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Interview by Calecia.com Who and what are you? I Why did you choose the band name Break From Society? Break From Society started off as a joke that our friends would say whenever they wanted to take a cigarette break. They would say, Who's in the band? The line-up includes myself on lead vocals, guitar, and studio production work; Smokey or Jorge Flores on drums; Tony Dread or Tony Navarro on bass; Rasta Joe or Jose Rodriguez on trumpet; and Shamu Dread or Victor Navarro on keys. We also have an occasional DJ from Watsonville called DJ Ricky Rick. Where are you from? Break From Society is homegrown from Calexico and keeps it feeling Irie by never forgetting about our roots. I live in Santa Cruz because of school, Tony Dread lives in SD and the rest of the guys are down in Calexico. We are separated for most of the year but still manage to keep Break From Society alive and well and never afraid to give big ups to Calexico and the IV. How did your band get formed? Alex Castellanos and I started an alternative band when we were in Junior High but decided that the sound was not what we wanted to continue playing. Alex starting getting heavily influenced by the reggae sounds of Eek a Mouse, Greg, Bob, and other roots legends, so we tried infusing these sounds into our existing band. What came out were jams reminiscent of The Police meets Rock en Espa How long have you been together? We started with this band when we were sophomores in high school so we were like 15 so it was 1999 about 5 years ago. How many changes have occurred in BFS? Damn, well we first started as a trio with Alex Castellanos, Chris Cota, and I. Chris quit the band so we recruited my cousin Jorge on Drums. Break From Society remained as a trio that consisted of Alex, Jorge, and I through out high school and up to the summer of 2002. During that summer, we added a keyboard player named Elli Wallace who gigged with us for a couple of months but left the band when he moved to San Diego. During my 2002-2003 school year in UC Santa Cruz, Jorge and I continued with the band by living and gigging in Santa Cruz with new members Noah Heldfond on bass, DJ Ricky Rick, Ryan Scott and Kevin on Trumpets, all from Northern California. We had a new sound to the BFS performances and continued gigging with this line up until June 2003. We recorded a 3 song demo in a pro studio and decided to dedicate much of our time to making this band possible. Because of regional differences, this group of musician Who are your major (musical and non-musical) influences? Well we listen to a lot of reggae, so are major influences are Bob, The Cool Ruler (Gregory Isaacs), Sublime, Cultura Profetica, Half Pint, Eek a Mouse, Barrington Levy, Jack Johnson, endless amounts of small underground Cali-Reggae bands; tripped out sounds of The doors, Scientist, king tubby and the list goes on and on. Were always listening to different types of music but we love hearing and learning from reggae music of any version. You sing a lot about your hometown Calexico, why? You can never forget about your roots and where you come from. We all grew up in Calexico and that What is your favorite/best BFS song and why? The best song that we have that most represents our musical talent and raw sound that drives on the roots reggae traditions is As a band, what are your plans for the future? Break From Society continues to play for the sake of Music so as I long as our drive to play reggae music is there, we will be around for a long time. Were not in it for the quick rise to fame, but it What can your fans expect from BFS in the future? Well lately we have been putting a lot of work into this band so we are going back into the studio this summer How often and when do you tour/play? We have busy schedules so we work out shows whenever it What do the band members do when not playing for BFS? Well we all either work or go to school but other than the 9-5 bullshit we try to get together as often as possible and kick it. Break From Society is a band, but we also have a big crew of good friends that is equally important to the success of this group. When were chilling in Calexico, you can most often find us chilling in my garage drinking beer, smoking herbs, bumping reggae jams, feeling Irie, and trying to avoid the Babylon (damn Calexico PD). Big Ups to the BFS crew and the Rasta Sistas! What are some of the best AND worst experiences while in BFS? Well I would have to say that so far the ride has been great, full of great fun filled experiences that have also made us much stronger as the years go by. Our summer trips down in Baja Mexico, drinking beer and playing reggae till the morning rises up at the beach house. We will also never forget all the great times we've had in my garage in Calexico. We will also never forget the entire BFS crew of Calecia 13 that have been together since high school, supporting us all the way. If I could describe a bad experience, I would have to say the time the band and I were almost gonna spend days in a Mexican jail in Ensenada for having possession of an illegal substance at a Mexican checkpoint. We were all fucking scared, but it worked out good cause we convinced them to let us go. Luckily Jah Rastafari was by our side and he prayed for us. So I'm gonna sum it up by saying, we've always been a band full of unity and peace and with good luck, we've never really had many bad experiences other than always getting shut down by Calexico PD. We live life to the fullest and look forward to continue spreading the One Love Vibration of reggae music in a BFS style! How many tacos can you eat? Hahaha, well I  |
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