Homecoming: Breaking Ben returns to arena ready to rock local fanbase

May 10—A Northeast Pennsylvania band comes home next week.

Breaking Benjamin, which formed in Wilkes-Barre more than two decades ago, will take the stage on Thursday, May 18, at 7 p.m. for a concert at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, 255 Highland Park Blvd., Wilkes-Barre Twp. Breaking Ben will be joined by Bush and Lehighton-based band Another Day Dawns. Tickets start at $35.45, plus fees, and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com.

Through Tuesday, May 16, tickets to more than 3,800 shows, including Breaking Benjamin, cost $25 during Live Nation's All-In Concert Week, while tickets last. Visit livenation.com/concertweek and select a show and ticket type labeled "Concert Week Promotion." Add the tickets to the cart and proceed to checkout.

Breaking Ben is known for frontman Benjamin Burnley's candid, emotional lyrics and soaring vocals, and the multi-platinum band's music has stayed consistent since its early days with hard rock and pop metal tendencies.

While the band is one of the most well-known acts to come from NEPA, fans and residents may not know the group's whole story. Here's a timeline of the band's career as well as a few interesting facts about Breaking Benjamin.

'Stranger' beginnings

Breaking Benjamin's original lineup included Burnley, guitar player Aaron Fink, bass player Mark Klepaski and drummer Jeremy Hummel. Before Breaking Ben, most of the band's members had been part of the NEPA music scene for years.

Fink and Klepaski were part of a Wilkes-Barre-based band called Strangers With Candy, according to a 2019 staff report, and had success outside of the region.

After gaining buzz and playing at regional hot spots like Tink's Entertainment Complex in Scranton, the Staircase in Pittston and the Voodoo Lounge in Luzerne during the late '90s, Strangers with Candy appeared on MTV competition show "Ultimate Cover Band" and took top honors with its rendition of nu-metal group Limp Bizkit's hit song, "Nookie," in 2000.

After winning the competition and self-publishing an EP, the band signed a six-record contract with Universal/Republic Records. However, the band had to change its name because Comedy Central had already trademarked "Strangers with Candy" for an upcoming show. The band renamed itself Driver and eventually changed the name again to Lifer, which it's ultimately become known as today.

Lifer released a self-titled album and even filmed an MTV music video for its single, "Boring," at Tink's in July 2001.

After playing with Lifer until 2002, Fink and Klepaski went on to play with Breaking Ben, and Lifer broke up in 2003, though the band has gotten together for several reunion shows since.

What's in a name?It's one of the most well-known pieces of history that the band's name came from an earlier on-stage incident in which Burnley accidentally broke another musician's microphone, causing the owner to say "Thanks to Benjamin for breaking my ... mic."

But that name belonged to a totally different kind of band. In the late '90s, Burnley had played in a band called Breaking Benjamin that played softer music, including covers of songs by The Beatles and Weezer, Burnley told Music Times in 2015. The band broke up and, about a year later, Burnley and crew started a band called Plan 9, named after the 1959 sci-fi/horror movie "Plan 9 From Outer Space." However, people were messing up the name, calling it "Planet 9" instead.

"And eventually I was like 'You know, I got this whole roll of Breaking Benjamin stickers from this other band that I was in. Let's just call it Breaking Benjamin,'" Burnley told the publication. "So that's how it came to be. I already had a roll of stickers."

'Local phenoms'to international actThe band's debut single "Polyamorous" dropped in July 2002 and, with help from local radio personality Freddie "DJ Freddie" Fabbri putting the record into heavy rotation, "Polyamorous" became the station's no. 1 most requested track, the band said in an interview with KCBD11 in 2002. Fabbri then funded the band's self-titled EP, which sold 2,000 copies locally.

"It was amazing," Burnley said. "All of a sudden we were getting airplay and playing to packed-house crowds. We became sort of a local phenomenon."

The band then went on tour, playing clubs along the East Coast, before playing a two-night showcase in March 2002 for about a dozen labels. The band subsequently signed with Hollywood Records. Shortly afterward, Breaking Ben began recording their first full-length major-label album, "Saturate," which debuted in August 2002. It ranked No. 2 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and subsequent single "Skin" hit No. 24 on the U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, according to recording industry data. The band then released its second album, "We Are Not Alone," which ranked No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and attracted a following across the globe, including in New Zealand.

Changes, hiatus and controversyThe original lineup released two albums before Chad Szeliga replaced Hummel on drums and the band then produced albums "Phobia" in 2006 and "Dear Agony" in 2009. After, Breaking Ben entered an extended hiatus in early 2010 for Burnley's health issues, according to a post on the the band's official website.

During this time, there also were some controversies surrounding the band. In May 2011, according to Times-Shamrock archives, a court filing by Burnley alleged Fink and Klepaski gave Hollywood Records permission to remix and release a previously recorded song, "Blow Me Away," after being offered a $100,000 payment. He claimed that both members had made "unilateral and unauthorized decisions on behalf of the band," though they both denied the claims. Burnley then fired Fink and Klepaski from the band via email.

On April 19, 2013, Burnley announced on the band's official website that the dispute had been resolved and Burnley retained the right to continue the band under the name Breaking Benjamin.

Afterward, the band — now made up of Burnley, Jasen Rauch on guitar, Keith Wallen on guitar and backing vocals, Aaron Bruch on bass and backing vocals and Shaun Foist on drums — released "Dark Before Dawn" (2015) and "Ember" (2018), which debuted at No. 1 and No. 3 on the Billboard 200, respectively. Compilation album, "Aurora," came out in 2020.

No place like homeBreaking Benjamin was recently inducted into the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame last month. They were represented by three original members, Fink, Klepaski and Hummel, though neither namesake Burnley nor any current members were in attendance. It was still a good feeling to be there, Hummel said in an interview with The Citizens' Voice in April.

"There was a bittersweetness to it because we are no longer in the group. But I'm really proud of the work we did 20 years ago," he said at the fourth annual gala at the Hershey Theater. "The songs stand the test of time. I still hear them on the radio and they sound great. It was good for the three of us to be in the same room, that hasn't happened in two decades."

As Burnley and the current Breaking Ben lineup are still writing, recording music and touring, the band takes time out to connect with its fans, especially those in NEPA. The band hosted an intimate acoustic set at the Woodlands Inn and Resort in Plains Twp. in 2015 and did a meet-and-greet at Gallery of Sound, Wilkes-Barre, in February 2020 in support of its album, "Aurora."

Though they've been all over the world, there's something about a Pennsylvania crowd that makes for a one-of-kind night, Burnley explained in an interview with The Times-Tribune in 2019.

"I'm so unbelievably grateful and thankful. So grateful to be able to do this and share moments like this with the fans," Burnley said. "It's because of them we get to do this, and I'm humbled and so grateful for their support."

Contact the writer:

gmazur@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9127;

@gmazurTT on Twitter