Category: Awards

Categories
Awards Awesome-sauce Uncategorized World Domination radio

VOTE for HOT BREAKFAST! in the HOMEY AWARDS!

It’s that time again…that magical time of year you love and dread at the same time!

No, not McRib Week. Geez. Are McRibs still even a thing? (Yes, apparently.)

We’re talking about the WSTW Hometown Heroes HOMEY AWARDS! The first round of nominations have been announced – and we need your vote!

Okay, look, we know asking you to help us get an award is a little…awkward. But we’ve had a busy, productive, and intense year bringing dork-rock to the masses, and we just think it would be super-cool to find ourselves among the Top Five nominees for any of the categories. Getting on the ballot is by popular vote, so that’s where you come in… you vote, and if enough people vote for us, we get on the ballot. Once we’re on the ballot, then the Homey Awards Committee chooses the winners. (The Awards Committee is made up of DJs from Philadelphia, Delaware, NJ, and MD; music industry people, members of The Recording Academy (the GRAMMY people), venue owners, promoters, past winners; people whose opinions we trust.) The Homey Awards are neat because they’re really not just a popularity contest.
 

Also awkward: adorable baby giraffes.

 
Things work a little differently this year: instead of sending in an email to cast your vote, you fill out an online survey. It’s so easy, you guys. Simply:

  1. Click here.
  2. Read about the voting process, and click the big yellow Click Here to Vote Now! button.
  3. Make your selections! (Only one ballot per person.)
  4. All fields are required fields.  “But guys! What if I don’t know who to pick?” Well, you can either Google the candidates in each category, or you could choose the band that sounds like they’d be nicest people, or, you can just copy Jill’s answers. (NOTE: These are just Jill’s choices, not an official HB! endorsement.)

This year, your favorite acoustic dork-rock power duo (that’s us) is eligible in the following categories, and we’d be thrilled if you chose us for these. The ones in red are the ones we care about the most, quite honestly:

  • Category 3: Song of the Year: “Too Many Choices:”
  • Category 4: Best Band, Group or Duo
  • Category 8: Best Lead Singer of a Band: Jill Knapp
  • Category 14: Best Songwriter: Matt Casarino
  • Category 15: Best Producer: Ritchie Rubini (he produces all our stuff!)
  • Category 16: Best Pop Song: “Going Your Way”
  • Category 18: Best Alternative Song: “Too Many Choices:
  • Category 24: Best Live Act
  • Category 25: Best Concert: Angela Sheik w/Hot Breakfast! & Jasimne Tate at Melodies Cafe -or- Joe Trainor Trio’s 7th Anniversary Show

We’re not gonna lie – there are some amazing artists on the lists of nominees this year– many are our friends. We’re only nominated in a third of the categories, and it’s gonna be a longshot to make it to the Top Five in any one of ’em, seeing as how we’re up against some of our very favorite performers and songwriters.
 

But are those guys showing you sleeping baby otters? NO THEY ARE NOT.
But are those artists showing you sleeping baby otters? NO THEY ARE NOT.

 
So give it some thought. Really – take your time (not too much time – you only have until February 4). And if you want to listen to our songs again, just to make sure you’re’ doing the right thing, no problem: here they are!

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/185183591″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
 
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/182491977″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
 
Again, you have until February 4th, so we definitely recommend you look at the lists and listen to the artists, so you can make some informed decisions. After all, you aren’t voting for something trivial, like the U.S. Presidency or whatever – this is important. Of course, we’d love you to vote for us, but we really want you to choose honestly.
 

In fact, we're offering these baby platypuses in exchange for your "honest" vote.
Which is why we’re offering this baby platypus photo in exchange for your “honest” vote.

 
As always, we thank our fans, friends, and family for an incredible 2014. Whether or not we secure any nominations, we’ve had amazing experiences, played wonderful spaces, met incredible and super-friendly musicians, and got to perform for all you Cool Little Brothers and Sisters. Collecting awards really isn’t our reason for doing this.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t like winning. So tell you what – you make with the voting, we’ll make with the dork-rocking, and with our combined synergy we shall reign together over this universe with the heat of a thousand suns.

Or, we’ll just wear you down with adorable animal photos. Whichever.
 

Seriously, we can do this all night.
Seriously, we can do this all night.

 
Ah, America.

Love,
The Suburban Legend (Matt) and Ji11

Categories
39 Summers Awards Rocking Uncategorized World Domination videos

HOLY CRAP: A zillion thank yous! (Homey Awards nominations are in!)

I have no witty caption. It's almost 5:30am.
I have no witty caption. It’s almost 5:30am.
Folks, we owe you BIG. We asked you to send an email nominating us for some Homey Awards, and you all stepped up! Your efforts got us on the ballot, and thanks to you, judges are currently voting on who will win the 2014 Homey Awards… and we are on the list.

We are just flabbergasted and overwhelmed and overjoyed, all thanks to you!

OUR NOMINATIONS:

  1. Our May 2013 release “39 Summers“ is up for Album of The Year. We are so proud of our little album; we think it represents where we are as a band and what we’re about. The nominees in this category are out of this world though, and we don’t blame anyone for voting for John & Brittany or Angela Sheik. Their albums are absolutely fantastic.
  2. We’re also up for Best Band — how is this possible for a teeny duo? (Thank you!)
  3. Jill is up again for Best Lead Singer— HOLY CRAP! (Wow, I would absolutely love to win this again, but everyone else on the list is just fantastic. There’s no need to win it twice in a row. Gotta spread the love around!)
  4. Matt is up for Best Songwriter— I’ve always loved Matt’s songwriting, waaay before we were ever Hot Breakfast!. Perhaps it’s the fact that he’s a playwright; but he just understands lyrics like nobody else (and how I loooove a good internal rhyme!). His jazz and classic rock influences really shine through his sense of melody, harmony, and mood. It’s such an honor to sing his songs; I mean it. His song “You Were a Spider” is about redemption, but with the twist at the end, it just KILLS me, and I can’t get through it half the time without crying… but then we’ve got the funny stuff like “It Only Takes Two to Rock” and “The Garden of Bad Metaphors,” and that song that will haunt us for all eternity, “Hole in Your Pants.” Sometimes I worry that people just write us off as a novelty act, but hey… at least that meant they listened. 🙂
  5. Not helping our “silly band” case, our techno parody “This is Our Hit Song“ is up for not only Best Pop Song (how is that possible?!) but it’s…
  6. … also up for Best Collaboration thanks to our brother-from-another-mother Todd Chappelle giving us some, er, hip-hop cred. 🙂
  7. We’re also up for Best Live Act (This nomination makes makes us the most excited, we’ve gotta say)
  8. And our video, “An Idiot for Christmas“ is up for Best Video thanks to mastermind Kevin Regan.

Wanna see all of the nominations? Here’s a link to the complete list of nominees.

Music competitions are very strange to me; I don’t know how to quantify how music is “better” than something else. I really don’t care if we win anything… I’m just so genuinely honored to have even crossed anyone’s mind long enough to be nominated. 2013 was a very good year for us; it feels really nice that people noticed. 🙂

Thank you so much. Really. Thank you. We’re just floored. <3 <3 The 8th Annual Homey Awards Ceremony and Concert is being held on Friday, March 7th at World Cafe Live at the Queen. We will be in attendance, and we might even be presenting an award, who knows? Here's a link to the Facebook Invite — keep checking there to see who will be performing that night at the ceremony!
And here’s the tickets link. Only ten bucks!

See you there?

See you there!

Your pal,
Ji11

ps: Here’s what some of the music community was saying when I said something similar on Facebook… and even if you don’t have a Facebook account, you can still (likely) read the comments.

Post by Jill Knapp.

Categories
39 Summers Awards Awesome-sauce Uncategorized World Domination music industry radio

We need you! VOTE in the 8th Annual WSTW Homey Awards!

We salute you.
We salute you.

It’s Homey Awards Season ladies and gentlemen, and now is the time when we beg you to nominate us for an award or two. We know it’s gross; we know it’s shameless. But we’ve worked really hard throughout 2013, and we’d love to be recognized for some of it. Can you blame us? Even the most ego-secure people need validation every once in a while.

This time, we’re asking you to vote in the 8th Annual WSTW Homey Awards (the link goes to a Facebook Note that lists the categories and nominees you can choose from, but don’t worry, you don’t need a Facebook account to view it). This is where you get to vote for all your favorite Delaware musicians, bands, songs, albums, and videos from this past year.

And as you most likely know, 2013 was an amazing year for Delaware music.

How do you do it? Simple. Just send an email to Homey (at) wstw.com with your picks between now and February 7nd, 2013. All of the categories, eligible albums, EPs, and songs are listed on that Facebook Note, but you don’t need Facebook to vote – and you can even add your own categories in your email. Because this is the preliminary round, you can pick up to five nominees in any category, but you only get one email entry per person… so make it good!

As hey, as it turns out, your pals Hot Breakfast! are eligible for this round’s voting! We’d love it if you’d consider us for:

  • Album of the Year: “39 Summers,” Hot Breakfast!
  • Song of the Year: “We Are Not Cool” and “Defender,” Hot Breakfast!
  • Band: Hot Breakfast!
  • Lead Singer: Jill Knapp of Hot Breakfast!
  • Live Act: Hot Breakfast!
  • Comedy-Music Artist: Hot Breakfast!
  • Best Songwriter: Matt Casarino, Hot Breakfast!
  • Best Rock Song: “We Are Not Cool” and “Defender,” Hot Breakfast!
  • Best Alternative Song: “Defender,” Hot Breakfast!
  • Best Collaboration: Hot Breakfast! and Todd Chappelle, “This is Our Hit Song”
  • Best Pop Song: “This is Our Hit Song,” Hot Breakfast! and Todd Chappelle
  • Best Video: Hot Breakfast, “An Idiot for Christmas” (Kevin Regan, dir.)
  • Best Producer: Ritchie Rubini (for Hot Breakfast’s “39 Summers”)
  • Best Engineer: Ray Gagliardino< (for Hot Breakfast's "39 Summers")/li>
  • Best Studio: Studio 825 (for Hot Breakfast’s “39 Summers”)

…and any other category where you think we deserve a nod!

If you’re very trusting (or just lazy), scroll down and copy/paste our pre-written nomination note and email it over to homey@wstw.com. See how helpful we are?

But tell you what, friends – even if you DON’T vote for us, we still want you to vote. There are so many wonderful musicians in Delaware – the original music scene here is as active, essential, and vibrant as ever – and this is a great way to show some love to your favorites. We are so indebted to WSTW’s Hometown Heroes for their wonderful focus on, and commitment to, Delaware music, and hosting these awards is a great way to give recognition to the many, many wonderful artists in the area.

So vote, won’t you? Again, in this preliminary round, you can vote for up to five artists/venues in each category. And all of them will love you and find you wildly appealing.

Why? Because VOTING IS SEXY, that’s why.

Your fellow Americans,
Hot Breakfast!

* * * * * * * * *

IF YOU’RE LAZY AND/OR TRUSTING, PLEASE COPY/PASTE THIS TEXT INTO AN EMAIL AND SEND IT TO HOMEY@WSTW.COM

– – – – – – – – – BEGIN COPYING HERE – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Hi! I’d like to nominate the following acts for the Homey Awards. Thank you!

  • Album of the Year: “39 Summers” by Hot Breakfast!, “Start Sinning” by John and Brittany, “One by One” by Angela Sheik, “Morning People” by Todd Chappelle, “Better Late than Never” by The Keefs
  • EP of the year: “Wrong Decision” by Brene Wilson, “Soul” by The Honey Badgers, “Nature Tunes” by Em McKeever, “Dismantled” by RKVC
  • Song of the Year: “We Are Not Cool” by Hot Breakfast!; “Defender” by Hot Breakfast!
  • Band: Hot Breakfast!
  • New Artist: WaveRadio
  • Male solo artist: Dan Orlando; Brene Wilson
  • Female solo artist: Angela Sheik; Noelle Picara; Rachel Schain; Jessica Graae
  • Lead Singer: Jill Knapp of Hot Breakfast!; Dan Kauffman of Glim Dropper
  • Best Producer Ritchie Rubini
  • Best Songwriter: Matt Casarino of Hot Breakfast!
  • Guitarist: Ben Geise (Glim Dropper), Chris Malinowski (The Collingwood), Colin McGetrick (WaveRadio)
  • Bass player: Kevin Niemi (Joe Trainor Trio), Dan Kauffmann (Glim Dropper), Joe Testa (Noelle Picara), Ray Gagliardino
  • Drummer: Jeff Dement (Joe Trainor Trio), Rob Schnell (Glim Dropper), Ritchie Rubini, Jeff Dombchik (Lori Citro), Kenn Koubek (The Keefs)
  • Keyboardist: Joe Trainor (Joe Trainor Trio), James McGlaughlin (WaveRadio)
  • Live Act: Hot Breakfast!
  • Rock song: “We Are Not Cool” by Hot Breakfast!, “Defender” by Hot Breakfast!, “Talkin’ to a Wall” by The Keefs, “Zzzoloft” by John and Brittany
  • Best Alternative Song: “Defender” by Hot Breakfast!
  • Folk/Americana artist: The Honey Badgers; Halley/McKeever/Palko; Jessica Graae
  • Best Collaboration: Hot Breakfast! and Todd Chappelle, “This is Our Hit Song”; and Angela Sheik and Dante Bucci
  • Best Video: Hot Breakfast, “An Idiot for Christmas” (Kevin Regan, dir.); Angela Sheik, “My Turn”; Wave Radio, “Out of Reach”
  • Best live music venue: World Cafe Live at the Queen, Arden Gild Hall, 1984
  • Best original music concert/event of the year: Wilmo Rock Circus
  • Comedy-Music Artist: Hot Breakfast!; Todd Chappelle
  • Best Pop Song:: “This is Our Hit Song,” Hot Breakfast! and Todd Chappelle
  • Best Engineer:: Ray Gagliardino
  • Best Studio:: Studio 825

– – – STOP COPYING HERE. 🙂 PLEASE PASTE IT INTO AN EMAIL TO HOMEY@WSTW.COM. THANK YOU! – – –

And yes, sincerely… thank you. We love you, and are so grateful for your support!

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Awards Rocking Uncategorized World Domination

Happy news: We are May 2013’s Philly Rising winning band!

Hot Breakfast! Triangle

What’s more awesome, Jill’s expression, or Erin’s dress? (Erin’s dress, definitely.)

As you may recall, our CD Release Party for 39 Summers was on May 18th, 2013 at World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington.
The album release was really successful (We sold out the venue! We got a lot of hugs! We got to make music with people we love! We sold a lot of CDs!), and we thought it would be a good idea to keep the momentum going by playing at the World Cafe Live in Philly as quickly as possible afterwards. So on the following Monday, just a few short days after the album release party, we headed up and played WCL Philly’s open mic, called Philly Rising.

The open mic was packed with really good players: both seasoned soloists, full bands, and a few new people trying out their material. It was a big crowd, pretty loud, mostly friendly, and we were grateful that we reserved a table near the front so we’d have a place to sit and we could see. We were happy that the lovely Em McKeever, her friend Harley, and Rodney, all joined us. We had a blast listening to everyone, cheering each other on, and keeping each other entertained.

We could only play two songs, so we played 39 Summers and It Only Takes Two to Rock, both songs went especially well. The crowd, which was a very chatty bunch, seemed to quiet down when we took the stage, and when I introduced It Only Takes Two in my silly Tenacious D ripoff voice, people were really paying attention. We played the crap out of the song, and we had strangers yelling “HOT BREAKFAST!” by the time our little two-song set was over. Gotta say, it felt really good to win over a crowd like that.

We didn’t know that Philly Rising was a competition, so we were rather surprised to hear that we had won the night via email after we’d gotten home. The prize for winning the night was that we’d get to compete against all of the other May winners in July.

So, the July competition just happened on July 2nd, and we were up against really talented folks. You could feel the energy in the room– the competitive energy, but also the camaraderie too. Some bands and waitstaff recognized us (“Hey! You’re the Breakfast people, right?”) which felt really nice.

The April bands played first and the fabulously tight, piano-based quartet (quintet? I can’t remember because I’m old) Dan Orlando Band won for the April folks. Then the May bands played, and we were scheduled to play at 10:30, but things were moving at a rapid clip, so we wound up playing at around 10pm. The May bands were fabulous, and we knew we weren’t going to win, and we were also totally OK with that. We’re just two people, and competitions are really kind of silly anyway… how could you possibly compare what we do to a solo blues guy or to a jam-band or to a full-blown rock band with three-part harmonies? How do you determine who is “better?” And what does “better” even mean?

They called us to the stage, and as we walked up I heard someone say, “Oh, I love these guys.” I winked at them and said, “Keep your expectations nice and low, folks.” We had a bunch of friends from Philly at the show to support us, so there was some enthusiastic fist-pumping happening to get the crowd primed; we were very, very appreciative. We were allowed to play three songs, so we picked “39 Summers,” “Act Surprised” and “It Only Takes Two to Rock.” People seemed pretty into 39 Summers, we got applause for the big vocal ending of Act Surprised, and once again, people dug It Only Takes Two.

This funny thing happened: At the end of It Only Takes Two, Matt and I were really laying the rock moves/rock scowls on super-thick, so I thought it’d be funny to take the mic off the stand and twirl the mic stand over my head at the end of the song to be magna-ridiculous. So right after Matt counts off for the big ending, I start taking the mic off the mic stand, but the mic cable unplugged itself, and I let out a very dainty “FUCK!” and just start belting the rest of the song without a mic… and I could tell that people could still hear it (thank goodness for having a big mouth). Then I saw Matt move over, so I just hopped on his mic to finish out the rest of the song– he was on both knees on the floor– I’m sure I had one arm in the air or something silly, and the place went nuts. Instead of laughing at us for the mic breaking in my hand, they were totally on our side and laughing at the ridiculousness of it, which again, made me so happy because they absolutely could have made us feel like total tools.

Anyway, we left the stage and a few more bands played. One of the remaining bands were these two 20-ish girls playing guitars with great harmonies. After they were done playing, they came up to us and said, very nicely: “It’s really obvious that you guys have been doing this for a long time.” She didn’t mean it as a dig at our age, but to be funny I turned it into one, and we all laughed about it.

Keep taking your Centrum Silver, kids.

So… we were packing up to leave as the judges tallied the votes, and HOLYCRAP, we won! While we would have been happy with just this little feather in our caps, we found out there are some prizes, as well: Three hours of studio time at Cambridge Sound Studios in Newtown, PA; a couple spins on 93.7 WSTW, our band’s Hearo.fm profile (should we decide to make one, that is) will get featured on Hearo.fm’s front page, and a featured performance spot upstairs at World Cafe Live in Philly on September 30th.

On Wednesday, January 22nd 2014, we’ll play a 12-band showcase downstairs at World Cafe Live in Philly as part a showcase all of 2013’s monthly Philly Rising winners. That concert will also be a competition, and we’ll need you there to cheer us on! As of right now we’re scheduled to play at 8:15pm, but sometimes these events move quickly, so we could go on earlier. Of course, we may also go on later, but not much later… so please come support us!

Stay tuned!

Your pal,

Ji11

Categories
Ass-kicking Gigs Awards Uncategorized

GIG: Tue, July 2, 10PM, World Cafe Live (Philly)

Hot Breakfast! at World Cafe Live

That’s us.

We’re gonna keep this one brief.

A couple months ago, we took our act to World Cafe Live in Philly for their Philly Rising Open Mic Night. We had a great time, partly because we got to hang out with our friends Rodney, Em, and our host Boy Wonder. We also got to perform a couple of songs.

Well, the good people at World Cafe Live must have liked us, because they invited us back for the PHILLY RISING SHOWCASE on TUESDAY, JULY 2nd. We’ll be performing three songs sometime shortly after 10PM (we’re officially scheduled for 10:30, but they often run early). We know, we know – that’s pretty late for a school night. But we’re only playing three songs, and there will be a bunch of wonderful musicians making music all night. So if you’re up and around, we’d LOVE to see you. This is another competition – if the judges like us, we may end up with more gigs at World Cafe Live in Philly.

So come on over and give us some love! C’mon, it’s a short week. You can sleep in on the 4th.

– – – – –

DEETS!
WHAT: Hot Breakfast! at the Philly Rising Showcase at World Cafe Live (Philly)!
WHERE: World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
WHEN: The evening starts at 8pm. Be there by 10pm to hear Hot Breakfast!
COVER: No cover! It’s free!
FOOD/DRINK: Heck yes! WCL has a great menu and a full bar.
PARKING: They don’t have a garage, but you should have no problem parking on Walnut Street.

Thanks! Everyone have a wonderful and safe holiday!

Love,
Matt (the Suburban Legend)

Categories
Awards Awesome-sauce HB! EP Rocking Uncategorized radio

WE WON! Best EP, and Best Lead Singer (Jill Knapp) at the 7th Annual Homey Awards!

Thanks to your love, support, and votes, we were nominated for three Homey Awards back in the early part of 2013. And thanks to a panel of 200 judges from the music industry, members of The Recording Academy (aka “the Grammy people”), music publishers, and members of the tri-state area media, we WON two of them! Gaaaaaaah!!

What happens when two idiots try to take a one-handed selfie with a tablet's front-facing camera?
What happens when two idiots try to take a one-handed selfie with a tablet’s front-facing camera?

Yep, that’s right… The winners were announced at a Grammy-esque ceremony at World Cafe Live at the Queen on March 8th, and two awards were given to us, and apparently not by accident! We won for Best EP (our self-titled EP), and we also won for Best Lead Singer.

We are absolutely blown away by winning these awards, especially considering we’re just two people with a guitar, a triangle, and funny hair. 🙂 Our EP was entirely self-produced and made in our home studio, and that the competition for Best Lead Singer was unbelievably stiff. I mean, have you heard those other singers? They’re freakin’ AMAZING!

The Homey Awards are sponsored by Hometown Heroes, that wonderful show hosted by Mark C. Rogers on 93.7 WSTW that features music and in-studio performances by musicians from Phildelphia, Delaware, Maryland, and southern New Jersey.

Anyway, here’s Matt accepting the Best EP award, with Todd Chappelle (channeling his inner and outer Ritchie Rubini) presenting. That’s Mark Rogers on the right. Thanks to Adam Walhberg for shooting this video!

 
You can listen to and/or purchase this Best EP by clicking this link. You’ll hear Jill’s Best Lead Singin’ pipes on there. 🙂

Here's a closeup of the awards. Pretty neat! They're sitting atop Jill's piano at Knappshack Studios.
Here’s a closeup of the awards. Pretty neat! They’re sitting atop Jill’s piano at Knappshack Studios.

1,000,000,000,000 thank yous to everyone who nominated us, and to the kind judges. We are eternally grateful and indebted to you.

Much love,

Ji11 and Suburban Legend
(aka Jill and Matt)