By, Kate Caperan & Maggie Peknic
On Saturday, March 25, Debacle performed their self-titled debut album live at Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan. The album is an accumulation of the band’s work since they formed in May 2015.
But Debacle’s formation goes back much further than 2015. Fordham alumni (‘22) Dylan Balsamo and Brendon Gardner (‘22) met on the first day of kindergarten. The two then started playing together in 7th grade with Balsom on vocals and Gardner on bass. In middle school the two paired up with Mark Norton and his trombone-playing twin brother Alan. Brednon’s younger brother and current Fordham student Dan Gardner later joined on guitar with Zach Cubias on trumpet and Andrew Mardan on keyboard.
Rooted in friendship, the band began to take shape and went by One 7-8, a name inspired by the address where they practiced. Like many other high school bands at the time, they played alt-punk, taking inspiration from the band Streetlight Manifesto. “We loved Streetlight Manifesto,” lead singer Dylan Balsamo stated. “We aspired to be those guys, but we never were. Our failure to be that made our sound.” As the years went by, the band strayed from the alt-punk sound. “We’re not punks,” Balsamo said. “We’re dorks.” And with that, One 7-8 was laid to rest.
The band needed a new name to separate themselves from their old selves as they entered this new musical era. A March Madness style bracket with names like Extended Car Warranty and Carmel Coin was used in an attempt to search for a new band name. After much frustration, they came up with the name Debacle on a whim.
As Debacle, the band’s sound grew into a representation of each member. Balsamo described the sound, “Mark’s the punk, Andrew’s the classic rock guy, and I’m the jazz nerd. And then everything kinda messes together.” The resulting sound is a mix of genres from rock and punk to funk and jazz with a heavy emphasis on horns.
Dylan and Brendon were also music majors skilled in music theory. But the other half of the band does not give a “single flying fadoodle” about music theory. The mixture of their musical theory knowledge with the other half of the band’s more experimental methods of finding their musicality adds to Debacle’s unique sound.
Debacle’s sound was not found overnight. It has been years in the making. “There’s a couple songs on the new album that if you dig deep into our archives of concert recordings and listen to our mic checks, you will hear bits and pieces of these songs,” Dylan said. “The one I always turn to is a song that Brendon did most of the writing for called, ‘I Don’t Know.’ He’s been mic-checking with that bassline for years.”
Debacle had bits and pieces of songs scattered throughout the years, but never finalized them until the summer of 2021. That summer the band wrote and finalized nine songs, which would comprise their self-titled debut album. The album differed from their EP One 7-8, which was released in 2017. Five years later, the band’s songwriting abilities had matured. They no longer wrote the songs they could write but the songs they wanted to write.
The songs were then recorded by Brendon in his house starting in January of 2022. While Brendon, his brother Dan, and Dylan all attended Fordham, the rest of the band members were spread across the country, so they recorded during school breaks. By the start of 2023, the album was finally finished.
Dylan praises Brendon for all the recording and editing work done on the album, stating, “Anything that was able to get on its feet is because of Brendon.” Brendon did much of the recording and editing himself, learning along the way and using the skills he learned at WFUV, Fordham’s public radio station.
When it came to creating lyrical content for the album, each song was collaborative. Dylan believes this is the key to Debacle’s songwriting success and why one song in particular is the band’s most popular hit to date. “I think the reason that ‘Flashing Lights’ is the song people respond the most to is that it’s the one we wrote the most together. Our sound is that song, because it’s everybody. It’s the complete form of the band.”
The band’s collaborative nature is a testament to their strong friendship. “I always like to say this album is a true document of all of our friendships,” Dylan said. “The secret juice of the band is I would be hanging out with these guys even if we weren’t a band.”
Debacle fans and friends were able to see this group’s standout chemistry and captivating performance live on March 25, 2023 at Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan.. With a background in musical theater, Dylan incorporates theatrical showmanship into a rock, jazz-funk show, grabbing hold of the audience’s attention with each musical number. Performing their entire new album, along with some of their classic songs and popular covers, such as “A Message To You, Rudy” by The Specials and an enchanting rendition of “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals, Debacle delivered a captivating performance.
One song in particular was a clear fan favorite, especially to the Fordham student crowd. “The Battle of Bathgate” is an almost musical-theater like song detailing the action-packed story of the time Brendon’s college roommate’s car was lit on fire while at Fordham and his harrowing journey of unsuccessfully finding the culprit. A performance filled with passion, strong vocals, and a sword fight in which one sword was the saxophone, resulted in roaring laughter and applause from the audience. Debacle’s performance style kept the audience heavily engaged and entertained throughout the night.
Debacle hopes to continue to perform with new songs. They are currently working on a new format for releasing songs, so they can release more songs in a shorter time period. In the meantime, fans can stay updated on Debacle through their Instagram and TikTok @debacle_band.
