Breaking Benjamin

Inducted Members: Aaron Bruch, Ben Burnley, Aaron Fink, Jeremy Hummel, Mark James Klepaski, Chad Szeliga

The earliest incarnation of Breaking Benjamin was a cover band with a pop rock sound. That’s not exactly what you would expect as the origin point for the most prominent hard rock band to ever emerge from Luzerne County. Headed by frontman and namesake Benjamin Burnley, Breaking Benjamin blasted onto the local music scene by earning airplay and gigs across the region.

Early on, Breaking Benjamin’s aggressive sound caught the attention of local listeners, who demanded that their debut single “Polyamorous” receive spins on radio stations like 97.9X in the band’s home base of Wilkes-Barre. Their sound was a part of a broader movement, a modern rock revolution that audiences craved. The band’s formative years were made iconic due to their epic live performances in intimate settings all over Luzerne County. These local shows persisted even as their profile became that of a national act.

Breaking Benjamin’s debut album, Saturate, was released in the summer of 2002, and broke them into the US Billboard album charts for the first (but not last) time. Burnley’s intense vocals and angsty lyrics matched the cultural moment, while guitarist Aaron Fink, bassist Mark James Klepaski and drummer Jeremy Hummel found the right mix of technical prowess and punky atmosphere, perfectly complimenting the frontman’s vision. The soundscape they created together fused the grunge sounds that inspired them with the contemporary sensibilities of nu-metal.

The follow-up to Saturate, entitled We Are Not Alone, saw the band experiment with new sounds while preserving their infectious, listenable qualities. Tracks like “Sooner or Later” and “So Cold” pumped the group’s notoriety up to new heights and became staples of their live shows. Meanwhile, the album’s closer, “Rain,” saw Breaking Benjamin strip down their sound and prove that they were capable of producing more than raw intensity.

At the height of their popularity, Breaking Benjamin were recruited to record music for the soundtracks of the video game Halo 2 and the film National Treasure: Book of Secrets.The song that was produced for Halo 2, “Blow Me Away,” proved to have staying power and achieved gold status over a decade after its initial release. At the same time, their live act became bigger and louder as they toured with high-profile contemporaries like Three Days Grace and Evanescence.

Chad Szeliga joined the band on drums for their third record, 2006’s Phobia, an album which brought them even more recognition and praise. Phobia’s lead single, “The Diary of Jane,” became Breaking Benjamin’s signature song in the eyes of many and shot up the Billboard Mainstream Rock song charts to number 2. Supporting singles “Breath” and “Until the End” contributed to make Phobia the band’s most personal, emotionally-charged album to date.

The core of Burnley, Fink, Klepaski and Szeliga produced one more album together, which again proved Breaking Benjamin’s ability to satisfy their diehard listeners while not abandoning a wider audience. This fourth album, Dear Agony, kept the band relevant after many of their peers in the early-2000s modern rock scene had fallen back, thanks largely to the success of songs like the title track and the lead single “I Will Not Bow.”

Breaking Benjamin’s recording career kept up with two album releases in the 2010s, Dark Before Dawn and Ember. Both albums found Burnley working with a unique set of collaborators, including Luzerne County resident Aaron Bruch, who became a permanent member of the band. These new collaborators helped push Breaking Benjamin’s sound forward in the studio and on the road. Dark Before Dawn reached the top spot on Billboard’s album charts, cementing Breaking Benjamin’s hold on the modern rock scene.

Over the years, Breaking Benjamin have made frequent stops in Luzerne County, bringing their music back to the audiences who drove their initial success. The band is well-known for their consistent, loyal fanbase in Northeast Pennsylvania, which keeps up with their consistent flow of material and live appearances. Ultimately, it's the universality of their lyrics and crunchy musicality that has kept Breaking Benjamin on the radar for decades.