YORKTON — A local area band is headed to the city for an upcoming gig.
Bread Jam is a new combo out of Kamsack which will be playing Tapps Sports Lounge & Grill March 30, a return engagement from a mid-December visit.
“We came together as a band in September of 2023,” said Brandon Friday -- who goes by the stage moniker of Bread Jones – who plays lead and rhythm guitar. “Me and Dakota (Friday who plays drums) are cousins and have been playing together on and off before we finally decided to form a band.
It was my idea to form a band to start performing original material that I have been writing since I was 17. We also perform covers as well.
“I've been looking to form a band of my own since I started writing. I've performed music with various musicians and bands over the years but was always unsuccessful in making it consistent.”
Then Ashley Whitehawk came along as bassist.
“Ashley is a mutual friend,” said Brandon Friday. “I was aware of his ability to play guitar and also the bass guitar too which he did in high school.
“Me and Dakota had a few practices before I decided I wanted to invite Ashley over for a full jam and see where it can go. We then kept on since that fall.”
Friday said the trio have a common bound in the music they like.
“A shared love for certain artists like Nirvana, Black Sabbath, System of a Down, and the Ramones was a plus to helping us bond and develop our band,” he said.
The common background has Bread Jam creating a mixed sound of their own.
“I would describe our original sound as a mix of 60's and 70's rock, heavy metal, and acoustic-based music mixed in with 80's new-wave and pop, and 90's alternative,” explained Brandon Friday.
“My sound as a guitarist is influenced largely by guitarists like Marc Bolan of T. Rex, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and Billy Duffy of The Cult.
“The drums follow the same influence of 60's and 70's rock and metal, but have a more aggressive drive which borrows from 80's heavy metal and 90's grunge band influences like Nirvana.
“Our sound is very much influenced by classic rock, but we always try to integrate more modern sounds into it, especially if it comes to learning covers from this current decade or the last two.
“It is a bit difficult at times to describe this because I myself am influenced by all four aforementioned decades of music and I bring them all together in one pot. A lot of our original sound is influenced largely by my recordings as a solo artist which I then bring to our bands set-list. The genres in those solo recordings vary from heavy metal, pop rock, blues rock, glam rock, electronic-based music, world music, acoustic-based, folk, orchestra, baroque pop, and country.”
When it comes to writing Brandon Friday said he takes the lead there.
“I'm the one in the band that writes the original material,” he offered. “As mentioned I've been writing songs since I was 17. I have six full studio albums of original material under my Bread Jones moniker which is found on sites like Spotify, Apple, or YouTube.
“I bring those songs to our jams and we integrate them into our set-lists.”
That said there will be a broader familiarity to what Bread Jam performs in Yorkton.
“Readers would know quite a bit of songs on our set,” said Brandon Friday. “Songs like Roxy Roller by Nick Gilder, Come as You Are by Nirvana, Get it On by T. Rex, Proud Mary by CCR, Lonely Day by System of a Down, and Whats up by 4 Non Blondes.
“It is very important to us as a band to always have songs in our set that people would know, while we are also playing maybe b-sides or original material that first-time attendees wouldn't know. Most of our set currently is composed of hits.”