BIGGER THAN A BREADBOX: Is It?

Bigger than a Breadbox

Is It?

© 2002 John Freund - Not Your Songs (ASCAP) (616892516729)

CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.

SPECIAL: 20% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!

[CD version] It's an organ trio (Hammond Organ/guitar/drums/voc), but not your father's organ trio - it's ROCK: Ben Folds jams with Deep Purple and Jimmy Smith at Frank Zappas house - sarcastic but sincere, groovy but song-driven, aggressive but dynamic.

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ATTENTION BUYERS: There is also a downloadable version of this album available at cdbaby.com/breadbox2. The incidental tracks are only available on the CD version.

** We're not a novelty band, but our yuletide rant "I Hate XXMa$" was nominated in the "Novelty Song" category by the overworked folks at Just Plain Folks:
http://www.jpfolks.com/

You can check it out and download it for free at www.biggerthanabreadbox.com/xmas.html **

The song didn't win a thing, but that shouldn't reflect badly on us or them. Blame it on (your choice:)
a. the Liberal Elite
b. the Extreme Right
c. the Spineless Centrists
d. the Next Person to Walk Thru the Door

And after that, what you should do is not let anyone tell you what to do. But check out "Is It?", the first vocal rock album in a long time to feature the Hammond Organ...and most definitely NOT retro. Something for everybody but not all over the map. Well crafted songs, killer arrangements and a dose of humor.

Bigger than a Breadbox was formed when the-organist-formerly-known-as-John-Freund (ex- of Deep Banana Blackout, Mexican Mud, Charlie Crystle, TheHealers!, and the Pure Records house band The Soul Providers) got fed up with performing everyone else's material and decided to finally get his own compositions heard. (Composition sounds so elitist, there really just songs - good ones mind you).

So he recruited Bean on Drums (Well, really he just asked him to do it, recruiting is what the army does), with whom he was playing in a blues band called TheHealers! (organ players always end up playing in blues bands). John then got Jay Gogan on guitar. Jay is a versatile guitarist who's played every kind of gig imaginable and released a drum&bass CD called "Option Anxiety" under the moniker "Saint Rock." Jay and John had played together with a two other "instru-mental cases" in a Zappa-meets-Booker T.-band called Xmembers. Xmembers were also the back-up band for the spoken-word group Hot Sauce Gizzard (aka, BEEF).

With these two in place John decided not to add a bass player and instead to take up the time-honored tradition of playing bass pedals on Hammond Organ. (For those of you unfamiliar with this tradition it means that while John is playing the organ with both hands, his feet are playing the bass lines. He manages to do this and sing at the same time while trying to look cool. He usually fails on the cool part but everything else is right-on). This gives the group a different sound and groove. (It also cuts down on arguments since there are only three people involved).

Later Bean unfortunately left the band and Andy Sanesi stepped in. Andy has about a gazillion credits in all kinds of styles ranging from John Zorn to Radio Mundial to Lionfish. He rocks like an animal and swings like a syncopated pendulum. John had played with Andy in several bands and he (Andy) was a natural in Bbox.

The sound Breadbox defies direct comparisons, but listeners say the band invokes the tuneful sarcasm of Ben Folds, the unapologetic rock of Deep Purple, the lyrical craftiness of Soul Coughing, and the quirky humor of Frank Zappa. (Actually, we don't REALLY sound like any of these artists, although we feel that if you like them you'll like us and if you think they suck then we don't sound anything like them so check us out anyway.)

Their music is accessible enough to stick in your head but just adventurous enough to appear in progressive rock directories - no doubt due to the prominence of the Hammond and the crafted and well-executed arrangements. If you like music that is a little offbeat and quirky but at the same time something you can sink your teeth into (that's not meant to be a pun on the bread thing, just a cliché) then this is the band for you. (If not, then you are really wasting your time on this site. Maybe you should check out rickymartin.com and see what he's up to.)

Just listen to what the Critics have said about Bigger Than A Breadbox:

"Great Songs with Instrumental Hijinks" - Noel Rockwood
"Definitely the best music I've ever heard come offa mp3.com" - Nutsy Collins
"I WANT TO HEAR THE ALBUM!" - Mark Trayner
"Dude! I loved...Dude in a Mercedes (Like) Dan Bonow's funky Fleetwood Song...'Oh I like to ride in he Fleetwood, because it feels good, to me. But if you really want to know, I drive a Peugot, 403! Woooooo, woo-woo-whooooo, oh yeah.'"... ScotttheOrganFreak
"These guys are my favorite new band!" - Seth Cooper
"They're not as loud as I thought they'd be" - Mrs. Freund (John's Mom)
"You guys f***ing rock" - Bill (A drunk at our last gig)
"You guys f***ing rock" - Dave (A drunk at our first gig)

Here's the review by Gilles Bacon at The Hammond Grounds:
http://b3groove.org/artists/breadbox.php

And a NEW REVIEW by the Ryan Richardson at Hammondbeat.com:
http://hammondbeat.com/hammondbeatforums/forum_posts.asp?TID=3424

But don't let the critics run your life for you, come on down and see for yourself what all the fuss is about. We hope to see you real soon.

reviews

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  • comes as a bombshell
    author: Uwe Mittendorf

    I hope you will continue some day. Here in northern Germany you will find more FANS than me. I`m sure. I LOVE IT !!! Thank you very much for the "gift".

  • Oh, yeah.......
    author: D Principato

    This is the stuff you're looking for as you cruise through radio stations and lamenting the dismal state of the corporate music scene. Fresh, intelligent, it seems these folks thought about it before recording it instead of just flipping on the 16 track and jamming to the angst of Mommie refusing to cut the crusts off the Wonder Bread. It doesn't lose it's flavor after a couple of spins, it gets better. If you think J Lo is a musical genius, sit back and let Dick Clark take control of your brain. If not, buy a copy for yourself and some more copies for your like-minded friends.

  • This grows on you - humour, subtlety and intelligence
    author: Paul Bugler

    This CD seems to get better the further in it goes. My first thoughts were that this was interesting in a quirky sort of way. But as it progresses, the music starts to impress as well as the lighter treatment of some of the subject matter. It's intelligent, it's good music. The music is on the lighter side of rock but there is some good musicianship here. Later in the CD I start to hear echoes of Spock's Beard in some of the arrangements (a big plus from my perspective) a degree of complexity and subtlety without being pretentious. Is it bigger than a breadbox - it sure is. Is it worth grabbing a copy of this CD? Well if you enjoy a bit of humour in your lyrics and some intelligent musicianship without being too highbrow then I'd say go for it.

  • Hammond, Guitar, Drums, what else?
    author: ctgroove

    This CD is perfect for fans of different Hammond sounds and heavy riffs between guitar and organ. But I think, the best is the four-sided choice of the tracks. Well done! PS crazy nice vocal arrangements!

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