Breaking Band: ASX TV gives unsigned bands a mentor

That’s a shot from ASX TV’s show called, ‘Breaking Band’.

Yeah, we had no idea what ASX TV was either. Apparently, it used to be HDNet, which is still drawing blank stares from everyone in the room here.

Seriously, most of us haven’t had cable since the 90’s and get our ‘television’ from the internet.

It seems ASX TV features a lot of music and art based programming… so good on them!

They are fostering up-n-coming talent with their new series, ‘Breaking Band’. Get it? Typically, a show is off to a bad start when it has to bastardize its title from a far-superior program.

Each episode pairs wanna-be-rock-stars in the making with an experienced ‘mentor’ from the music business. This season, mentors Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction), Moby, Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), Belinda Carlisle (The Go-Gos), and Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) share invaluable advice and collaborate with their protégés before deciding whether to join them on stage for a live performance.

This season’s ‘Breaking Band’ featured acts are:

One of the highlight acts is Santa Cruz. While not ‘veterans’, this band has done some time on the touring circuit. Their sound is definitely a hard-rocking 80’s throwback, but they do it with enough of their own style to bring an element of freshness to a played out genre. Then again, good rock never goes out of style, and Santa Cruz has the chops to rock with the best of them.

Here is a promo for their episode featuring rock royalty Sebastian Bach.

Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction was tapped to be the guiding, multi-pierced light for angelic singer/songwriter Andie Case. (The reveal of each show when the performers get to meet their star mentors is a bit of reality tv cheese, but who doesn’t like a little cheese?)

Set the Charge got teamed up with Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander. Here is one of their tracks from the show…

‘Breaking Band’ airs Sunday nights on AXS TV. I have no idea how you ‘tune in’ and watch, so just crack the net like the rest of us and you can find full episodes, interviews, individual songs, and highlight clips from most of the shows.

*Bonus: Still trying to figure out what the hell AXS TV is… they feature a lot of in-studio live bands. Lucky you… because that means you get to check out one of the 80’s finest new wave bands… Berlin and their most tasty, “The Metro”.

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