Picture Me Broken to release album in July

High school is a trying time for any teenager, but Bay Area rockers PICTURE ME BROKEN aren’t letting the pressures of secondary education slow them down. The teenage quintet are finishing up finals as they anxiously await the release of their full length debut, WIDE AWAKE, out July 6, 2010 via Megaforce Records.

Wide Awake was after-mastered by Shelly Yakus (John Lennon, U2, The Ramones) of MyStudio.net, and features the lead off single “Dearest (I’m So Sorry),” which has received well over 3,000 downloads on the Rock Band Network since debuting in May.

“I’m completely stoked on the album. It's really a defining point for us as a band,” admits vocalist and frontwoman Layla “Brooklyn” Allman. “I feel that we're finally at the point where we're just old enough and mature enough to be able to produce original work that means something to us, and to other kids our age. I feel like this characterizes the album's lyrical and musical content entirely.”

Classmates and friends since third grade, Brooklyn and her bandmates began playing together as a band at the age of 12, practicing songs from Green Day, AFI, Foo Fighters, and Nirvana. As Picture Me Broken entered their teenage years, they began writing songs that reflected their growth into adolescence and change in musical tastes, being turned on to metal, hard rock, and post-hardcore. Recorded mostly over the weekends and after class, Wide Awake is a collection of new and old songs that reflect the band’s growth over the years.

“The process of recording the album was very scattered,” admits Brooklyn, “Even though it wasn't recorded in one straight sitting, I feel that it really reflects the evolution of our writing and style perfectly and fluently. Our EP was basically composed of the first songs we'd written, while the album is a bit more selective and allowed us to choose our best songs.”

Songs such as the breakout single “Dearest (I’m So Sorry)” and “Darwin’s Song” boast the band’s technical prowess, melding clean, thrashy, and aggro vocals with pummeling breakdowns and guitar solos, while “If I Never Wake Again” is a beautiful, building number that opens with piano, and ends in crushing guitars and cathartic wails.

Many of the songs were recorded with notable Bay Area producers Scott Llamas of Popsmear Records and Aaron Hellam, with additional production work from Scott Gillman and famed producer Mudrock (Avenged Seveonfold, Godsmack). Hellam also recorded the single “Dearest (I’m So Sorry),” which earned Picture Me Broken an MTV VMA for "Best Breakout Bay Area Band " earlier this year.

Named one of the "Top 20 Unsigned Artists of 2009" by PureVolume.com, Picture Me Broken has performed at the San Francisco stops of the Vans Warped Tour and Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution Tour, and has shared the stage with Atreyu, Alesana, Hawthorne Heights and Saosin, to name a few. A number of tour dates will be announced shortly, but the band will play a handful of regional shows before heading to Milwaukee, WI for Summerfest.

Picture Me Broken is Brooklyn (vocals, synth), Nick Loiacono (lead guitar), Will Escher (rhythm guitar), Austin Dunn (bass, vocals), and Connor Lung (drums).

www.myspace.com/picturemebroken
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www.megaforcerecords.com