“I hope the album makes people cry happy tears. I hope it makes people want to dance and have sex with each other.  I hope it makes people feel less alone.”
--Willem Hartong on the band’s upcoming album

Willem Hartong freely admits that the band has never tried to “outcool” anyone else, or pander to the capricious appetites of fickle fad-followers. When the heart-on-his-sleeve songwriter and guitarist started Brooklyn’s BREAKING LACES--a three-piece alternative acoustic rock trio--some six years back, he wasn’t aiming to become part of the “Williamsburg Boom,” and he wasn’t gunning for “indie darling” status. All he was ever interested in was finding and perfecting the Breaking Laces sound.

“And we’re still figuring that out,” Hartong admits.  “We definitely have a better sense of that now. If we’re an indie band, that’s simply by definition. If we’re a Brooklyn band, that’s purely a matter of geography. So, if we’re from any ‘scene,’ we’re from the road.”

Perennial road rats who’ve wowed audiences in as many concert halls as they have in biker bars. Breaking Laces have logged more miles than most of their contemporaries. During the band’s first two years, drummer Seth Masarsky estimates the boys played more than 500 gigs. In addition, the 2007 winners of Starbucks MusicMakers Competition have already successfully toured the United Kingdom (not once, but twice).

“We’ve played everywhere and anywhere, making fans one by one, “said Masarsky. “We had a certain charm about us, certain fearlessness to us. We established ourselves as a solid live act, but we also showed people that we had versatility, dynamically and musically, that still, to this day, is a blessing and a curse. We’re the kind of band that can go from the most knock-your-socks-off, crazy hard song to the most relaxed, calm, beautiful, emotional song at the drop of a hat.”

“We can go from coffee shop to metal in one note,” adds bassist Rob Chojnacki with a confident smile.

With a sound that has stylistic debts to such artists as They Might Be Giants, Radiohead, and the Lemonheads, Breaking Laces was born with the 2003 release of Sohcahtoa, which Hartong recorded on his own with some assistance from a producer. The reception to the material was overwhelmingly positive, garnering heavy spins on XMU, XM Satellite Radio’s college channel. Rolling Stone noted that “[Breaking Laces] provide more substance than any toss-off singer-songwriter,” while Paste declared:  “Exactly what Indie Rock needs now.”  A few months later, Masarsky was asked to join Hartong, whom he’d met while the both of them were studying in Boston. Eventually, Chojnacki, who played with Masarsky in long-running New York rock band Darby Jones, would find his way into Breaking Laces.
“I went to see Seth and Willem play,” recalls Chojnacki, “and I can remember seeing Willem on the floor, grinding his acoustic guitar into his distortion pedals, kicking his legs in the air, and I just had to be in this band.”

After some extensive touring, the band released Lemonade in 2005, and followed that release up with more touring and their 2006 EP, Astronomy Is My Life But I Love You. After Astronomy, the band was once again back out there, on the road, earning fans the hard way. And from stop to stop, city to city, gig to gig, Breaking Laces would always hear the same stupefying question.

“People are always asking us why we aren’t the biggest band going,” says Masarsky.  “Our only ‘mistake,‘ I guess, was we didn’t push the records as much as we pushed the live show. The albums were always just an adjunct to the tour, something we brought with us to sell at our shows.” Until now.

On record, Breaking Laces sounds like a temperate collection of guitar-loving rock dudes with keen pop sensibilities. Live, Breaking Laces is something entirely different--a wild, unpredictable beast that rattles the floorboards with the intensity of seasoned pros.

“People would hear us and dig the stuff, but once they saw us live, that was the biggest thing,” says Masarsky. “You can hear us on record, and you come to the show--and after seeing how unbelievable Willem gets, people are wondering, ‘How is this band that band?’ People don’t make the connection.”

Late this summer, Breaking Laces took the next step in the band’s evolution by hitting the studio to begin work on their forthcoming as-yet-untitled album. Eyed for release in early 2010, the band recorded with producer Ed Tuton (who has worked with artists as diverse as Carly Simon, Eagle Eye Cherry, Maxwell and T-Pain) helming the effort.   

The band feels that the new album is the culmination of the band's musical journey over the last five years and is the proverbial bridge between the band's live success and its melodic, commercial songwriting appeal.

While Hartong says there are a number of inspirations behind his prose, he says Breaking Laces’ fundamental message is “become who you are.” It’s a simple message, but an honest and heartfelt one, imparted in a humorous and engaging style. “When we go on stage or we go in to record, we always find a way to have a good time, and that has to be very effective,” the frontman says. “We decided a long time ago that we’d save ourselves a lot of trouble and probably do a lot of good by not trying to outcool anyone, but to just be who we are.

“I’ve often thought of us as underdogs, in a weird way, but we’re not, really. We’re a pop band that kind of fancies itself as being a little more off-the-beaten path than we are. I think what our appeal tends to be, beyond the music, is that we’re real. I hate contrived enjoyment. It’s a little bit condescending. So, what we do is work for a place where that’s not really an option.”  

Willem adds: “Six hands, three bodies--that’s who we are.”