We got to talk to the band, Broken Stems about their music, their incredible charity work, and what is next!
Check out our interview with the San Diego based band!
upfrontNY: How was the band formed?
Broken Stems: We all found each other in San Diego pretty harmoniously. Brad is from Chicago, Jesse is from Minnesota, Andrew is from Vermont, and Chelsea is from Sacramento. We all ended up in San Diego together at the same time looking to do the same thing and found each other basically through either random parties or mutual friends. As soon as we all played together, we knew we had something really special.
upfrontNY: What has been your biggest accomplishment or most exciting moment since the band was formed?
Broken Stems: We took a trip to Mexico through Baja to Cabo San Lucas and that was one of the most exciting things we did. We stopped at orphanages and schools along the way playing music and donating instruments along with 6 other bands. We finally ended up in Cabo and played a free show on the beach to about 5000 people. The whole experience was absolutely amazing.
upfrontNY: How would you describe your music?
Broken Stems: Our music mixes together the genres we all have come from which is best described as blues, rock and soul. It has touches of reggae, classic rock, a cappella and hard rock though too scattered throughout our concert. You can hear where we’ve all come from.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about your newest single “Hear You Calling” ?
Broken Stems: Hear You Calling is the first single we’re releasing off of our new upcoming album What Are You Connected. The entire album cohesively is a message about being great the best version of yourself you can be. It’s all about positivity and this song is as well, in the beginning it’s listening like you’re listening to the voice in your head and amongst all the fear and ambiguity you can find calmness at the end.
upfrontNY: What has been one of the best performing experiences and is there a city or venue that you hope to perform one day?
Broken Stems: We played a festival called “soultruistic”. It was a haul about 6 hours north of San Diego out in the desert. We didn’t know what to expect but when we got up there we found the generator for the stage wasn’t working and the sound wasn’t there. We combined forces with a few other bands to pull together a full stage and we kicked off the night. With the first strum of the guitar we started seeing tons of people walk out of the dark desert towards the stage. It went from what could have been one of the worst experiences to one of the best. I made a goal (Brad) to play Coachella one day on the main stage, that’s the top for me…once that happens I guess it’s all downhill from there.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about your charity work and what it means to you to give back to others?
Broken Stems: The work we did was to give music and instruments to the children in Baja, both schools and orphanages. Everybody says it, so it sounds cliché, but you really get more out of giving…how happy those kids were in the orphanage really puts your own petty problems into perspective. With music, you can bring everybody to the same level within minutes and feel together.
upfrontNY: Do you have any fun summer plans?
Broken Stems: We’re playing shows all over this summer and have a few lined up a week. We’re working on another music video (or two) and going to put out our album very soon as well.
upfrontNY: What is next and do you have anything you would like others to know about the band?
Broken Stems: Next up will be our full length album “What Are You Connected” which will be released some time early this fall. We have all sorts of shows all over southern California but really want to play all over and get on tour. The word connection means a lot to us, we want to spread a word and message that we are all connected to each other, if you’re at a show whether you’re in the front or the back we want you to feel a part of our experience and a part of each other. Music is a spiritual experience.
Leave a Reply