Broken Free Discography

I was just watching a show video from 2001 when Hatebreed played a secret show at the Millvale Industrial Theater alongside Sworn Enemy and E-Town Concrete with No Retreat and Broken Free opening up the show. I got a shout out from Broken Free for "posting about us on message boards and things like that". Here I am ... nearly a decade later, doing the same thing.

Broken Free never really had a set location. The Davenport brothers (Carey on bass, Trey on vocals) were from the Cranberry area, Bill Gilliland was writing his riffs out of Zelienople while the notorious Dave Anderson will forever be Indiana, PA's most metal drummer. They were commonly thought to be a "Butler Hardcore" band and considering their "relationship with Christ" towards the beginning of the band, one could not blame another for making the Butler assumption. Some members may deny the connection now, but putting out a full length on Burning Records is the final say on the matter, in my eyes.

Broken Free started in 1998 and put out their debut full length, Shining In A Somber World, not long after. I'm not sure how many copies were ever "pressed" as the album was self-released, but I managed to get a copy through the graces of one Carey Davenport back in the day before the band tried to cover up the existence of the album. While some of the songs may drag unless one has either some sort of sentimental attachment to the band (like myself) or a deep understanding of the influences each member had personally at the time, it is at the very least a unique sounding recording. Recorded at the locally legendary Gamut Recording studio in Latrobe, PA (Passover ... Pensive ... Seasons In The Field), Shining In A Somber World served as considerably acceptable introduction to the scene for it's time and place.

Apparently not being one for demos at the time, the band went back into the studio in 2000 to record the Conducting The Sunrise album. This time, however, the band would relegate CD pressing obligation to Burning Records, the local Christian label at the time. Taking influence from Zao's decision for the initial recording of their All Else Failed album, Broken Free traveled up to Cleveland to record at Spider Studios. In the same manner as their previous effort, the album had some serious ups and downs throughout its nearly 50 minute entirety. Not being one for demos at the time, however, the band put out the album and was now capable of filling a 20-30 minute set of mosh-inducing material.

Luckily for me, this is around when I came into the picture. Broken Free were one of the few younger bands at the time around my age and we instantly became friends. Along with No Retreat and Through The Shadows, Broken Free were one of the few bands to welcome my friends and I into the scene at the time. There is a good chance that the hospitality shown towards us at the beginning of our attendance is one of the main reasons I'll probably be forever stuck in the world of hardcore.

At the show I mentioned above, Broken Free actually took it upon themselves to split their 20 minute set with Final Stand from Clearfield, PA due to the promoter's unwillingness to make arrangements for the band to play. Broken Free ended up only playing three songs due to their generosity, in fact. It served as a primary example to me as to how the community should take care of each other and be willing to sacrifice a bit of the spotlight in order to help others out when in need.

It was not long after this show that Broken Free released their first actual demo in 2001. Only three songs this time, the band obviously focused their efforts in a more concentrated manner which resulted in a much more solid release. Featuring one song, Constrictor, that had been re-recorded from their debut offering, this demo served as proof of the band's massive progression within a two year time span. Putting the 1999 version of Constrictor up against the 2001 version would make you think that it was an entirely different band. Amazingly enough, however, it was the same members with the exception of the addition of Somerset PA's strangest, yet most technically sound guitarist, Doug Leonard.

The band played many shows with my band at the time, Down To None, and covered pretty much every backwoods town in southwestern Pennsvlvania together. It was regretfully not long after the release of their 2001 demo that lead vocalist Trey Davenport decided to step down from frontman duties. I never really got the full story as to why he was stepping down, but if memory serves me correct he wasn't necessarily down with the band's gradual gravitation away from the Christian Hardcore scene. While I obviously respect any band's decision to walk away from the free pass that is the Christian music scene, I also respect Trey's legitimacy as a Christian to step down from something he felt wasn't accurately representing the life he chose to lead.

In fact, Trey's lyrics are also probably responsible for my tolerance towards Christianity within hardcore. Never once subscribing to the typical dogmas used to sell records, the lyrics spoke on issues not far off from you would have heard at Earth Crisis shows of the time. The lyrics of Trey Davenport ranged everywhere from self-empowerment to environmental concern ... not exactly what you expect to hear from most Christians who would typically be urging one to use up the earth's resources as quickly as possible due to the fact that JC was going to bring down a firestorm on us all soon anyhow.

Serving as Broken Free's best decision, the band decided against trying to replace Trey with a similar sounding vocalist. Opting to move in essentially the complete opposite direction, the band replaced Trey's Ignite-inspired vocal style with an atheistic frontman with a set of lungs comparable to that of Jesse Leech of early Killswitch Engage fame. Travis French made his vocal debut on the band's 2002 demo which was unofficially entitled The Eyes Of Stone.

Featuring a much stronger influence from the wave of melodic metalcore happening at the time, Broken Free's second demo offering from 2002 was much closer to the likes of Unearth, Killswitch Engage or Shadows Fall than those of earlier endeavors. Despite losing original guitar Bill Gilliland before the recording of this demo, the band never lost their own sound throughout the influence shift.

While The Eyes Of Stone demo served its purpose in re-introducing the band to the hardcore world, the recording quality left much to be desired. It was with the band's next offering, The Insufferable Tragedies Of Man, that the band truly realized their potential. Also featuring the addition of a new guitarist in the form of Chris Miller, which brought the band back to the status of being a 5 piece outfit, the EP served as a testament to the fact that Pittsburgh was offering up acts every bit as legitimate as other cities who were seeing their hometown heroes going on to becoming the biggest bands in hardcore. Being one of the first bands to record with Cole Martinez at this Conquistador Studios, the EP showcased the band in a manner that would have been worthy of release on any of "the" labels at the time, specifically thinking either Ferret or Trustkill.

In general, I always felt as though Broken Free embodied the Pittsburgh style of doing things. While none of my musical projects have ever sounded like Broken Free, they most definitely have been influenced in the ethics department quite heavily. A genuine sense of scene unity and cooperation, a desire to create original sounding music, a tolerance for beliefs polar opposite of what one believes in himself and the eventual gravitation towards professionalism while maintaining DIY ethics and refusing to compromise on one's music or morals in hopes of label attention. That pretty much sums it up in my mind.

The band broke up not long after the release of The Insufferable Tragedies Of Man and, in true Pittsburgh fashion, once again self-released the album. Bassist Carey Davenport and vocalist Travis French would go on to form the original incarnation of The Zimmermann Note (who I will also be posting on in the near future). Dave Anderson went on to drum for Above This Fire for a few years and is now starting up a new project called Forbearance with ex-members of Death To Eternity. Long-standing guitarist Doug Leonard is officially off the map and was last seen driving 130 MPH down route 30 in Ligonier Township. Original guitar Bill Gilliland went on to form the crust/d-beat band Wrathcobra who will be touring Europe this year. Chris Miller, the later second guitarist of the band, started Suffer The Fate with me not long after the dissolution of Broken Free. The recordings of that band may or may not be posted on this blog due to the fact that it's easier to enjoy shitty bands from that past whenever they are not yours.

DOWNLOAD - The early Broken Free material

DOWNLOAD - The later Broken Free material