Of Blessings and Burdens - History

History

The band was formed by Ryan Tyree and Jack Strong under the name "Substatic". Tyree ended up substituting Strong's class one day, and the topic of music was brought up. The pair decided to form a band. Strong had a friend he grew up with, Chris Richardson, who played drums. He asked him to join and a trio, Substatic, was started. During that period they went through different lead guitarists until they played a gig with the band Seven Day Descent, where they found Dave Marcus and asked him to join, which he did. Shortly after they changed their name to "Of Blessings And Burdens". About a year or two later Preston Bailey from the band Art is Lost was added to the line up. He replaced Dave on guitar, and Dave became the band's lead vocalist. Shortly after this, Tyree ended up leaving the band---on good terms---to focus on his teaching career. He currently works in Mayer Dorm at Eaglebrook School. He teaches English and coaches Soccer, Squash, and Tennis. He still is in communication with the members of the band, and still plays guitar frequently. He is often known as the "rockstar" of the teachers, as he is many students' favorite teacher. For a while they played as a four-piece until they put out an ad saying that they were seeking a guitarist, and Jeff Sabola answered. Later Strong quit to join The Acacia Strain, and was replaced by Hiroya Kinuta. In 2006, Of Blessings And Burdens disbanded. The following year, the band said they would regroup for a final concert with the original lineup, but with Bailey on guitar instead of Ryan Tyree. A few practices took place but it was called off. Thus, the concert has been canceled until further notice.

Jack Strong plays bass in The Acacia Strain, and Dave Marcus and Preston now play for the band Arrows Over Athens. Chris Richardson and Ryan Tyree now play in Lake Side Drive, an 80's cover band.

After a year of talk about a reunion Of Blessings And Burdens, whom (rumors had it) decided to play one last show with the bands Anti Love, The Bloodening, Good Luck Cadet, November 5, 1955, There Was Change, and more TBA. The show took place at the Waterfront Tavern in Holyoke Massachusetts February 10, 2008. Turned out, the band never agreed to playing the show, and in fact didn't end up playing. Thankfully, there had been some miscommunication going on between the people putting on the show and the members of OBAB.

In March 2008, Dave Marcus ended up moving to California due to personal reasons. In March 2009 he returned and started to re-record the band's last release To the Ones We Love: A True Story. The album is fully recorded and still in the mixing stages, though a new version of "Find Your Own Wings" has been released on the bands Myspace. The release of all of the songs went out online in the beginning of July 2010.