Ahead of Daytona's Welcome to Rockville, Breaking Benjamin talks touring, new music

Breaking Benjamin is well into recording songs for a new studio album, but it’s unlikely that any of that material will be previewed during the band’s performance at Welcome to Rockville in Daytona Beach, according to guitarist Jasen Rauch.

“We probably won’t perform any of the new songs until we have an official release,” Rauch said by phone from a tour stop in Minnesota. “But we can’t wait to play this stuff live. We’ve got more songs than we’ve ever written going into an album. It’ll be well worth the wait.”

It has been a while since Breaking Benjamin has released new material.

“Ember,” the band’s most recent full-fledged studio album, was released in 2018, yielding the singles “Red Cold River,” “Torn In Two” and “Tourniquet.”  In 2020, the band returned with “Aurora,” a collection of acoustic remakes of previously released songs as well as the new single “Far Away,” featuring singer Scooter Ward of Cold.

Formed in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1999, the band’s original lineup featured lead singer and guitarist Benjamin Burnley, drummer Jeremy Hummel, guitarist Aaron Fink and bassist Mark James Klepaski released two albums, Saturate (2002) and We Are Not Alone (2004).

With new drummer Chad Szeliga, the band released two more studio albums, “Phobia” (2006) and “Dear Agony” (2009), before taking an extended hiatus in 2010 amid legal squabbles and Burnley's issues with alcoholism, assorted phobias and Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome, according to media reports.

In addition to Burnley and Rauch, the band’s current lineup includes guitarist Keith Wallen, bassist Aaron Bruch and drummer Shaun Foist. The band will perform at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Apex Stage at Daytona International Speedway.

Rauch talked by phone about the Breaking Benjamin's new music, touring and Welcome to Rockville:

The band is recording new music on the road? Isn’t that hard to do?

“After more than 20 years in the industry and touring, I can tell you that it’s very difficult to do. It’s an easy way to burn yourself out, but we’re at the point where we have some momentum with these songs, so it’s no rest for the weary, pedal-to-the-metal going forward.

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“Two days ago, we had a day off and we were recording vocals in a hotel room with blankets over our heads so it wouldn’t get too loud. The summer will be no different. We’re pretty excited about it. We’re proud of where we’re at with things sonically. The band has matured since we last released an album.”

Is there a release date for the new music?

“That’s out of our hands. It’s a label thing, with a strategy that involves other albums being released, tour cycles, all those moving pieces. We’re focused on getting it done and handing it over to them. I don’t think there will be a full album release this year, but I’d love to have something out this year, whether it’s a single or whatever.”

Most of the band’s current tour is in arenas, is it different at a festival?

“It’s definitely a different thing. The way we approach a festival setting as opposed to an arena show is that we try to go as big as we possibly can.

“Sometimes you have limitations when you’re indoors because of the size of venues. On a festival, we have all the stage space we could possibly want, so we can bring out the lights, the pyro, the video, whatever we want to do to put on a show that connects with the audience.”

You guys are Rockville veterans, what’s it like for the band?

“It’s a very cool thing. The coolest part for us is getting to the point where we have the buses on the track. We have a police escort into the track and you’re looking out the window and saying ‘This is wild.’ You really feel like you get a look behind the curtain at the NASCAR scene, and the two worlds colliding is a really cool thing.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Breaking Benjamin talks new music at Daytona's Welcome to Rockville