band break-ups

band break-ups are hard. for an act that has been together for years it's often sad to see it go, for both fans and members. the break-up will inevitably bring many fans to tears, as they know the band has given so much but will never again. they will never tour, never record, never play together again.

music a memorable band plays together is much greater than the sum of it's parts. the singular parts are all present and accounted for: the drummer drums, the singer sings, the tamborinist... tamborines; but if a band or artist is any good, the combination of those sections form a separate entity that stands on it’s own. that sound is precisely what makes your skin chill, your heart beat hard and your senses intensify. it is exactly what makes me fall in love with the music i listen to.

the selling point in a band is usually their singer, or often times a guitarist. i believe that this can cause somewhat of a rift between them the other members of a band. that member becomes the “leader” of the group, which can bring ultimately disjointed music. music that sounds as though one part is in the forefront, while the rest are an afterthought. it’s one of many problems with popular music today. such a selfish attitude must surely bring bands to split.

luckily there are many acts out there that concentrate wholeheartedly upon the idea of cohesion. they are aware of the fact that if only they work together, they can create the most memorable music. their idea of music is something entirely different than the one that permeates popular music culture. they are focused on getting things done at their own pace, working together and making sure it’s right.

sure enough though, there will always be disagreements between members. although they’ve given what they could, it just can’t work anymore. the implosion of a band, however, doesn’t come without perks.

what i find great in a band’s break-up is the overwhelming potential for new projects to bloom. unless the members vow to never again make music, which is not normally the case, the chances that fresh endeavors will follow are pretty high. they can sometimes prove to be even greater than the original line-up.

take, for example, the dear hunter. the front man of that band, casey crescenzo, used to be in a band called the receiving end of sirens. it had three singers at the time i had heard of them, which seemed not to fit casey’s artistic desires. it was evident in the first album from the receiving end of sirens that he was looking to branch out and undertake something huge.

he soon left the band to focus his attention solely upon the dear hunter, which clearly better caters to his big ideas. the receiving end of sirens released a new album sometime last year, and although they sound a bit different, they’re still the same band. i thought it would have surely been all over for the band after losing one of their more important members, but they were able to both prosper after the split. the dear hunter is one of my favorite bands at the moment, and if this split hadn’t occurred between the members, it wouldn’t exist.

it just seems to me that much of the good about a band comes after the break up. we'll just have to see where members of a band like the format will be headed after their quick and unexpected split.

here's a live video (thanks to my friend marc p for throwing this my way) from the format: