songs were written by Gontier while undergoing rehab at the Toronto Centre for Addiction and Mental Health • Graceful move: Going platinum with "One-X" • Smart move: The authors of "Pain" teaming up for their current tour with the authors of "Phobia" Openers Opening for Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace are: • Seether: Three-man, alt-metal band from South Africa, on the scene since 2000; still touring on the strength of their platinum-selling 2005 album, "Karma and Effect." • Skillet: Four-member, Christian rock band formed in Tennessee in the mid-'90s, making it the longest-running band on the bill; Grammy-nominated in 2003 for Best Rock Gospel Album ("Collide") In that corner ...In addition to Smashing Pumpkins, the sold-out Oct. 4 concert in Illinois State University's Braden Auditorium features a lone opening act, The Bravery. Here's a fearless thumbnail sketch: • Numbers: 5 • I.D.s: Sam Endicott, vocals-guitar; Michael Zakarin, guitar; John Conway, keyboards; Mike Hindert, bass; Anthony Burulcich, drums • Meeting ground: Art school (Sam and John); NYC's early-'00s electroclash scene (the two Mikes, Anthony) • Confusion avoidance: Call Zakarin "Michael," call Hindert "Mike" • Brave debut: Brooklyn's Stinger Club, after only a week's practice with the full lineup • Modus operandi: "Sam writes basic song in guitar ... group records it like a rock track ... then remixes it beyond recognition." • Tell-tale lyrical tropes: Sam is a "hopeful misanthrope," battling his fears and negativity • Hence: The Bravery • Debut album: "The Bravery" (2005), via Island Records • Hits: "An Honest Mistake," "Unconditional" • Current (sophomore) album: "The Sun and the Moon" • Offbeat ingredients in above: string quartet, antique pump organ, '70s Mellotron, Beach Boys-ish harmonies • Brave move: Recording their own version of Smashing Pumpkins' "Rocket" as part of SPIN/MySpace tribute CD • Smart move: Invited to open for Smashing Pumpkins on eight of their North American tour stops E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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