BREECH
A conversation with Lance and Ricci Martinez
by Laura Sorensen
September 2016
Breech on the cover of Maximum Ink 9-2016
photo by Cassie Bird Photography
BREECH is a Madison based, heavy metal band featuring two sets of brothers, Lance Martinez on bass / vocals, Ricci Martinez on guitar, Mike Willan vocals and Jeff Willan on drums. Since 2015 this “band of brothers” has been recording and performing at multiple local venues as well as shows around the state of Wisconsin. Their mission is to share their music with as many people as possible. Recently, I met with Lance and Ricci to discuss their music and their upcoming performance opening the second day of WJJO’s Sonic Boom on Sunday, October 2, 2016 at the Rock County Airport in Janesville.
Maximum Ink: How long have the four of you been together as a band?
Lance: Since about 2006 so around 10 years.
MI: Is there a story behind the name of the band?
LM: Not really. I just wanted a short name, like Tool. I wanted one word, something simple.
Ricci: I felt that it doesn’t really matter, the band makes the name. Someone suggested BREECH and no one said no.
MI: You are booked to play Sonic Boom October 2nd. How did you manage that?
LM: We were talking with Randy Hawke and suddenly he said “We have to get you guys to play Sonic Boom.” I thought he was joking and I didn’t really think anything of it. The next day I went to lunch with Dee (WJJO) and she said Randy was telling her how BREECH was going to play Sonic Boom. Then I realized he was serious.
MI: What other goals do you have as a band?
LM: We like playing to get people out to see our shows and hear our music.
RM: We are working on getting more merchandise with a real merch table for our shows. We’re working on keeping our Facebook page current and being more active on Social Media. We also want to get new music out there and play shows outside of Wisconsin.
MI: You do usually get paid something to perform?
LM: No, not really. The question always comes up “So what do you guys need?” We just shrug and say “Free Beer?” That’s why we want to sell more merch. Any money we make off of that will go back into recording CD’s etc.
RM: We used to have BREECH condoms. We have had beer glasses but those are hard to carry around at a show.
MI: What other shows do you have coming up?
LM: We’re playing a Pre Sonic Boom show on September 2nd at The Back Bar where there will be ticket give-aways and then we are opening the second day on Sunday, October 2nd.
MI: Why should people come see you perform?
LM: I would say mostly for the music because it doesn’t sound like most other bands around. We have a lot of energy when we play, we jump around like crazy. We’re the type of band that’s always fun to be with. We don’t have any gimmicks, we don’t act like something we’re not and we’ll hang out and party with everybody after the show.