Ok, never mind that other video. My friend Dale of Karmic Calamity, an artist whose band the Unlucky Eights we were sharing a bill with last night when I wrote Balloon Boy, has made a better video. Here's a YouTube link. Feel free to share. 

Balloon Boy

The Breakup Society | MySpace Music Videos

We didn’t mean to take a break. In fact, I’m pretty sure the break took us. But that’s behind us now. We’ve got our first show back – the Ruby Room with Eurovox – this Friday and a brand new album in the works. Thanks to a generous donation from the great John Fredland (our executive producer), we’ve recorded basic tracks to nine songs with Bob Hoag again producing.

So far, working titles in the running are “So Much Unhappiness, So Little Time,” “A Collection of First-Person Character Sketches” and “Don’t Let the Hipsters Catch You Crying.” But we might just call it “Thriller,” hoping to corner the “accidental purchase” market.

It’s sounding pretty great, I have to say. So far, it’s got the first two songs I’ve ever written on piano (“Another Day in the Life,” “He’s Supportin’ the War”), the first Breakup Society song entirely in 6/8 (“Mary Shelley,” which is probably also our first with a novelist’s name in the title), a trash-rock song about a jailbait-chasing smalltown talent agent and his trusty sidekick (“Here Comes Floyd”), a drinking song whose title may mistakenly imply a happy ending had by all (“The Upward Spiral”), a handful of bittersweet breakup songs (“She Doesn’t Cross Against the Light,” “Your Invitation to Quit”), a song about failure that sounds a bit like Spoon fans stealing hooks from Donovan (“The Next Reunion”) and the sweetest little love song I know of that’s named for a circle of hell (the 8^th to be exact). So anyhow, we’ll try to keep you posted on our progress. ....

In the meantime, two shows you should know about if you or anyone you know will be in Arizona this weekend or next.....

This Friday night, Sept 4, we’re at the Ruby Room with Eurovox, the Linoleums and DJ Intensifiedboy. The show begins at 8:30 or 9 but we go on a little closer to 11.....

Next Friday, Sept. 11, it’s Sister Cities’ release show at Hollywood Alley with Juicy Newt and Dakota Jeane. ....

 ....

Just found two more reviews we thought we'd share. This first one is from Daggerzine.

The Breakup Society
NOBODY LIKES A WINNER- (GET HIP)- While I never heard this Phoenix via Pittsburgh's band's debut, this sophomore effort is a real head turner as main guy Ed Masley seems to have an unlimited supply of hooks in his leather bag of tricks. No surprise here that Masley got both Scott McCaughey and Ward Dotson to contribute to this record as I was going to say how this reminds of both The Minus 5 (McCaughey's band) and The Pontiac Brothers (Dotson's previous band before The Liquor Giants…before that he was in The Gun Club). This guy Masley is definitely his own animal, the guy has a wit sharper than Don Rickles and tunes like "How Failure Saved Me from Myself", "No one Wants to be Remembered", "Lower Expectations" and "I Didn't Mean to Wreck Your Day" are self-deprecating blasts of guitar raunch with hooks and humor. I also hear echoes of The Kinks, Elvis Costello and The Lolas. Kudos to Bob Hoag for a great production job and some fine keyboard/organ work as well. Time to go look for that debut. www.gethip.com

A wit sharper than Don Rickles? That is awesome. Here's a review from the Paisley Umbrella, whose writer concludes "Negativity never sounded so great." Nice quote, although I didn't realize I was being negative.

Who knew failure and at best, mediocrity could be so fun? Usually, the emotions expressed in music are tied to the tone of the music itself. Nobody writes a funeral march if they want people to get up and dance. I take that back. Those women I used to date danced to that kind of music. Sigh. Goth girls. We've all been there. A better example is that someone doesn't harp about a lack of inspiration in work and relationships to a happy beat. It's sarcastic, so people don't like it much like they won't like a movie with a sad ending. However, The Breakup Society and more specifically, leader/songwriter Ed Masley has turned self loathing and disappointment into a new art form on his sophomore(ic) effort Nobody Likes a Winner with songs about distrust of ambitious coworkers and lowering expectations, but with happy, compressed, guitar driven, solid beat music plus a few surprises!

Once we come of age and have enough dispappointment in our lives to cut our expectations, we lose a lot of optimism. This might just be a product of growing older. What happens often as a result is that our personal identification with music as carrying meaning for us is lost. It made us who we are, but we're not tying our experiences or specific events to it like we once did. Nobody Likes a Winner breaks this mold with a collection of songs that we aging hipsters can identify with. Remember when you were a kid and you heard something that made the lightbulb in your head go off thinking "Someone's singing about me!"? It's pretty cool, but also scary in a way. For example, a teenager probably won't identify with "When your work is a drag and I'm drinkin' from a bag" on "The World Will Change Our Love," but the combination of power chords, some good reverb, and some bright riffing, and an "oooh oooh" vocal background will have rock 'n' roll lovers of every age singing along. I'd have to caution there's a hint of subtle silver lining when it's finally explained "The World will change our love if we let it." Ed Masley let's us know that he's not sure if not falling off the deep end after a break up is a good thing when he admits "I guess I'm not the asshole your cold heart might have preferred. Failure saved me from myself" on "How Failure Saved Me From Myself," which combinesa an almost electrified folk sound, great string arrangements, and a humming chorus that comes off as simple acceptance of the end of a relationship without any passion or feeling because one just isn't capable of having those emotions. If you love dysfunction, this is your album. How many of us have wanted to stop a break up by asking to "Forget the past, start repeating it with me?"

There's now a soundtrack for the cube farm generation! For most of us, a job is a job. It could pay well, but there's something we'd rather be doing like music or pursuing another passion. Still, a lot of us work hard at what we do out of the hope of earning some recognition and thus, monetary gain, only to find out that some 'bubbly' happy type gets it for doing less work or less quality work. At least that's the background. The resulting feelings are highlighted in the title track "Nobody Likes a Winner," a punk pop song that takes us along for a fun musical ride that will have many listeners singing along "bop bop bop bop" in tune with the chorus "Cause if you wanna succeed, you have to go full speed ahead of everyone you're going to need someday on your way back down."

Of course, a true nerd is the only one who can sing about acceptance of one's mediocrity so eloquently. As almost an obligation, Ed invents a new word "scientifical" in "Strictly Biological Heart." There's a common theme in Nobody Likes a Winner that's sarcastic, sad but true, and mostly familiar except some departures into more disturbing territory about a potentially violent and physically abusive person as seen by the woman who makes excuses for him as she continues to be a victim in "13th Angry Man." Lyrically provoking, musically upbeat, but then ends with psychedelic guitar that will make Byrds fans proud. Nobody Likes a Winner has great hooks and a lot more music takes place that you'll notice with every repeat listen, so it's basic with a lot of subtleties, but true to powerpop form that the music is compressed It's a celebration of mediocrity and disappointment done happy! It's not about getting the girl, it's about feeling dissatisfied no matter what.

Rock 'n' roll in all its great simplicity and accessiblity is still art. A great thing about that is that one's favorite album for one reason becomes their favorite one years later for completely different reasons, which means that one hears something new, like a different layer or way of looking at it. Musically, Nobody Likes a Winner adds layers to discover on so many songs. When one gets past the surface sarcasm, they find a lot of heart and deeper emotions like "I Didn't Mean to Wreck Your Day," when Ed laments "If I could see you smile for me the way you used to smile for me," but acknowledges "Your open wound was craving salt before I knew you." There's also a great dive into '60s influenced Americana with Scott MacCaughey from The Young Fresh Fellows and Minus 5 for a guy obsessed with the obituary column on "By a Thread."

Who needs inspiration when you've got great, high energy, loud music about failure, disappointment, and self flagellation? Band leader Ed Masley and his talented outfit The Breakup Society has turned misery into musically happy perfection. That's a surface judgement. The music is great powerpop with incredible psychedelic stylings that like the songs and their meanings, give the listener more to discover with each listen.

Negativity never sounded so great.

The Big Takeover raved about Nobody Likes A Winner, using words like "masterpiece" and "tangerine." Read on...

Power-pop is a form populated by geeks, losers and schlubs, a scene where failure is celebrated. There is nothing finer to be than obscure and unsuccessful in the dark, dank clubs where owners of red Rickenbackers huddle to discuss the details of a scene that peaked in 1978. These are my people and this CD is for them. This follow up to their excellent James At 35 is a song cycle on heartache and disappointment, a wonderful collection of fantastic sounding songs. The guitars are raging, the drums pounding and Ed Masley's thin, reedy vocals compare well with Michael Quercio from Three O'Clock. The standout is a masterpiece called "How Failure Saved Me From Myself" with obscenely tangerine chord changes and a gorgeous arrangement. It may be the best song I've heard all year and it's on iTunes. Go get it right now, trust me.

Ok, so The Breakup Society really needs a bassist in the Phoenix area for playing shows and making records. You can hear what we sound like on MySpace, but you know that. What we're looking for, ideally, is someone with a solid grasp on why Bruce Thomas would have been the perfect bassist for this band had he not been too famous to consider, someone with a working knowledge of why Paul McCartney is a genius on the bass, but also likes to go a bit John Entwistle. You may say, 'Well, that seems a lot to ask,' in which case, you've already blown the gig.
If interested, please message us right here.

Thanks,


The Breakup Society

So the album's been out since mid-December and we're pretty pleased with the reaction it's been getting. Here's what a few of our favorite reviews have had to say.


All Music Guide – FOUR AND A HALF STARS
"Considering that his earlier band the Frampton Brothers released an album called File Under F for Failure, Ed Masley has become something of a self-taught authority on the subject of things not working out, and he has plenty more to say regarding his favorite theme on Nobody Likes a Winner, the second album from his most recent project, the Breakup Society. Masley's keen wit and rollicking loud pop hooks have buffered the sharper edges of his angst in the past, but Nobody Likes a Winner is easily his most mature and ambitious album to date, and while Masley hasn't lost his sense of humor, the songs on this album cut a bit deeper into the nature of disappointment than he's been willing to go in the past, as well as venturing into musical territory he hasn't explored before. There's plenty of straight-ahead rock & roll on Nobody Likes a Winner -- cue up "The 13th Angry Man," "Another Candlelit Night," and the title tune -- but Masley and producer Bob Hoag take some detours into British Invasion-style pop ("By a Thread," featuring guest vocals from Scott McCaughey), slow and dreamlike mood pieces ("This Doesn't Matter" and "This Little Tragedy"), and at least one tune that's a dead ringer for the Face to Face-era Kinks ("Lower Expectations"), not to mention two songs that feature actual horns and strings. Masley aims higher with Nobody Likes a Winner than before, but he does so without a drop of pretension, and the regular-guy vibe that's always permeated his work makes the aging sad sack of "Lowered Expectations," the disillusioned lovers of "How Failure Saved Me from Myself" and "This Doesn't Matter," and the conscience-stricken protagonists of "No One Wants to Be Remembered" and "By a Thread" all the easier to relate to, and poignant without sinking into sentimental treacle. Maybe nobody likes a winner, but on this album Masley's losers are people with stories worth hearing set to music that's both smart and bracing, and this represents a new high-water mark for one of the unsung heroes of contemporary rock songwriting.

Alternative Press – FOUR STARS.
Expanding on their titular thesis, The Breakup Society continue to explore heartbreak and disappointment on the follow-up to James At 35, but with a twist. Where singer/guitarist (and AP scribe) Ed Masley's post-Frampton Brothers 2004 debut delivered a power-pop concept album about lovelorn adults mired in emotional post-adolescence, Nobody Likes A Winner is more of an attitudinal piece. Not strictly yoked to a narrative arc or power-pop sound, Masley toys with countrypolitan on the reverb-soaked "This Little Tragedy" and Beatles-tinged baroque pop on "How Failure Save Me From Myself." The latter is a centerpiece both sonically and emotionally, weaving the theme of self-delusion and self-sabotage into 14 tracks still chiefly concerned with relational dysfunction. Masley's wit scores with the wonderfully delivered epigram on "Strictly Biological Heart" and "By A Thread," which profiles a bitter obituary watcher. Still, their money-maker remains jangling pop/new wave like "I Didn't Mean To Wreck Your Day," a track buoyed by an undertone of '50s-rock innocence

Harp
Ed Masley, the voice of the Breakup Society, has struck a balance between cynicism and humorous wiseguy. His lyrics involve folks who battle the world at every step ("13th Angry Man"), feel better when settling for mediocrity ("Lower Expectations") and believe you-and-me-against-the-world is a losing battle ("The World Will Change Our Love"). "How Failure Saved Me from Myself" has the self-deprecating outlook and keyboard driven hook that Quasi's Sam Coomes would die for. While their debut album featured Masley with his former Frampton Brothers bandmates, the Pittsburgh guitarist (now living in Phoenix) has a new, crack lineup of Steel City players. With guest appearances by Scott McCaughey and Ward Dotson, and walls of keyboards from producer Bob Hoag that embellish the hooks, the Breakup Society's sophomore release doesn't merely emulate classic power pop—it writes the next chapter for the canon.

Trouser Press
Taking an unspoken cue from Bob Dylan ("...cares not to come up any higher / But rather get you down in the hole / That he's in"), Masley levels the playing field on Nobody Likes a Winner, an ode to the idea that if he can't be happy or successful, then why should any one else entertain such absurd ambitions? A glorious hail of conviction, wit and energy, the album acknowledges futility on all fronts ("The World Will Change Our Love," "Lower Expectations," "How Failure Saved Me From Myself") but doesn't take a solo fall this time. The title song is absolutely delicious, warning against the ambition and success that leaves people behind ("You never shoulda gotten so much better than the way you were"). "I Didn't Mean to Wreck Your Day" likewise shares the blame, "This Little Tragedy" actually shrinks, rather than magnifies, a problem. Throughout, the quartet plays with loose-limbed but road-tightened precision, ably documented by producer/multi-instrumentalist Bob Hoag. Scott McCaughey is on hand again (he sings lead on "By a Thread"), and Ward Dotson of the Pontiac Brothers adds background vocals as well. Not to jinx it or anything, but Nobody Likes a Winner is one. Highly recommended to fans of the now-defunct Bigger Lovers.

Magnet – Ed Masley pens songs akin to those of kindred spirit Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, Minus 5). Both offer plenty of I'm-a-loser-but-hey-so-are-you tales, spiking any self-flagellation with plenty of insight into everyone else's pathetic human condition. Fittingly, McCaughey contributes lead vocals to the jangly "By A Thread" here, and it's a compliment to Masley that the tune would fit perfectly on a YFF or Minus 5 effort. On the sophomore Breakup Society LP, Masley's tough-and-tender tunes also bring to mind the storytelling of Fountains of Wayne: "When she was young, he used to bring her flowers," sings Masley on "13th Angry Man." (His somewhat thin voice resembles FOW's Chris Collingwood). Most material here, though, is usually delivered with a rougher, YFF-y power-pop attack. Masley scores, too, with slower fare such as "This Little Tragedy," a biting rebuke of someone who needs to get over himself, couched in a soft, gorgeous melody. If it's true that nobody likes a winner, this album is definitely in trouble sale-wise. But Masley probably knew that going in.

Tuscon Weekly -- Nobody Likes a Winner is awesome. It's near-perfect power-pop -- catchy as hell but not cloying, with lyrics that are clever but not showoff clever -- the sort for which I am a complete sucker. It's basically the variety of bubblegum pop that was all over the radio in the '70s, but played with louder-than-bubblegum guitars; and almost every song is about one of two things: love or revenge. If you've ever wondered why we haven't heard anything from Redd Kross for a while or lamented the fact that you were born too late to see Big Star in their prime, do yourself a favor, and go check these guys out this weekend..
Phoenix New Times – Scrumtrulescent
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Elvis Costello aside, Ed Masley is the best songwriter in power-pop

Pittsburgh City Paper -- As always, Breakup Society main man Ed Masley sings with a vulnerability that makes all the losers of his songs somehow loveable, and the triumphant wounded…. What seems to fuel the album is the tension between the apathy and retreat of many of the songs, and the perfection and power of the music. Masley knows all the tricks in the power-pop bag, and on this outing, arrangement touches such as trumpet, piano and studio effects add shine to the underpinning guitar-bass-drums.


LMNOP – Pop music just doesn't get much catchier than this.

Remember when we used to blog? It seems like only yesterday (but may have been a week or two before that).
So what have we missed….
Oh yeah, the album coming out. That's pretty big, it could be argued.
Here's what happened. I got so caught up in the process of getting the word out on the album, I forgot to blog about it.
Like a jackass.
But the good news is, it's doing really well – a lot of great reviews and even better airplay than we got the last time out.
The record release show in Pittsburgh was awesome, although the idea of having the Frampton Brothers reunite to share the bill was probably a little on the overly ambitious side, especially for those of us who had to be on stage all night instead of spending time with friends who'd come out to support us on our big day. Oops.
The release show at Hollywood Alley would have been a great time if the singer hadn't lost his voice a day before the show. I blame the ugly winters here in Phoenix. But we've played a lot of better shows since then, including SXSW, where we shared not one but two bills with the Cynics, and that Beatle Bob guy introduced our set. It was, dare I say, brilliant. Also had an awesome show in Tucson (thank you, Deludes) and a few right here in Phoenix, where we shared a magic bill with Magic Bullets and the Blakes.
Let's see, what else…
Ed and Scott started doing a little acoustic night at Carly's Bistro here in Phoenix, but then Scott quit and Ed has been soldiering on in one-man band mode, playing somewhere close to 30 songs a night.
I'll blog some excerpts from the press the album's gotten in the next few days, but in the meantime, it's good to be back here in the blogosphere. I swear, I won't be such a stranger next time.

Ed
p.s. The band just learned a classic Kinks song for our next show at the Ruby Room.

Come check out The Breakup Society's online-only track "A Song For George," the sordid tale of Eric Clapton moving in on Patti Boyd, the hottest wife in '60s rock, and poor George Harrison, the friend who brought him in to play guitar on the White Album, letting it slide like it was no big deal because it's what the Maharishi would have wanted.

Check it out. And if you like it, we'll remind you when it's up on iTunes. We're kind of like Radiohead without the money. You can have it free of charge but if you want to spend a dollar when it's up on iTunes, that would send a message to the industry that people can be trusted with technology.

In the meantime, you should totally come see us at the Ruby Room in Phoenix if you live there. You can find the gory details on our MySpace page, but it's a great bill – Sister Cities, Source Victoria, Less Pain Forever and your old pals The Breakup Society. The date is Friday, Oct. 26.
AND Pittsburgh fans, take heed. There's a CD release show on Nov. 10 with Johnny Monk's new band, Part Man, and Ed's old band, The Frampton Brothers, batting cleanup. Yes, Sean Lally will be coming in from Baltimore while Ed is flying in from Phoenix. If those planes don't crash....well, stranger things have happened.
If you want the lyrics to A Song For George, just message us and we will send.

Sorry it's been so long since that last blog. We've been so busy getting the record together and off to the label, there hasn't been much time for blogging. But it's done now – mastered, artwork finished, talking to several friends about doing a video, release date set (Nov. 13, as it turns out). In the middle of all of that, we had to find a bassist to replace the irreplaceable Mike Bennett, who moved back to Pittsburgh in June or July. I can't remember which month due to memory suppression, but he's gone now, off to CMU to study Beowulf or words to that effect. On the bright side, we've found an amazing new bassist, Jeff Owens, who play like Bruce Thomas of Elvis Costello's Attractions and sings like a Beatle.
But back to the show blog…Mike's last set (at Modified) was probably too loud and fast and off the rails for more refined tastes, but fuck 'em. We had fun. And we played with this really cool band from Seattle (I think) called Speaker Speaker, who played even louder and faster and more off the rails. The one guy in their band said he turned to his girlfriend (or someone) at one point and told her "They kinda remind me of Elvis Costello" a second (or possibly two) before we launched into a raucous if sloppy rendition of "Welcome To The Working Week." The set in full went as follows:
ROBIN ZANDER
HERE COMES FLOYD
NO ONE WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED
THE NEXT REUNION
HE WANTS HIS WORLD BACK (BABY)
WELCOME TO THE WORKING WEEK
8TH CIRCLE OF HELL
THE WORLD WILL CHANGE OUR LOVE
NEVER WANTED TO BE YOUR DISAPPOINTMENT
I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE SUN

Then, in early August, I flew back to Pittsburgh for a smoke-filled set at Gooski's with the Pennsylvania branch on one rehearsal after six months off, which surprisingly led to no fewer than six or seven people insisting it had been our best set ever. That seems doubtful but it was a lot of fun. I hadn't seen those guys last December and each one of them rose to the challenge like the pros we'll never be. And it was great to share a stage with BTR again. They just get better every time I see them play ("And I don't even drink much anymore," he says, not even fooling himself).
The set went quite like this (although I'm not sure when exactly "A Song For George" was played because it wasn't on the set list and hadn't been played or rehearsed in a year but when Tommy Amoeba is shouting requests, it's pretty much an EF Hutton deal). It all went by ridiculously fast, of course. And the crowd was amazing. Thanks, if you were there. It was among the best nights of my life (unless you count the ones that ended in some sort of indiscretion).

HE WANTS HIS WORLD BACK (BABY)
NO ONE WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED…
THE WORLD WILL CHANGE OUR LOVE
A SONG FOR GEORGE
NOBODY LIKES A WINNER
HERE COMES FLOYD
ROBIN ZANDER
THE SUMMER OF JOYCELYNN MAY
INTRODUCTION TO GIRLS
NEVER WANTED TO BE YOUR DISAPPOINTMENT
I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE SUN

Flew back to Phoenix just in time to squeeze in three rehearsals with Jeff, our amazing new bassist, before the longest set the Phoenix branch has ever played. The show was at the Hotel Monte Vista in Flagstaff, a real contender for coolest room ever and we had to play at least an hour. But it gave the set a chance to breathe a little, allowed us to dust off some rarely played ballads ("Strictly Biological Heart," "She's Using Words Like Hurt Again," "Yesterday"). OK, not "Yesterday," but there were ballads. Relatively slow ones. Bob thinks we squandered momentum with our tuning breaks (and he's probably right) but people seemed to really like it and we ended on a Who-like note of chaos with a truly epic "I Don't Give A Damn About The Sun." By the end of the song, Scott was banging on cymbals. Sadly, there's no way we'll ever duplicate the total spontaneity of that, but it was brilliant. Also, some guy came up after one song and handed Bob money. Four dollars or something. Just for rocking. Probably the first time Bob's made money in this band.
So anyhow, the set list was:
ROBIN ZANDER
THE SUMMER OF JOYCELYNN MAY
THE WORLD WILL CHANGE OUR LOVE
STRICTLY BIOLOGICAL HEART
DISAPPOINTMENT
BURNIN' THE DYNAMITE AT BOTH ENDS
LOWER EXPECTATIONS
NOBODY LIKES A WINNER
HE WANTS HIS WORLD BACK
WELCOME TO THE WORKING WEEK
ANOTHER CANDLELIT NIGHT
SHE'S USING WORDS LIKE HURT AGAIN
NO ONE WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED
SHE DOESN'T LIKE THAT ANYMORE
HERE COMES FLOYD
I NEED YOU
I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE SUN