Broken Van is a compilation of early and previously unreleased material by The Broadways

The Broadways

The Broadways were a short-lived punk band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1996 after the dissolution of the influential ska-punk band Slapstick. The latter's vocalist Brendan Kelly and trumpet player Dan Hanaway assumed the roles of bassist and guitarist, joined by Rob DePaola on drums and Chris...

. With the exception of "Fuck the Church", available only on the Drive-Thru Records

Drive-Thru Records

Drive-Thru Records, established in 1996, was a California-based record label owned by siblings Richard and Stefanie Reines. It has produced various pop punk bands, many with a distinct SoCal sound....

 compilation Where's the Beef?, it completes the band's discography alongside their sole full-length album Broken Star

Broken Star

- Reissue :In 2007 and 2008, Asian Man Records announced plans to reissue both of the band's albums on vinyl and CD. Broken Star had long since sold out on vinyl, while its successor Broken Van had been CD-only; both had for some time been out of stock on CD...

.

Tracks 1-7 were new and unreleased, recorded in May 1998. The songs were intended for release soon after, possibly on a split CD with Baxter

Baxter (punk band)

Baxter was a Chicago post-hardcore band. The band consisted of Tim McIlrath , Neil Hennessy, , Timothy Remis, and a bassist only referred to as J...

. http://web.archive.org/web/20010516201626/members.tripod.com/broadways2/

The remaining tracks originally appeared on the band's early 7" vinyl

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

s: tracks 8-10 from We All Know You Can Do It (released on the band's own Bicycle Records) and tracks 11-15 from Big City Life (Asian Man Records

Asian Man Records

Asian Man Records is a small, DIY record label run by Mike Park in Monte Sereno, California. Park started a record label and began releasing music in 1989 under the name Dill Records, with the Asian Man label established May 1996.-Artists:...

).

In 2007 Asian Man Records

Asian Man Records

Asian Man Records is a small, DIY record label run by Mike Park in Monte Sereno, California. Park started a record label and began releasing music in 1989 under the name Dill Records, with the Asian Man label established May 1996.-Artists:...

 announced plans to reissue both of The Broadways' albums on vinyl and CD. Broken Star had long since sold out on vinyl, while Broken Van had been CD-only; both had for some time been out of stock on CD. http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:Aua51DkHkUQJ:www.asianmanrecords.com/ In late 2007 Mike Park

Mike Park

Mike Park is a Korean American musician and progressive activist. His musical ventures include Skankin' Pickle for whom he both played the saxophone and sang, The Chinkees, The Bruce Lee Band, and most recently an acoustic solo project under his own name...

 posted a topic on the label's forum stating that he could not find a CD edition of Broken Van from which to produce the vinyl edition, and would require a fan to provide one in order to proceed. http://www.asianmanrecords.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6873 The record went on sale in July 2008.

Track listing

The primary vocalist/lyricist for each song is specified.

1. "Floundering" (Kelly) – 1:37
2. "Not Necessarily the News" (Hanaway) – 2:42
3. "2nd Grade Cells" (McCaughan) – 3:41
4. "One Man Board Of Directors" (Kelly) – 3:54
5. "Natural Disaster" (McCaughan) - 2:06
6. "Under My Belt" (Hanaway) – 2:36
7. "It Was Pancho Villa
   Pancho Villa
   José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
   
   " (Kelly) – 2:22
8. "T.V. Song" (Kelly) – 2:04
9. "Broadway and Briar" (Kelly) – 2:29
10. "Rainy Day" (Hanaway) – 2:14
11. "I Think I Shall Never See..." (Kelly) – 3:06
12. "Lake Michigan" (McCaughan) – 2:19
13. "What Happened?" (Hanaway) – 1:40
14. "Dropjaw" (Hanaway) – 3:28
15. "This Routine" (Hanaway) – 4:12

Personnel

• Brendan Kelly
  Brendan Kelly (musician)
  Brendan Kelly is the bassist/vocalist of Chicago-based punk band The Lawrence Arms, as well as guitarist/lead vocalist in The Falcon. Kelly's former bands include Slapstick and The Broadways...
  
   – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Dan Hanaway – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals
• Chris McCaughan
  Chris McCaughan
  Chris McCaughan is the guitarist and vocalist in the band The Lawrence Arms. McCaughan was formerly the guitarist for the bands Tricky Dick and The Broadways ....
  
   – guitar, vocals
• Rob DePaola – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

Trivia

• The title Broken Van appears nowhere on the album's original packaging, but is given on Asian Man Records catalogs, labels on later copies of the same edition, and the new cover art of recent editions.
• There was an error on the rear tracklist whereby the order of the songs "What Happened?" and "Lake Michigan" was swapped.
• "I Think I Shall Never See..." was originally titled "I Think That I Shall Never See...", a quote from Joyce Kilmer
  Joyce Kilmer
  Alfred Joyce Kilmer was an American journalist, poet, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his religious faith, Kilmer is remembered most for a short poem entitled "Trees" , which was published in...
  
  's poem "Trees", when it was originally released on Big City Life. Brendan stated during a live show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgHK3P3zsv8 that the friend referenced in the song is the same one from Broken Star
  Broken Star
  - Reissue :In 2007 and 2008, Asian Man Records announced plans to reissue both of the band's albums on vinyl and CD. Broken Star had long since sold out on vinyl, while its successor Broken Van had been CD-only; both had for some time been out of stock on CD...
  
  s "25 Degrees North".
• "This Routine" was a hidden track
  Hidden track
  In the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener...
  
   at the end of "Dropjaw" on Big City Life. The spoken word at the end of the song was read by Chris and is a quote from Rigoberta Menchú
  Rigoberta Menchú
  Rigoberta Menchú Tum is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the K'iche' ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War , and to promoting indigenous rights in the country...
  
  's I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala.