Donovan Leitch and Sebastian Bach! Courtesy Photo
Breaking Band, a new 'rock-u-mentary' has recently released on AXS! Created and produced by Donovan and co-produced by Marc Scarpa, Breaking Band, is not your average television show, it's a combination of mentorship and rockstar hopefuls with iconic legends within the music industry.
"Our goal was not to create a competition show, the market is saturated by this programs and albeit entertaining they are not always positive. They promote the construct of winners and losers whereas Breaking Band its about collaboration, musicianship and a pay it forward mentality on the part of the mentors", explained Leitch. "Ironically the mentors learned as much from the emerging artists as they did from the mentors. We wanted to create a win win win environment, by this we mean one in which the mentor, creators and viewers all walked away with a deeper understanding of what it takes to be entrepreneurial in the music industry."
For the record, Breaking Band is NOT a reality show. It's a six-episode music series in which rock legends are paired with emerging artists, to provide guidance and advice. 'Breaking' into the entertainment business has never been easy, however, instead of playing the game against each other 'Breaking Band' mentors and guides hopefuls to learn and thrive from one another.
With a background in filmmaking Leitch discusses his love for documentaries and just how Breaking Band came to be:
"My producing partner Marc Scarpa rang me up and said he was speaking to his friend Mark Cuban about an idea for a music show on AXS TV," stated Leitch. "Marc and I are huge fans of the old school music shows liked on Don Kirshner's rock concert and we wanted to figure out a way to get music onto television and that's not an easy feat by any stretch."
Breaking Band took to new media acts as well as YouTube sensations and matched them with various well-known rockstars to mentor the YouTube artists for the show. You can expect to see Moby, Belinda Carlisle, Robin Zander, Dave Navarro, Mark McGrath on the show as each of them will bring a unique and different rockstar quality to every episode. The legends will share invaluable advice and collaborate with their protégés before deciding whether to join them on stage for a live performance.
"I think the best takeaway of Breaking Band is that it really does show what it is like to be a musician," Marc Scarpa added. "Facing day-to-day challenges and getting through them because after all the show must go on!"
Be sure to check out this new take 'feel good television' on Breaking Band on Sundays 9:30/8:30c on AXS TV.
