Get ready for Wave Break- the two piece alt rock band who are here to take the scene by storm.

Made up of vocalist/rhythm guitarist Kelly Barber and bassist Ken Knightly, Wave Break is a New Jersey based alt-rock band that formed in 2017.

After releasing their debut EP “Armory” and lead single “Plaster City” in 2018, and gaining the attention of several notable outlets, including idobi Radio and Alternative Press, Wave Break hit the road, completing a tour throughout the northeast.

And while on the outside fans saw a successful new band climbing their way into the spotlight, Wave Break began to experience behind the scene struggles that led to lineup changes, and eventually a year long break from releasing new music.

But now they’re back and ready to release their first single in nearly two years titled “Out of Breath,” – which is set to hit streaming platforms this Friday.

And luckily for us, we got to catch up with the band’s frontwoman to ask a few questions about the band’s past, present and future.

Second Society Report: I know that your name, Wave Break, comes from overcoming adversity – but how long did it take for you to think up Wave Break? Did you consider changing your name after your lineup change?

Kelly Barber: It took maybe a few months to come up with the name. I was throwing around random words and phrases with the original lineup that might make a cool band name until one idea led to another which led to Wave Break.

We settled on Wave Break because metaphorically, we saw it as meaning ‘to overcome adversity,’ which had a lot of significance to us. A ‘wave break’ is something that gets in the way of a wave and causes it to break. If the wave represents adversity, then being the ‘wave break’ you are overcoming it.

I’ve briefly considered changing the name once but decided against it; the essence of Wave Break is still there both in what we stand for and the overall style of our music so it still makes sense to keep the name.

SSR: Speaking of lineup changes, what has been the biggest obstacle when dealing with these changes? How do you think you grew from this experience?

KB: The biggest obstacle has been the fact that every time we went through a change, it slowed us down.

There is usually a period where things aren’t working and we need to address it, then needing to figure out how to proceed afterwards. If we found a replacement, then we’d have to spend time teaching them the existing songs and rehearsing with them rather than writing new music together.

Thankfully we are putting some new music out now, but it would have happened a lot sooner if these lineup changes didn’t happen.

SSR: When you are writing new tracks, what is your process? Do the lyrics or the instrumentals come first?

KB: It’s different with every song! Sometimes the lyrics come first and then we write music to put them to, and sometimes maybe a guitar lick comes first, and then we write an entire instrumental and lyrics to go with that. It really depends on which piece comes first. There isn’t any one set process.

For “Out of Breath,” our upcoming single, almost the entire instrumental came first and then the lyrics and melody were written on top of it.

SSR: What other artists influence your sound/style?

KB: We’re influenced mainly by a lot of mid-2000’s emo/pop punk bands; Taking Back Sunday, Acceptance, Spitalfield, Paramore, Fall Out Boy… even Jimmy Eat World and the Foo Fighters. There’s also some Avril Lavigne and Tonight Alive influence, and a dash of post-hardcore too (Thrice, Silverstein, etc).

Our influences are kind of all over the place in the alternative world but center mostly on those early emo staples.

SSR: If you could curate your own tour lineup- 4 artists besides yourself- who would you want to tour with?

KB: That’s a tough one! We’d have to say; Blink-182, MCR, Tonight Alive, Stand Atlantic. But there are SO many others we’d love to tour with as well.

SSR: What are your goals as a band for 2020?

KB: We want to put out a new EP and tour some more! We also hope that our music reaches more ears and we get to continue to spread our story and message as much as we can.

SSR: And lastly, what is something you want fans to take away from your music/your story?

KB: We want our fans and friends to know that no matter what you’re going through, no matter how hard it is, you can persevere and make it through. It won’t be easy, but you’ll make it through if you stay focused and determined. You’ll come out even stronger in the end.

You can stream Wave Break’s EP “Armory” now wherever you stream music, and be sure to keep your ears and eyes peeled for “Out Of Breath” out Friday.

And if you like what you hear, be sure to follow the band on their socials to keep up with all things Wave Break: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.