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Тексты песен Breaking Benjamin
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Breaking Benjamin - группа, играющая в стилях alternative metal / post-grunge. Она была сформирована вокалистом Бенджамином Бёрнли и барабанщиком Джереми Хэммелом в городке Уилк-Барр, штат Пенсильвания, в 1998 году. В 1999 году группа изменила название на более короткое, но, в результате изменений состава группы, в 2001 году вернула прежнее. Тогда же к группе присоединились Аарон Финк и Марк Клепански, покинувшие группу Lifer.
Именно там музыканты и начинали свои первые выступления, одно из которых довелось заметить диджею местной, специализирующейся на альтернативном роке, радиостанции «WBSX-FM» по имени Фредди Фебби, который включил произведение группы «Polyamorous» в плей-лист своей программы, а позднее профинансировал запись первого ЕР «Breaking Benjamin».
В 2001 году «Breaking Benjamin» подписывают контракт с лейблом «Hollywood Records» и в союзе с продюсером и звукоинженером Ульрихом Вайлдом (Powerman 5000, Stabbing Westard, White Zombie, Static-X, Pantera, Slipknot и др.) приступают к работе над дебютной пластинкой «Saturate», релиз которой состоялся в августе 2002 года.
Второй альбом «We Are Not Alone» музыканты выпустили спустя два года. В его записи принял участие знаменитый Билли Корган, в прошлом, руководитель успешной альтернативной команды Smashing Pumpkins. Вскоре, группа «Breaking Benjamin» отправилась в гастрольный тур совместно с «Evanescence». Песня "So Cold" сыграла значительную роль в альбоме «We Are Not Alone», фанатам группы так понравился этот трек, что группа не могла не выпустить EP/single на тему "So Cold", что она и сделала. В этом же году выходит EP "So Cold EP", который только повысил рейтинг группы.
В это же время группа пишет саундтрек к компьютерной игре - Halo. Данная песня - "Blow Me Away", а также ранняя работа команды "Lady Bug", вошла в "So Cold EP".
Кроме того, на песни "So Cold" и "Follow Me" были сделаны любительские клипы (по игре Half-Life 2 к первой и фильму Torque ко второй песням), что принесло группе небывалую популярность и увеличило число её фанатов.
В сентябре 2004 года из группы уходит барабанщик Джереми Хэммел, заменённый вскоре Чадом Сзелига.
Позже, 28 сентября 2005 года, Джереми Хэммел обращается в федеральный суд с иском, который он готовил против Breaking Benjamin, из–за того, что он не получил деньги за написанные им песни. За это он хотел получить 8 миллионов долларов, но 25 октября 2006 года суд отклонил его иск.
В 2006 году группа выпускает свой третий альбом под названием "Phobia" и начинает пробираться на вершины чартов.
Летом этого же года группа выпускает в свет первый сингл с нового альбома - "The Diary of Jane". Сингл вошёл в 10-ку лучших песен в категории модерн-рок по версии Billboard за 2007 год.
Позднее, весной 2007 года выходит второй сингл - Breath.
Осенью того же года выходит третий, последний сингл альбома - Until The End. Сингл, в отличие от двух предыдущих, вышел без клипа, и, как и Breath, не сумел побить успех "Дневника Джейн".
В феврале 2007 года выступление группы на Stabler Arena было записано и вышло в продажу на DVD под названием Live - The Homecoming, общей длительностью 1 час. Это первый концерт Breaking Benjamin, официально вышедший на DVD.
В июне 2008 года Breaking Benjamin приступили к записи 4 альбома. Продюсером стал Дэвид Бендет, он же был продюсером двух последних альбомов, We Are Not Alone и Phobia.
В сентябре 2009 года вышел новый альбом "Dear Agony", содержащий 11 треков. С первого же дня выпуска альбом на ура был принят фанатами.
14 июля, участники группы подтвердили, что в их новом альбоме 11 треков, и что один из них - "What Lies Beneath". 28 июля, Дэвид Бендет подтвердил, что первый сингл под названием "I Will Not Bow" будет транслироватся по радио 17 августа, и станет доступным в магазине iTunes 1 сентября (однако песня прозвучала в эфире 12-го числа). А 4 августа, на MySpace страничке группа объявила название их четвертого альбома - "Dear Agony", и что он поступит в продажу 29 сентября.
19 апреля 2013 года Бенджамин Бернли на официальном сайте группы сообщил о завершении судебных разбирательств против экс-участников группы Клепаски и Финка. Бернли выиграл суд, оставив за собой право использовать имя группы. Несмотря на это, барабанщик группы, Чед Зелига, 22 апреля 2013 года заявил о своем уходе в связи с творческими разногласиями и участием в других проектах, пожелав удачи новым музыкантам Breaking Benjamin, «кем бы они ни были».
В октябре 2013 года Бернли впервые за 3 года выступил вживую, отыграв вместе с Аароном Бруком ряд акустических концертов в местных барах нескольких городов штата Пенсильвания.
Возвращение.
20 августа 2014 официально был представлен новый состав группы, включающий, помимо Бернли, гитариста Кита Уоллена (экс-Adelitas Way, Copper), гитариста Джейсена Рау (экс-RED), басиста Аарона Брука (экс-OurAfter, Forever Oeuvre), барабанщика Шона Фоиста (экс-Picture Me Broken).
С 13 сентября 2014 группа начала выкладывать новые фотографии из студии, указывая на начало записи нового материала.
19 и 20 сентября 2014 группа отыграла два первых концерта в новом составе, билеты на которые были полностью раскуплены.
Название
Название группа получила в связи с инцидентом, когда Бёрнли, перепевая песню группы Nirvana, уронил микрофон на землю. Человек, поднявший микрофон, сказал: "Thanks to Benjamin for breaking my fucking mic" ("Спасибо Бенджамину, за то, что он сломал мой долбанный микрофон").
Участники
Нынешние
Бенжамин Бёрнли (Benjamin Barnley) - вокал, гитара
Кит Уоллен (Keith Wallen) - ритм-гитара, бэк-вокал
Джейсен Рау (Jasen Rauch) - соло-гитара
Аарон Брук (Aaron Bruch) - бас-гитара, бэк-вокал
Шон Фоист (Shaun Foist) - барабаны, перкуссия
Бывшие
Джереми Хэммел (Jeremy Hammel) - барабаны, перкуссия
Аарен Финк (Aaron Fink) - гитара
Марк Клепаски (Mark James) - бас-гитара
Чед Зелига (Chad Szeliga) - барабаны Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Именно там музыканты и начинали свои первые выступления, одно из которых довелось заметить диджею местной, специализирующейся на альтернативном роке, радиостанции «WBSX-FM» по имени Фредди Фебби, который включил произведение группы «Polyamorous» в плей-лист своей программы, а позднее профинансировал запись первого ЕР «Breaking Benjamin».
В 2001 году «Breaking Benjamin» подписывают контракт с лейблом «Hollywood Records» и в союзе с продюсером и звукоинженером Ульрихом Вайлдом (Powerman 5000, Stabbing Westard, White Zombie, Static-X, Pantera, Slipknot и др.) приступают к работе над дебютной пластинкой «Saturate», релиз которой состоялся в августе 2002 года.
Второй альбом «We Are Not Alone» музыканты выпустили спустя два года. В его записи принял участие знаменитый Билли Корган, в прошлом, руководитель успешной альтернативной команды Smashing Pumpkins. Вскоре, группа «Breaking Benjamin» отправилась в гастрольный тур совместно с «Evanescence». Песня "So Cold" сыграла значительную роль в альбоме «We Are Not Alone», фанатам группы так понравился этот трек, что группа не могла не выпустить EP/single на тему "So Cold", что она и сделала. В этом же году выходит EP "So Cold EP", который только повысил рейтинг группы.
В это же время группа пишет саундтрек к компьютерной игре - Halo. Данная песня - "Blow Me Away", а также ранняя работа команды "Lady Bug", вошла в "So Cold EP".
Кроме того, на песни "So Cold" и "Follow Me" были сделаны любительские клипы (по игре Half-Life 2 к первой и фильму Torque ко второй песням), что принесло группе небывалую популярность и увеличило число её фанатов.
В сентябре 2004 года из группы уходит барабанщик Джереми Хэммел, заменённый вскоре Чадом Сзелига.
Позже, 28 сентября 2005 года, Джереми Хэммел обращается в федеральный суд с иском, который он готовил против Breaking Benjamin, из–за того, что он не получил деньги за написанные им песни. За это он хотел получить 8 миллионов долларов, но 25 октября 2006 года суд отклонил его иск.
В 2006 году группа выпускает свой третий альбом под названием "Phobia" и начинает пробираться на вершины чартов.
Летом этого же года группа выпускает в свет первый сингл с нового альбома - "The Diary of Jane". Сингл вошёл в 10-ку лучших песен в категории модерн-рок по версии Billboard за 2007 год.
Позднее, весной 2007 года выходит второй сингл - Breath.
Осенью того же года выходит третий, последний сингл альбома - Until The End. Сингл, в отличие от двух предыдущих, вышел без клипа, и, как и Breath, не сумел побить успех "Дневника Джейн".
В феврале 2007 года выступление группы на Stabler Arena было записано и вышло в продажу на DVD под названием Live - The Homecoming, общей длительностью 1 час. Это первый концерт Breaking Benjamin, официально вышедший на DVD.
В июне 2008 года Breaking Benjamin приступили к записи 4 альбома. Продюсером стал Дэвид Бендет, он же был продюсером двух последних альбомов, We Are Not Alone и Phobia.
В сентябре 2009 года вышел новый альбом "Dear Agony", содержащий 11 треков. С первого же дня выпуска альбом на ура был принят фанатами.
14 июля, участники группы подтвердили, что в их новом альбоме 11 треков, и что один из них - "What Lies Beneath". 28 июля, Дэвид Бендет подтвердил, что первый сингл под названием "I Will Not Bow" будет транслироватся по радио 17 августа, и станет доступным в магазине iTunes 1 сентября (однако песня прозвучала в эфире 12-го числа). А 4 августа, на MySpace страничке группа объявила название их четвертого альбома - "Dear Agony", и что он поступит в продажу 29 сентября.
19 апреля 2013 года Бенджамин Бернли на официальном сайте группы сообщил о завершении судебных разбирательств против экс-участников группы Клепаски и Финка. Бернли выиграл суд, оставив за собой право использовать имя группы. Несмотря на это, барабанщик группы, Чед Зелига, 22 апреля 2013 года заявил о своем уходе в связи с творческими разногласиями и участием в других проектах, пожелав удачи новым музыкантам Breaking Benjamin, «кем бы они ни были».
В октябре 2013 года Бернли впервые за 3 года выступил вживую, отыграв вместе с Аароном Бруком ряд акустических концертов в местных барах нескольких городов штата Пенсильвания.
Возвращение.
20 августа 2014 официально был представлен новый состав группы, включающий, помимо Бернли, гитариста Кита Уоллена (экс-Adelitas Way, Copper), гитариста Джейсена Рау (экс-RED), басиста Аарона Брука (экс-OurAfter, Forever Oeuvre), барабанщика Шона Фоиста (экс-Picture Me Broken).
С 13 сентября 2014 группа начала выкладывать новые фотографии из студии, указывая на начало записи нового материала.
19 и 20 сентября 2014 группа отыграла два первых концерта в новом составе, билеты на которые были полностью раскуплены.
Название
Название группа получила в связи с инцидентом, когда Бёрнли, перепевая песню группы Nirvana, уронил микрофон на землю. Человек, поднявший микрофон, сказал: "Thanks to Benjamin for breaking my fucking mic" ("Спасибо Бенджамину, за то, что он сломал мой долбанный микрофон").
Участники
Нынешние
Бенжамин Бёрнли (Benjamin Barnley) - вокал, гитара
Кит Уоллен (Keith Wallen) - ритм-гитара, бэк-вокал
Джейсен Рау (Jasen Rauch) - соло-гитара
Аарон Брук (Aaron Bruch) - бас-гитара, бэк-вокал
Шон Фоист (Shaun Foist) - барабаны, перкуссия
Бывшие
Джереми Хэммел (Jeremy Hammel) - барабаны, перкуссия
Аарен Финк (Aaron Fink) - гитара
Марк Клепаски (Mark James) - бас-гитара
Чед Зелига (Chad Szeliga) - барабаны Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Breaking Benjamin is a post-grunge/alternative metal band Formed in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA in 1998 by vocalist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel, Breaking Benjamin quickly garnered a strong local following.
1st Studio Album [2002] - Saturate
The band signed to Hollywood Records in 2001 after the success of an independently-released, self-titled EP, which sold all 2,000 copies that were manufactured. Hollywood Records released their full-length, major-label debut, Saturate, on August 27, 2002. The album's first single, "Polyamorous", received a fair amount of radio play, although it failed to reach mainstream audiences. A video was released in two different versions for Polyamorous: one that had all live-action footage, and one that had footage of the video game Run Like Hell. The following single "Skin" was also released from Saturate, although it fared worse than "Polyamorous" and received even less airplay. "Skin" was also performed live on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show. "Medicate" was also released as a single, to little commercial success and airplay. Saturate has gone on to sell over 300,000 copies.
2nd Studio Album [2004] - We Are Not Alone
Breaking Benjamin released their second album, We Are Not Alone, on June 29, 2004. The album featured the lead off single "So Cold", which reached number two on the United States Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The band had two music videos made for the song, one of which was a promotional video made for the movie Hellboy. The commercial success of "So Cold" led to We Are Not Alone achieving platinum status in late 2005. Also released as singles from the album were "Sooner or Later" and a re- recorded version of "Rain", which was featured on later pressings of the album. While the former again got the band as high as number two on the Mainstream Rock chart and featured a music video, the latter garnered little radio play and had no video created for it. Another song off "We Are Not Alone", "Sooner or Later", had a video created for it and got a fair amount of radio play. Later in 2004, the band released the So Cold EP. The EP contained live recordings of We Are Not Alone's "So Cold" (an acoustic recording), "Breakdown", and "Away", as well as studio recordings of "Blow Me Away", a song that was featured in Bungie's video game Halo 2, and "Lady Bug", an early fan favorite of the band's.
In September of 2004, drummer, and founding member of Breaking Benjamin, Jeremy Hummel was relieved of his duties in the band. Subsequently, on September 28, 2005, Hummel filed a federal lawsuit against the remaining members of Breaking Benjamin, as well as its management, claiming he was not paid for songs he helped write. Hummel's lawsuit asked for more than $8 million in damages. A message was released October 25, 2006 on the bands official website stating that the band and Hummel had come to agreement on the lawsuit.
3rd Studio Album [2006] - Phobia
In the fall of 2006 the band began a tour opening for Godsmack for the IV tour, hitting up mostly eastern and Ohio Valley venues, and soon moving out west, still in support of the Phobia album, released on August 8 that year. Several of the shows had been canceled, or turned into Breaking Benjamin headliners due to scheduling conflicts. Many of Breaking Benjamin's tour dates from December 3rd have been rescheduled due to illness in the band's ranks. All dates were rescheduled as the band announced another headlining leg before going on a nationwide tour with Three Days Grace and Nickelback.
On March 4, 2007, HDNet premiered a one-hour show of the Breaking Benjamin concert in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at Stabler Arena. This is also the concert that was included on the Phobia re-release DVD in April of 2007, advertised as "The Homecoming". Footage of the band's live Stabler Arena performance of "Breath" comprises the song's music video.
On April 17, 2007, Breaking Benjamin re-released the album Phobia. The album featured a DVD with about an hour of their Stabler Arena concert footage.
4th Studio Album [2009] - Dear Agony
On the 29th of September, 2009, Breaking Benjamin released their 4th studio album, entitled "Dear Agony". Some of the tracks on the album, were co-written by Jasen Rauch, from the Christian-metal band Red.
On September 23, 2009, Breaking Benjamin released a flash video game parody of Altered Beast, aptly titled "Altered Benjamin". The game contains three levels and plays the same as the original, except the player controls vocalist Ben Burnley and the three bosses are each other member of the band respectively. Altered Benjamin is still available through the band's website, and their MySpace page.
Certain copies of Dear Agony purchased at Best Buy also come with a bonus DVD that includes the band's six music videos including a previously-unreleased version of the video for "I Will Not Bow". The version on the DVD is of the band only and does not contain any footage from the movie Surrogates, unlike the version released on the Internet.
On August 31st, 2009, prior to the release of Dear Agony, Breaking Benjamin released their first single from DA, "I Will Not Bow". It was featured in the 2009 Sci-Fi film [Starring Bruce Willis], "Surrogates". The song was not written specifically for the film, but according to drummer Chad Szeliga, “Ben sent a few songs to our record label, Hollywood Records,” which is owned by Disney, who then decided they “wanted a Breaking Benjamin song for this movie.”
The music video for I Will Not Bow was released to the band's Myspace on August 21, 2009. The video was shot at the World Trade Center building 7, but has no connection or significant meaning having to do with the 9/11 events as stated by Aaron Fink in his Point interview on August 13, 2009. The video was directed by Rich Lee who has also directed for Evanescence. Lee chose the location, feeling it was an eerie place to film.
A second version of the music video without the Surrogates footage was released with the Best Buy Exclusive version of Dear Agony. It includes various bridged footage of the band performing.
On January 5, 2010, Give Me a Sign was the second single released from Breaking Benjamin's fourth studio album, Dear Agony.
2 extra tracks were featured on the Japanese version of "Dear Agony". An acoustic version of 'Without You', and an acoustic version 'Give Me A Sign'.
Hiatus, greatest hits album and legal issues [2010-2014]
In the summer of 2010, Breaking Benjamin announced an indefinite hiatus, due to Burnley's recurring illnesses. Guitarist Fink and bassist Klepaski rejoined their old band, Lifer, and Szeliga toured with his other band, OurAfter.
On June 7, 2011, a remixed version of "Blow Me Away", featuring Valora, was released.[17] An animated music video for the remix was released on August 24.[18] On June 30, 2011, Rock Access posted the tracklist for the band's greatest hits album, Shallow Bay: The Best of Breaking Benjamin, and for its "deluxe edition".[19] It was released on August 16, as a one-disc "standard edition" and a two-disc "deluxe edition" (featuring b-sides and rarities). Burnley publicly opposed the album's release, saying content had been altered and released without his consent, and that it did not meet his standards.
In May 2011, Burnley fired bandmates Fink and Klepaski. Shortly after, a dispute over the new version of "Blow Me Away" went public. Burnley gave his side of the dispute in a June court filing, saying Fink and Klepaski made unilateral and unauthorized decisions on behalf of the band, such as giving permission in May for the remixing of "Blow Me Away". Burnley seeks at least $250,000 and the exclusive right to the "Breaking Benjamin" name. Burnley has stated he plans to revive the band when the lawsuit is settled.
Little was heard from the band throughout 2012, the only exception being a February 2012 interview with Szeliga, where he assured fans that the band was still together, and that he looked forward to working on another record in the future. On April 19, 2013, Burnley announced that the legal issues had finally ended, with Burnley winning the rights to the name of the band. However, Szeliga posted an announcement on his Facebook page on April 22 that he was leaving the band, due to creative differences. In October-November 2013, Burnley played a number of acoustic performances around the Wilkes-Barre area, playing Breaking Benjamin songs.
Reformation [2014-present]
On August 19, 2014, the band announced that they had reformed via their official Facebook page. The band re-emerged as a quintet, consisting Burnley as the lead vocalist and four new members. New members include guitarist Jasen Rauch, previously of the band Red, who had previously collaborated with the band off of four tracks on Dear Agony, guitarist Keith Wallen, previously of Adelitas Way, bassist Aaron Bruch, who played a couple of acoustic shows previously with Burnley, and drummer Shaun Foist, previously of the band Picture Me Broken.
In 2016 the band will go for the first time to Europe.
Singles Chronology
2002 - Polyamorous
2003 - Skin
2003 - Medicate
2004 - So Cold [EP]*
2004 - Sooner or Later
2005 - Rain (Drums re-recorded by Chad Szeliga)
2006 - The Diary Of Jane
2006 - Breath
2006 - Until The End
2009 - I Will Not Bow
2010 - Give Me A Sign
2015 - Failure
2015 - Angels Fall
*So Cold [EP] featured 5 songs, 'So Cold (Acoustic)', 'Blow Me Away', 'Lady Bug', 'Away (Live)' and 'Breakdown (Live)'.
Name Origin
The name "Breaking Benjamin" comes from Benjamin Burnley's early solo experience. Burnley was covering a Nirvana song during an open-mic night at a club when he finished he dropped the microphone to the ground, breaking it. The person who owned the microphone came on stage and said, 'Thanks to Benjamin for breaking my fucking mic.' In 1999, the band briefly renamed themselves "Plan 9." In late 2000, after various line-up changes, the band changed its name back to "Breaking Benjamin" and two friends of Burnley, Aaron Fink and Mark Klepaski, left their previous band, Lifer, and joined the ranks of Breaking Benjamin as guitarist and bassist, respectively. Lifer was a band that gained brief mainstream attention because of their part in an MTV cover band contest that resulted in a record deal with Universal Records.
Their official site - www.breakingbenjamin.com Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
1st Studio Album [2002] - Saturate
The band signed to Hollywood Records in 2001 after the success of an independently-released, self-titled EP, which sold all 2,000 copies that were manufactured. Hollywood Records released their full-length, major-label debut, Saturate, on August 27, 2002. The album's first single, "Polyamorous", received a fair amount of radio play, although it failed to reach mainstream audiences. A video was released in two different versions for Polyamorous: one that had all live-action footage, and one that had footage of the video game Run Like Hell. The following single "Skin" was also released from Saturate, although it fared worse than "Polyamorous" and received even less airplay. "Skin" was also performed live on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show. "Medicate" was also released as a single, to little commercial success and airplay. Saturate has gone on to sell over 300,000 copies.
2nd Studio Album [2004] - We Are Not Alone
Breaking Benjamin released their second album, We Are Not Alone, on June 29, 2004. The album featured the lead off single "So Cold", which reached number two on the United States Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The band had two music videos made for the song, one of which was a promotional video made for the movie Hellboy. The commercial success of "So Cold" led to We Are Not Alone achieving platinum status in late 2005. Also released as singles from the album were "Sooner or Later" and a re- recorded version of "Rain", which was featured on later pressings of the album. While the former again got the band as high as number two on the Mainstream Rock chart and featured a music video, the latter garnered little radio play and had no video created for it. Another song off "We Are Not Alone", "Sooner or Later", had a video created for it and got a fair amount of radio play. Later in 2004, the band released the So Cold EP. The EP contained live recordings of We Are Not Alone's "So Cold" (an acoustic recording), "Breakdown", and "Away", as well as studio recordings of "Blow Me Away", a song that was featured in Bungie's video game Halo 2, and "Lady Bug", an early fan favorite of the band's.
In September of 2004, drummer, and founding member of Breaking Benjamin, Jeremy Hummel was relieved of his duties in the band. Subsequently, on September 28, 2005, Hummel filed a federal lawsuit against the remaining members of Breaking Benjamin, as well as its management, claiming he was not paid for songs he helped write. Hummel's lawsuit asked for more than $8 million in damages. A message was released October 25, 2006 on the bands official website stating that the band and Hummel had come to agreement on the lawsuit.
3rd Studio Album [2006] - Phobia
In the fall of 2006 the band began a tour opening for Godsmack for the IV tour, hitting up mostly eastern and Ohio Valley venues, and soon moving out west, still in support of the Phobia album, released on August 8 that year. Several of the shows had been canceled, or turned into Breaking Benjamin headliners due to scheduling conflicts. Many of Breaking Benjamin's tour dates from December 3rd have been rescheduled due to illness in the band's ranks. All dates were rescheduled as the band announced another headlining leg before going on a nationwide tour with Three Days Grace and Nickelback.
On March 4, 2007, HDNet premiered a one-hour show of the Breaking Benjamin concert in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at Stabler Arena. This is also the concert that was included on the Phobia re-release DVD in April of 2007, advertised as "The Homecoming". Footage of the band's live Stabler Arena performance of "Breath" comprises the song's music video.
On April 17, 2007, Breaking Benjamin re-released the album Phobia. The album featured a DVD with about an hour of their Stabler Arena concert footage.
4th Studio Album [2009] - Dear Agony
On the 29th of September, 2009, Breaking Benjamin released their 4th studio album, entitled "Dear Agony". Some of the tracks on the album, were co-written by Jasen Rauch, from the Christian-metal band Red.
On September 23, 2009, Breaking Benjamin released a flash video game parody of Altered Beast, aptly titled "Altered Benjamin". The game contains three levels and plays the same as the original, except the player controls vocalist Ben Burnley and the three bosses are each other member of the band respectively. Altered Benjamin is still available through the band's website, and their MySpace page.
Certain copies of Dear Agony purchased at Best Buy also come with a bonus DVD that includes the band's six music videos including a previously-unreleased version of the video for "I Will Not Bow". The version on the DVD is of the band only and does not contain any footage from the movie Surrogates, unlike the version released on the Internet.
On August 31st, 2009, prior to the release of Dear Agony, Breaking Benjamin released their first single from DA, "I Will Not Bow". It was featured in the 2009 Sci-Fi film [Starring Bruce Willis], "Surrogates". The song was not written specifically for the film, but according to drummer Chad Szeliga, “Ben sent a few songs to our record label, Hollywood Records,” which is owned by Disney, who then decided they “wanted a Breaking Benjamin song for this movie.”
The music video for I Will Not Bow was released to the band's Myspace on August 21, 2009. The video was shot at the World Trade Center building 7, but has no connection or significant meaning having to do with the 9/11 events as stated by Aaron Fink in his Point interview on August 13, 2009. The video was directed by Rich Lee who has also directed for Evanescence. Lee chose the location, feeling it was an eerie place to film.
A second version of the music video without the Surrogates footage was released with the Best Buy Exclusive version of Dear Agony. It includes various bridged footage of the band performing.
On January 5, 2010, Give Me a Sign was the second single released from Breaking Benjamin's fourth studio album, Dear Agony.
2 extra tracks were featured on the Japanese version of "Dear Agony". An acoustic version of 'Without You', and an acoustic version 'Give Me A Sign'.
Hiatus, greatest hits album and legal issues [2010-2014]
In the summer of 2010, Breaking Benjamin announced an indefinite hiatus, due to Burnley's recurring illnesses. Guitarist Fink and bassist Klepaski rejoined their old band, Lifer, and Szeliga toured with his other band, OurAfter.
On June 7, 2011, a remixed version of "Blow Me Away", featuring Valora, was released.[17] An animated music video for the remix was released on August 24.[18] On June 30, 2011, Rock Access posted the tracklist for the band's greatest hits album, Shallow Bay: The Best of Breaking Benjamin, and for its "deluxe edition".[19] It was released on August 16, as a one-disc "standard edition" and a two-disc "deluxe edition" (featuring b-sides and rarities). Burnley publicly opposed the album's release, saying content had been altered and released without his consent, and that it did not meet his standards.
In May 2011, Burnley fired bandmates Fink and Klepaski. Shortly after, a dispute over the new version of "Blow Me Away" went public. Burnley gave his side of the dispute in a June court filing, saying Fink and Klepaski made unilateral and unauthorized decisions on behalf of the band, such as giving permission in May for the remixing of "Blow Me Away". Burnley seeks at least $250,000 and the exclusive right to the "Breaking Benjamin" name. Burnley has stated he plans to revive the band when the lawsuit is settled.
Little was heard from the band throughout 2012, the only exception being a February 2012 interview with Szeliga, where he assured fans that the band was still together, and that he looked forward to working on another record in the future. On April 19, 2013, Burnley announced that the legal issues had finally ended, with Burnley winning the rights to the name of the band. However, Szeliga posted an announcement on his Facebook page on April 22 that he was leaving the band, due to creative differences. In October-November 2013, Burnley played a number of acoustic performances around the Wilkes-Barre area, playing Breaking Benjamin songs.
Reformation [2014-present]
On August 19, 2014, the band announced that they had reformed via their official Facebook page. The band re-emerged as a quintet, consisting Burnley as the lead vocalist and four new members. New members include guitarist Jasen Rauch, previously of the band Red, who had previously collaborated with the band off of four tracks on Dear Agony, guitarist Keith Wallen, previously of Adelitas Way, bassist Aaron Bruch, who played a couple of acoustic shows previously with Burnley, and drummer Shaun Foist, previously of the band Picture Me Broken.
In 2016 the band will go for the first time to Europe.
Singles Chronology
2002 - Polyamorous
2003 - Skin
2003 - Medicate
2004 - So Cold [EP]*
2004 - Sooner or Later
2005 - Rain (Drums re-recorded by Chad Szeliga)
2006 - The Diary Of Jane
2006 - Breath
2006 - Until The End
2009 - I Will Not Bow
2010 - Give Me A Sign
2015 - Failure
2015 - Angels Fall
*So Cold [EP] featured 5 songs, 'So Cold (Acoustic)', 'Blow Me Away', 'Lady Bug', 'Away (Live)' and 'Breakdown (Live)'.
Name Origin
The name "Breaking Benjamin" comes from Benjamin Burnley's early solo experience. Burnley was covering a Nirvana song during an open-mic night at a club when he finished he dropped the microphone to the ground, breaking it. The person who owned the microphone came on stage and said, 'Thanks to Benjamin for breaking my fucking mic.' In 1999, the band briefly renamed themselves "Plan 9." In late 2000, after various line-up changes, the band changed its name back to "Breaking Benjamin" and two friends of Burnley, Aaron Fink and Mark Klepaski, left their previous band, Lifer, and joined the ranks of Breaking Benjamin as guitarist and bassist, respectively. Lifer was a band that gained brief mainstream attention because of their part in an MTV cover band contest that resulted in a record deal with Universal Records.
Their official site - www.breakingbenjamin.com Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.