Catching up with The Broken Relics
I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with “this article is probably overdue”. Why it's taken me this long to put something about them out is beyond me. Actually, I lied - it's not beyond me. I know exactly why I haven't, and it's because I have a tendency to always stress out when it comes time to write an article. Especially when it comes to a band that is important to me. The thought that people I actually know, care about and have to deal with afterwards are about to read something I threw together in an afternoon about them, sends the most unnerving waves of anxiety through my soul.
It's no different in this case either. See, I have this great fondness for the band known as The Broken Relics, not just as musicians but as the humans that make up the band. The thought of Zach, Bryce, Alex, Potsie, and now David reading this and never having me at another show again, is sending waves of anxiety through me so big that I don't think the Coast Guard could save me.
To be honest, I knew very little about the band when I was first introduced to their music in 2019. I knew they were from Youngstown, that the band was comprised of four guys (two of whom are brothers), and they had released their first EP (With Reverence) earlier that year. And it was an EP I hadn't even heard when I went to shoot the show that day.
Actually, let’s begin there. It was August 2019, and I was only there because I had to be. I was on assignment photographing the festival the band was taking part in. During the months leading up to it, I had heard so much about them, and they had been so hyped up by someone I was working with that I think I was just over it. I thought, Jesus, this band can not possibly be THAT good. I mean, a local band out of Youngstown - how good could they really be? I had my doubts going in, but was hoping they'd prove me wrong.
This next line pains me to type, because I hate to admit when I’m wrong. Fortunately for them, I was. They turned out to be THAT good. So good, in fact, that I even found myself actually enjoying their set as I shot away. By the time the set was over I knew that I had just become a fast fan.
Now, almost three years later, they hold the title of one of my all-time favorite local bands. How that happened was simple. I finally listened to the EP and fell in love with "Lost Again." Sometimes all it takes is a great song to fall in love with a band, and that one absolutely got me. I’ll never know what it was about that song particularly but to this day, it’s still one of my favorites. "Don't Look Back" is another great play off the EP too.
That was 2019 and it turned into a whirlwind year for them. A lot has changed since then. Covid hit, they started recording their new album, they released a new single in 2021, and just recently performed as a five-piece for the first time after announcing a new member had been added to the band.
With all the change afoot, I decided it was time to finally sit down with the guys to get their thoughts on a few topics, as well as finding out what 2022 has in store for The Broken Relics.
Starting with recapping the year that was 2019 and how 2020's pandemic derailed all the success coming off their first year.
"So everything came out in '19. Our first singles and the EP came out in '19. I mean that was our first year out (as a band) and it was a huge year. It was awesome. Everything about it was clicking, and I don't want to sound like I'm gloating about what we accomplished that year, but it was definitely was something to be proud of. We got to play some awesome places, meet some awesome people, and kind of just building those relationships that we were able to build. I lose track of it sometimes because it felt like a lifetime but it literally was probably a nine-month time span which is crazy to think about. That all happened in nine months, it was like if all this is happening in nine months let's look down the road and see what we're capable of in two years and three years. Then we went back into the studio and all hell broke loose that February and it kind of flatlined everything. You know you go from having such an amazing experience with amazing people at the peak of our lives, loving every moment of it, all of us getting along really well - which is crazy to think with how much we were doing - and it hit like a freight train to be honest," lead singer Bryce Warmouth told me.
Former drummer and now keyboard player –we'll talk more on that later - Zach “Potsie” Potkanowicz added, "The way that it all kind of started was we essentially set a deadline for ourselves. We hadn't even had all the songs for the EP written yet, but we had a date for the studio in Nashville to get all the stuff done and I don't know where we would be had we not done that. We said 'this is the day we are going to go in and record and we need to have five songs or whatever ready by this time'. We were still writing the songs the day before we left for Nashville in a rehearsal space in Columbus. It was extremely stressful and we were questioning everything: are we doing this right, is this going to be god-awful, what's going to happen. I, for one, had zero experience being in a band. I've never been in a recording studio in my entire life, (and) I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I think that was kind of the beauty of it all. We just got in there and did what we had to do and in matter of a couple of days we walked away with an EP which was nice. Like Bryce said, we just hit the ground running with it. Every opportunity we had to play a show we took. We were playing non-stop. We were always rehearsing and then like he said it just stopped. There's not a whole lot of negative in it, sucks that we didn't get to play a bunch of shows but it gave us plenty more time to focus on the things we wanted to write, the things we were doing as a band, reflecting on the last year or two and it ultimately prepared us for where we are today with the new line up, the new songs and all that stuff so. It was a good thing for us because I think we all needed that little bit of a break because we went so full on into it that we didn't know what we were doing. We were just coasting by and then we really got to sit down and think everything through, and talk about next moves and future decisions. Ultimately it benefited us as much as it was a pain to not see each other all the time, not rehearse all the time, I think it was good for us in the long run.”
The guys admitted that the stress and strain of the pandemic took a toll but they ultimately came out stronger as a band.
"We got to sit to our separate devices, figure out what each of us wanted within ourselves and then we got to come back and be as a group again, which is something we had never done before. I mean when I first started, I was trying to fit into the mold of what I thought they wanted The Broken Relics to be. This allowed me to go back and say 'this is what I want to do, take it or leave it' and it all ended up fitting and making us quite a bit stronger I would say," Potsie said.
"I can agree with Potsie, that we're the strongest we've ever been, mentally and even musically. Though it was a really, really, challenging time, it definitely changed a lot for the better for sure," Bryce added.
Lead guitarist Zach Warmouth chimed in, adding that "even on a songwriting note, just having that extra time to let the songs and the music develop. One of the big reasons that we are the lineup we are now is because of the time we've put in with the song writing, in the studio and letting those songs develop and realizing 'oh man, we do need a bigger band'. I think before it was so quick and helped get us started, but there was never a big development period with as far as writing together or being a band. So this has really given us time to develop as a band, and realize what we want to bring us up to a fullcapacity powered band."
With the mention of a full-capacity band, now sounds like the perfect opportunity to introduce the "newest" member. I put newest in quotes because while he's new to the lineup, David Walters isn't exactly a complete stranger to band.
"David, Alex, and myself all jammed together pre-Broken Relics era and it was something fun and we all hung out and wrote music but then we let somebody else in the band without really checking in first with what their priorities were. I don't know how you would explain it, we stopped having fun and we went our separate ways for the time being," Zach said
David added, "I pretty much knew everybody in the band when I joined too. I was already friends with Alex, then I met Zach, and then I met Bryce and Potsie cause we had played music before like Zach said so it just kind of made things easy."
How the addition of David on the drums officially came about...I'll let him tell that story.
"Well, it really was unexpected. It was a really awesome surprise. I think I was on my way to work a couple months ago and I got a text from Zach. I looked down and it was this long paragraph text and I was oh what's going on so I read it and he was like 'we're kind of moving the band around a little bit, we need a drummer, do you want to help us out' and I was like yeah. He was like okay you can help us out a little bit by playing with us and see how it is or you could commit a little more. I was like man, I have been wanting to play music for like two or three years, I'm all in. It was a really nice surprise. It caught me off guard. I have been kind of scurrying to get my drums together cause I'm excited to get back into music. It's also a good thing that I love the music that these guys have already made. I like said some of us use to play years ago together in my old basement, so we have friendship roots and musical roots already set up I feel like in a way, so that makes it easy to do. It's been awesome so far; I feel like it's going to be really smooth."
David definitely wasn't the only one concerned by this paragraph he received, because just sending it had struck fear into Zach's heart too.
"I just want to add with the paragraph, I literally felt like I was texting a girl asking for a date or something. I was like all nervous, trying to construct this paragraph and I was like 'whoa, I don't want to come off too strong' or what if he thinks I'm being creepy. It literately felt like I was texting a girl to ask out. Once we realized we wanted Potsie to be up on keys and guitars I didn't even want to entertain the ideal of looking for a drummer before I made sure David was in or not. I would have needed like a no way I'm never playing music again response to then go search for a drummer so it was like thank god it was a mutually exciting moment for the both of us but I was super nervous."
Since he brought it up, had David declined (and broken Zach's heart), would he have wooed David into the band?
"It depends. If it was like a no I'm not ever doing this again, I don't want to play music I hate it, I would have been like 'okay', but if he left the door open at all, I would have pushed until I had definitive answer for sure."
Luckily for all involved, Zach got the answer he wanted and it opened the door for Potsie to make the move over to keys and guitar. A move he's been hoping he'd get to make some day.
"So since the very, very beginning of the band between Zach, Alex and Bryce, they all knew that guitar was my primary instrument. They knew it coming in before I even sat down on the drums with them so when Bryce asked me to join the band as the drummer, I took it as my options are: I'm either not in a band and continue to sit in my room and fiddle on the guitar, or I at least get to join a band, see what it's like, see what I like and don't like about it. I mean I still enjoy playing drums, it's not my primary instrument but I enjoy it, so I was more than happy to do that and I continued to enjoy that until the moment I was asked to change."
What brought the change about?
"The reason why that came about, a lot of the new songs that we're writing are very guitar-heavy and very synth-heavy. There's a lot of stuff going on and we felt like we needed to add a new member in order to better replicate the songs that we have been making in a live setting. It just kind of made sense that instead of going out and finding somebody who plays guitar, piano, and sings verses somebody who can play the drums and moving me into that role, it kind of made sense for everybody else. Bryce called me one day completely out of the blue, I had no idea it was coming, and said would you want to move up and play guitars and keys and I was over the moon about it. I've been waiting for this moment, they know that I've been waiting for this moment for years really and it just makes sense for everybody. We kind of knew that if David was going to join, it was going to be the perfect storm 'cause he had already played when I couldn't make shows, he's already learned our songs, he already has a good in with the rest of the guys, and for it to work out the way that it did is a miracle and I am over the moon about it. I really am."
That joy of his new role shined through their entire first performance as a five-piece that took place March 25th at Rocquacade 2022 in Youngstown. Naturally I wanted to know how they felt about the venture as a five-piece.
"It's amazing. There's like a weight you have to carry as a band in general. That weight is like perfection, exceptions and things like that. With five of us, the weight is a lot lighter on everybody so we can kind of focus on our own things. Potsie is helping out with vocals which is a huge thing. Zach has a lot of pretty grueling guitar parts so I know it's been hard on him. It just over all gets some pressure off of everybody's shoulders," Bryce said.
"I'm pretty excited about it myself" Potsie added.
Bass player Alex Jakovina, who was initially slated to miss that show, talked about how playing with the new lineup that evening changed the mood that life had put him into that day.
"I had a long day. I was in a bad mood coming in and so I had everything working against me personally. And once we started playing, and throughout the show, my whole mood just kind of twisted and everything just kind of seemed to fall right into place - which was kind of the exact opposite of how my day was going. I knew the five-piece was going to work out over time, and like David said we played together many times before, but to almost like pick up where we left off, with like more people and different music and a different band and playing a live show with a bunch of people it was really awesome. It was kind of like foreshadowing for about what's going to happen with us."
One of those things happening with the band is the recording of a new album. Being in the studio and working on new tracks is what led them to the decision that it was time to add another element to their sound.
Alex talked a little bit about working with the band's producer and how he helped them cultivate the sound.
"When Covid happened we were in the studio recording. We had some drum tracks done and some other mixes going and all this. I think Mark was really bummed for us (Mark is who we are recording with) and he offered to send us equipment and do virtual meetings and so that we could try to record this thing virtually and get it out quicker than it's taking now. In a nice way we turned his offer down because we were like 'alright, we'll be patient'. When we got back into the studio, Mark is very invested in our music too and he would allow us to experiment a little bit with different sounds, layering of guitars, keyboards, this that and the other, so it kind of like really opened our eyes to like broadcasting our sound in a different way. It's a lot different process then what the EP was. The EP was go down to Nashville with five songs you have and get them done, because you have a weekend and it didn't give us much room to listen to the songs in a recorded setting add to them, layer to them and craft them in the way that we are doing now. That in and of itself kind of really opened our eyes to the five-piece because of how much flexibility he gave."
Bryce elaborated a little bit more on the process and how some of the songs for the upcoming album matured with him while being stuck at home during the lockdown.
"I think we had three songs that were on the album that were already written and being played live when everything kind of ended with Covid and stuff. Three of those songs are still very youthful and "Here's to you, kid" is one of those. I think a lot of that music kind of just grew up in that year with me, so a lot of what we brought to the table initially is much more mature at the point we're at now. We were able to kind of go back and re-listen to everything and what we wanted to do and where we wanted to take things. Just because we had an ideal about this song at one point doesn't necessarily mean it's the best ideal or it represents what we are trying to look for. I think the time that we had to kind of seclude ourselves and listen to what we were listening to, and form our own opinions and as Potsie brought up, we were kind of able to craft everything into what we are really searching for. It's a collection of songs, all of them are different aspects of life, all of them are different views of certain things. Some characters are real some are characters are made up in our head, it's all just a bunch of things we really, really really, worked hard on so to see it form and finally come to life is exciting and I can not wait for this next year and the year to follow. I think it's going to be awesome."
"Here's to you, kid", their first single off the upcoming album, was released back in November of 2021 and gave everyone a taste of that new, more mature sound.
"It's nice cause we're kind of at the point where we can sit and wait for the right time to start releasing music again because I'm sure as any band would tell you whether they're not going to admit it or not, releasing music in the middle of the pandemic when you can't play super frequently kind of stinks. It's like everybody's excited about it for a week. then it's like, cool you have a new song. "Here's To You Kid" was perfect for what for what we need it to do and we got a lot of good feed back off of it. It was nice to have something so when people go look at us on Spotify they are like 'oh look at that, they are making new music, it's all fine'. We're super excited for the rest of the release plan whenever we decide to kick that off and go. It's nice cause it feels like things are naturally gearing up so I'm hoping we'll able to kind implement a lot of that release stuff moving forward," said Zach.
I was eager to find out what the guys thought was a better representation of The Broken Relics: their first EP (With Reverence), or the current album they are working on.
Bryce answered first: "I feel like a lot of people cling onto their first thing that they hear from somebody or the reason that they start falling in love with a band or a musician, and some times it hard to steer away from that or venture far from that. I think a lot of people are going to be expecting a "Creatures" number two or a "Don't Look Back" number two, and I think that all of us collectively went into this knowing it's not how we want to approach this, just repeat and reuse, because the reason those songs are so good (and I will gloat on that matter because I think "Creatures" is a fantastic tune) the reason it hits people is because it is its own thing, it's always going to be that, it's never going to be replicated by us specially and if it's replicated by anybody else they will be hearing from my non-existent lawyers. No, I think a lot of people will be clinging onto that first EP but what we want to be, what we have worked to grow to is going to be represented in an album"
Alex added: "I think a lot comes with being a local band, 'cause a lot of who listens to you are family and they are excited, and I don't want to sound cocky but if it's good they'll keep listening if it's not good, they probably won't stick around to listen to what comes out next. We're very fortunate that people grew a liking to those songs and I think that we're making new music now and it's hard to show your full range with a five song EP so this next album is going to really show more of what we can do and how we have grown. So I think Bryce is right that a lot of people will hold on to the EP songs, but I'm hoping that this album after some time away from releasing a bunch of music shows people that we have a lot more than just that sound and those collection of songs to offer people on repeat."
Alright, so what's next, what's 2022 bringing for you:
"Back to the grind," Zach answered. "We really want to focus on crafting a real release strategy for the album and try to get back to where we were with shows, playing a lot more frequently, trying to spread out to play some different cities, different states, and kind of starting to play some of these immediate driveable cities, trying to work on that again and then building off of what we have."
As excited as he is to get this album out, his thoughts of being able to write as this new five piece has him even more excited for their future endeavors.
"It's so funny cause we're still working on this album and I'm already so excited to start writing again with the new lineup. Again, even in the studio now, even though some of those synth parts or anything were written and crafted as a part of a part of the song it had to be based off what was already existing so I'm excited to go into writing now knowing that we have the extra pieces. If Potsie comes up with a synth part that we can build off of, we've never had that before so just being able to get a good taste of the five-piece and being able to write a set of new songs with David playing drums with us, I'm already so excited to start writing again. I don't know, it's just like a drug you can't get enough of. As much as I'm looking forward to releasing our album, I literally selfishly can't wait to start writing again.
Potsie hops in: "Not to mention the fact that we had to restructure they way we've ever thought about music as a five-piece now, so that's going to be an interesting task cause we only had one rehearsal and that rehearsal was really focused on let's do the songs we're going to do for the (March 25th) show and make sure they're the best they can be but now we've really got to dive into it. I mean David's got free range on the drum set if he doesn't want to do a part that I wrote, he can do what ever he wants. And I now get to arrange these piano part more and these guitar parts more and add to the song, so that's going to be something we're going to spend a lot of time in this year trying to do.
David replied, "Cool, well, I'm going to change all the drum parts in every single song now."
One more thing they want to do is re-engage their social media too. "Trying to stay in touch, it's hard to post content when you're not doing stuff through Covid. I think revamping that and staying kind of present on the medium is kind of important too," Alex added.
Staying present on social media is important in this day and age, so make sure to check them out on every platform possible. (I'll post the links at the bottom, I promise.)
One final tidbit I learned from this sit down that I wanted to share: I asked the completely average question: “If this is the first exposure that anybody has ever had to The Broken Relics, what is the first thing you'd want them to know about the band?” Bryce gave me the answer of "I would say that even thought Zach and I are the only blood, we're a family band honestly. I feel like everything that we bring to the table, bring to the shows, everything is creating one big family." (It's a totally solid answer as I myself have always felt like a part of The Broken Relics' family, even though I am not. They have always been so welcoming and accommodating to me and my camera.)
Then Potsie, out of left field, hits me with the line of "when I was first asked to join the band Bryce and I already knew each other, we went to high school together and he was like 'hey, I'm going to do this thing if you want to do it' and we just got together and started playing some guitar, screwing around and the next thing I know Zach (Bryce's brother) was interviewing me at Dunkin Donuts."
(At this, I had to stop and interrupt whatever he was about to say next because I was in utter disbelief that Zach Warmouth had actually sat this man down and interviewed him to be a part of the band. So I made Potsie elaborate on this Dunkin Dounts story.)
"I will absolutely talk about that. So Bryce fair warned me; he's like 'hey just so you know, like my brother's going to interview you 'cause he's been in a couple of bands before, and he really wants this thing to last and he wants to make sure he has the right people. He's going to, like, legitimately interview you', which he absolutely did. Sat me down across the table, looked me dead in the eyes and was like 'why do you want to do this, why is this who you want to be with', and made me like spill it all out right there. And then at the end, he was just his typical self and like 'cool man, welcome to the band, glad to have you on board', very nice. It was extremely intimidating but then it was very lighthearted and we've been friends ever since."
Hands down, probably the most glorious Broken Relics fact I've learned thus far. Just the mental image I get of Zach oh-so-nonchalantly interrogating poor Potsie at a Dunkin Donuts somewhere will make me laugh every time I see a Dunkin now.
If that tells you anything, it should tell you that Zach is dedicated to making sure that he has the right people around him who want to make this work as much as he does. In this person's humble opinion, it does work. They have fun. They enjoy what they do. The music they play is killer, and I'm sure this new chapter will be too.
On a personal note, I wanted to say that is was probably the most fun and stressful articles I've done in a while. When I sat down the day after our Zoom interview to write, I found myself having a hard time with my words. I wanted to do the guys justice and make sure it was the best it could be. A very wise woman I know told me that "it's hard to be objective when you're writing about a band you kind of love." She wasn't wrong. My love for them is strong and I hope after other people read this that they too, find something that sparks a great love for The Broken Relics.
Rumor has it, their shows pick back up sometime this summer if you want to check them out in person.
So, Here's to you, kids - I can't wait to see what 2022 and beyond holds for you.
Thanks again to Zach, Bryce, Potsie, Alex and David for taking time out to make this happen.
Make sure you follow The Broken Relics on all the socials to find out when those dates are and what else is new and upcoming with the band.
Those links are here...
https://www.instagram.com/thebrokenrelics/
https://www.facebook.com/TheBrokenRelics
And they are even on TikTok @thebrokenrelics
You can also see more pictures from Rocquacade 2022 by clicking the link below:
