Break To Broken Return with a Fresh EP
- BuzzSlayers
- Jul 17, 2025
- 8 min read
Break To Broken return with a new EP release that manages to blend elements of post-rock, punk, indie rock, and more all rolled into one record that pulls together this slew of influences and creates a robust and addictive aesthetic that comes through unique in its tonality and Lush with personality, harmony, and melody.
No Care + 2 is a release that is progressive and takes a lot of the best elements of a number of genres under the rock umbrella and melds them together seamlessly which really creates a kind of atmosphere and that kicks off right from that first track.
The title track, "No Care", features some outstanding guitar work that brings out that Progressive approach but not without a heavy-handed sort of edginess to it all. Again, the tones of the instruments are something that was well thought out throughout this record and that's why it takes some of the attributes of what I would consider to be vintage rock sounds and tones, and brings them into a newer platform so that they sound like a combination of stuff you would hear either in the 70s, 80s, 90s, or even 2000s.
You can hear underground alt rock all over this thing but it's done in this particular way.
This record was produced incredibly well. It has a very unique sound to it. This first track also features bass guitar legend Mike Watt, likely most known for his work with Minutemen.
So, they managed to get this legend on the track and maybe he had a hand in that overall tonality.
This first single is an amazing way to introduce the rest of the record because you get to hear a little bit of the tones that you can expect throughout the course of the release but it's not without its surprises.
This is an EP you want to listen to from start to finish so that you don't really miss anything.
Vocals are harmonious and sort of flowing with this particular texture that blends in with the rest of the music so incredibly well that fuses together.
The guitar work on this track, in particular, is completely outstanding and you become addicted to that forward moving flow that it displays. There are some great slightly more aggressive vocals that come into play here and there that have a little bit of an app simulation or light distortion effect on them that gives it a little bit of edginess.
Overall, this track is the calling card of the release and they do an outstanding job of continuing on from there.
The following track, "Marching West", has a little bit more of an upbeat feel with some great bendy and experimental guitar work that gives the song a bit of an attitude.
It's this track where you can hear some more of that punk rock coming through and a lot of the band's presence coming at you.
This whole record is actually very energetic. It feels like they all did it at one time so that they fed off of each other, but even if that wasn't the case, the energy levels captured here feel raw and uninhibited.
The progressions are brilliant. The arrangements and how the songs unfold were again, very well thought out, and when the songs end, you feel completely satisfied.
"Remain Accused" is the final track on the release, and this is completely animated, a little rambunctious and wild, and showcases the band's particular ability to create something that has a looseness to it in the performances but a complete overall tightness as well.
Again, these songs feel very in-your-face. They are not exactly aggressive, but wild.
You can't look away from them because they're too intense and a sense.
This was a record that definitely brings out some of the band's best attributes, and the inventive, slightly outside-the-box, slightly nostalgic, underground, and fiery performances and tones are all staples of this record.
This was a complete banger of a release. Nothing is boring about it. If you're a guitar player, it'll make you want to pick up a guitar right off the bat. It's the kind of record that you listen to a few times in a row so you can soak everything in.
The vocals give a perfect energy level with the rest of the band for all of the songs, so everything connects, and that sort of closed-fisted approach comes through with a great balance.
There's even something that feels slightly theatrical about the record at times.
It was a blend of color and edginess like I haven't seen in a long time, and everything from the vocals to the guitars, bass guitar, and drumming all fit like pieces of a puzzle, even when the time signatures or riffs are unique.
I've listened to the EP four times, and I'm still not over it.
I would suggest this to anyone who loves post-rock, punk, alt-rock, or anything that thinks outside the box with a solid rock backbone.
You'll be pleasantly surprised, and it feels good to get a bit engulfed in this record.
With the release of such a killer EP, we wanted to have a chat with the band to find out how all of this came together.
Here's what happened.
Buzz Slayers: Okay guys, let's get into this record! The No Care + 2 EP has some bangers on it! These songs blend heavy handed, vintage punk with amazing approaches, animated undertones, and more! When did you guys record this and where did it come from?
Eli: Over the past couple of years, we’ve been working toward completing our second full-length album. Along the way, some songs have felt like a better fit within a smaller collection, which led us to pivot and release a few EPs instead. That’s how this EP came to be.
Buzz Slayers: You guys got Mike Watt (Minutemen) on the title track "No Care"! That's crazy! How exactly did that happen?
Eli: Mike Watt has been one of my musical heroes for decades. One day I was on his website (or “hoot page,” as he calls it), reading some of his tour diary entries. I happened to see his P.O. box listed on the site. I decided that I’d mail our record to him along with a letter telling him a bit about our band and thanking him for all the great music he’s made. In the letter I also mentioned that if he’d ever be open to having us as guests on his podcast, the “Watt From Pedro Show,” we would love to do that. A couple of weeks later I received an email from him thanking me for our record and inviting us to be on the show! We had a great time telling our story and getting to know each other. Following our appearance, I followed up to thank him for having us and asked if he would ever be interested in playing on one of our songs. He was very receptive to the idea, and the rest is history! We have the utmost respect for him and it’s an honor to call him a friend of the band.
Buzz Slayers: Was recording this one a fun process?
Justin: I think it’s always a fun process. Our writing and recording method of layering ideas remotely comes with an exciting sense of anticipation. When one of us sends a rough demo or idea, it’s always cool to see it morph into something none of us could’ve predicted. We try to keep the process loose and fun. And having Watt in the mix this time definitely gave us a little extra spark.
Buzz Slayers: Do you guys record your songs live at all?
Justin: Unfortunately, no — at least not yet. Since Clint is in Australia and Eli and I are in the U.S., getting into a room together just hasn’t been feasible. But we try to capture a live energy and mimic what would happen in a studio as much as we can on our recordings. 99% of the guitar tones on our records are from Clint re-amping our clean guitar signals and then recording the output with a mic. We try to keep any kind of digital amp simulations or highly processed elements to a minimum and capture analog signals whenever possible. All of the drums are played by Eli on a real kit and recorded live - no samples or anything. We’re all multi-instrumentalists, so we all kind of have our different ways of capturing our respective playing and singing. But it’s always us — no studio players or AI or anything.
Buzz Slayers: Are you guys touring or playing any shows now that this EP is released?
Justin: We’d love to — and talk about it all the time — but geography makes it pretty tough. Clint’s in Australia, I’m in Virginia, and Eli’s in New Jersey. Eli does play some of our songs live as part of his solo project, No Wake, which is really cool to see. But as far as Break To Broken shows, we haven’t made it happen yet. Never say never, though!
Buzz Slayers: It seems like you release new music pretty often! Do you guys write the songs together? or is it one person that writes a lot of it?
Eli: The three of us are always trading riffs and song ideas - we genuinely love creating music together. Each of us brings ideas to the table, and that spark of sharing keeps things exciting. We contribute equally, from the initial concepts to shaping the songs into their final form.
Buzz Slayers: Where did you guys record this?
Eli: This EP was recorded by the three of us separately in our home studios in New Jersey and Virginia in the U.S., and the Blue Mountains of Australia! We’ve all become very adept at recording along to a click track, making it infinitely easier to cohesively record our parts separately. We’ve been doing this long enough now that communicating our ideas to each other has become second nature for us. Clint handles all the mixing and mastering — he does an excellent job of handling all the heavy lifting when it comes to putting all of the elements together to make it all sound as great as it does!
Buzz Slayers: Are you already working on anything new?
Clint: We are! As Eli previously mentioned we've been working on our 2nd album over the last couple of years, in between releasing 3 EPs. What's great now is that we can go back to working on that with a good chunk of it already completed. We've finished mixing a couple of songs already and are still recording the rest - we're hoping to have some more news to share on that later this year!
Buzz Slayers: What's next for you guys as a band?
Clint: We're already back at work to start completing our 2nd album, so we'll be chipping away at that over the coming months. Doing an album is quite an undertaking as anyone who records music knows so our plates are full with that for now!
Buzz Slayers: What would you say people can expect from this record?
Clint: Hopefully for anyone that already knows the band the sound will be familiar but with a couple of new surprises to keep things interesting. On the song “No Care” we were kind of hoping to capture the sound of our band but also inject some elements from the sound of The Minutemen and Mike Watt generally. That was a challenge but I hope we managed to do ok!
Also one piece of trivia regarding this EP is that track #2 (“Marching West”) will also be on our upcoming 2nd album, so hopefully that can serve as a nice preview for anyone that takes the time to listen to our band - and if that's you then thanks!
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