The Pittsburgh outfit the Breakup Society serves up bracing yet melody-rich pop/rock whose words blend sharp humor with biting skepticism, effectively resuming the thread that leader Ed Masley’s prior group, the Frampton Brothers, had left dangling. The band’s history opened when Masley, who handles vocals, rhythm guitar, and songwriting, along with lead guitarist Sean Lally and bassist Ray Vasko, traveled to Mesa, AZ, to cut a Frampton Brothers record under producer and percussionist Bob Hoag, a former Pittsburgh drumming colleague. Friction among the musicians escalated in the studio, prompting the trio to head home once the core tracks were finished and before final overdubs were tracked, thereby stranding the project.
Vasko departed soon after the return to Pittsburgh, and the Frampton Brothers persisted for one more year until Lally also split from Masley. Masley then revisited Arizona to finish the recordings with multi-instrumentalist Hoag’s assistance. The two decided to issue the completed work as the Breakup Society, after which Masley, now back in Pittsburgh, recruited fresh players to perform the material that became the group’s first album, James at 35, issued in stores in February of 2004. Onstage the Breakup Society comprises Masley on guitar and lead vocals, Greg Anderson on lead guitar, Andy McDuffie on bass, and Dan MacIntyre on drums; keyboardist Rich Rust had appeared with the band in concert until his death from cancer in January 2004.
