MUSIC: The Breakmen's new album makes a bluegrass breakthrough

The band won't be stepping on the brakes anytime soon

Emma Quail | Published: 11/11/08

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Up-and-coming Vancouver-based folk band The Breakmen are on the road promoting their new album, When You Leave Town-they've come a long way since emerging onto the Canadian folk and bluegrass scene four years ago. Born and raised on country music, Archie Pateman, Lee Watson, Ben Rogalsky, and Matthew Lawson combine their musical talents to produce a purely acoustic sound. This purity can also be attributed to their unique vocal harmonization, produced by the contribution of vocals from all four members. Going back to their folk ancestors such as The Old Crow Medicine Show and The Band, The Breakmen blend old folk/bluegrass sounds with new innovative harmonies to create their own unique sound.

With a strong emphasis on acoustics, their self-titled first album was well-received at a national and international level, remaining on Canada's Roots Music Review Chart for 10 months straight. The Breakmen album features a primarily bluegrass feel, stirring together musical ingredients from folk, old-time, blues, and Americana. The use of banjo, guitar, mandolin, and harmonica contributes to this sound.

When You Leave Town takes a step away from the bluegrass world and moves more into the realm of folk-roots.

"The theme of the album is a little bit more in depth than the first one. I think there's a lot more depth lyrically. In [When You Leave Town] we made a much more conscious departure from bluegrass. The instrumentation is a bluegrass instrumentation in that we have a stand up bass, a banjo, mandolin, guitar. However, in this album, there's definitely less of a bluegrass feel," says banjo player and guitarist Archie Pateman.

Despite their primarily acoustic nature, The Breakmen enjoy experimenting with different instruments.

"On all our albums, we feature some different instruments like piano. … Perhaps there will be an electric guitar on a future album. There's a pedal steel on this album and a little bit of drums," says Pateman.

With the incorporation of new and old instruments, The Breakmen's sound allows them to appeal to a wide audience. Each track on When You Leave Town is very different, but the musical style remains consistent.

"We've created what we feel to be our own style of song presentation but each song is definitely its own entity and its own different thing," says Pateman

In the Canadian contemporary music scene, bluegrass is swiftly gaining popularity.

"I think it's playing a big role in the indie scene as well. The indie scene is no longer just rock-there are a lot of independent roots and bluegrass acts around the country taking some national and international spotlights," Pateman says.

As The Breakmen continue to achieve their own pure and raw brand of folk music, there is no question that they will be prominent figures in the new wave of indie bluegrass.

The Breakmen play November 15 at L'inspecteur Epingle with Montreal band Lake of Stew and November 16 at Divan Orange with Mark Berube.

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