In 2000, Lifer guitarist Aaron Fink and bassist Mark James Klepaski bolted from their band to team up with vocalist Ben Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummell in Breaking Benjamin. "Everyone told me I was crazy," laughs Fink, "but I didn't see it that way. I've known these guys since high school and heard hundreds of Ben's songs -- all of which sounded like hits to me. I sat in with them one night and everything clicked. I thought, 'This is it.' How many musicians can say they were a fan of the band they joined?" Says group co-founder Hummell, "Ben and I opened for Lifer a few times, and always wanted the band to be the four of us because we're all friends, but it took some time. We talked about it for a while, and I'll never forget the night Mark called while on tour in Arizona and told me it was official, that he was leaving to join us. When you think about it, it was a pretty big move. But we all knew this band was gonna happen." Adds Klepaski, "Every once in a while, I'd get up and do a song or two with them, and it always felt good. It's like falling in love -- you don't question it, you go with it because it feels right. When the opportunity presented itself, I went for it and never looked back. We're family."
The new lineup resulted in Saturate, Breaking Benjamin's 2002 debut, which was produced by Ulrich Wild (Deftones, Powerman 5000, Static X). "Listen to the radio today, and you'll hear a lot of bands singing and complaining about how miserable life is," says Klepaski. "Maybe it's just me, but life can be sh@%*y enough -- music should make you feel good. Our songs give off a positive energy, and I think our fans appreciate that." Among Breaking Benjamin's fervent followers is "DJ Freddie" (Freddie Fabbri), an on-air personality at 93.7X, a modern rock station in the band's hometown of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. In addition to funding Benjamin's 2001 self-titled EP (which sold 2,000 copies locally), he helped put their first single, "Polyamorous," in rotation, where it became the station's most requested track. "It was amazing," says Burnley. "All of a sudden we were getting airplay and playing to packed-house crowds. We became sort of a local phenomenon."
As Benjamin tore up the east coast club scene, word spread through the A&R community. When the band announced a two-night showcase in 2001, more than a dozen labels showed up, and the guys subsequently signed with Hollywood Records. For Burnley, who taught himself to play guitar at age 14 by listening to Nirvana's Nevermind ad nauseaum, the recognition was a long time coming. "I've been at this for a long time," he says. "It wasn't all that long ago that I survived by playing cover songs in coffeehouses for scraps. I was like an acoustic jukebox, playing for people that ignored me while they ate and drank. It totally sucked. You eventually get to this point where you really want to be signed and make something happen, but you get so frustrated from all the bullsh*t, that you just don't give a f*ck anymore. But, of course, that's when you get signed." "Now I wake up every day and can't believe it's finally happening, and that we get to do this for a living. Talk about a dream come true."
