This is where it all began.....If you want to know Velveeta then you have to know broken. In early 1994 a man who goes by the name of Jeff DeLotto gathered together an assortment of musicians to form a band. By March of that year he had enlisted Mike, Bones, and Brian
into the fold. Rai Wu was the original bassist for the fledgeling outfit. Playing under various names such as "Dicko's Drawers" and "Dirt Flies" the band played at parties and at "Northstock" on the PSU campus (We made it onto a T-shirt, however we changed our name 15 minutes before the performance so the shirt's wrong). In May, Rai graduated and moved away, after an audition and some beer John Matthews became the man with a plan on bass.
Soon after his arrival we took on the moniker "broken" and became serious, playing many a lonely Monday night at the Brewery over our first summer. In July, Jeff took leave of us to pursue other endeavors. We became a 4-piece "angst-ridden" band that would rock out many a fraternity and anywhere else that would put up with us. All the while getting better as a band and as friends. We also wrote some great songs
some of which will be included on this site very soon (as soon as we sort through the tons of tapes and find the best of what we have). In 1996 broken was selected as semi-finalists in Musician Magazine's Best Unsigned Band Contest. We had the opportunity to play with a lot of great acts that rolled through town including but certainly not limited to: Biff Naked, The Lemonheads, Caroline’s Spine, Bone Pony, The Caulfields and Lir.
We did it a long time but as with most groups who try to do something original in State College we had to figure out how to get paid.......not being so into the day job "thing". We went with Brent's idea and broken became the core of Velveeta. So we sold out, but the broken influence can still be heard....when a Pearl Jam or Rage or Tool song suddenly gets pulled out at a Velveeta show, THAT'S broken!
Though we did get some press: Our first feature article Oh, to be that idealistic again.
