Breaking Benjamin Debuts Something Wicked, Introduces Drummer Brian Medeiros at Rockville

Breaking Benjamin turned its May 9 set at Welcome To Rockville into a two-part statement: the band unveiled a new song, Something Wicked, and put Brian Medeiros in front of the festival crowd as its new live drummer.

The performance at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, carried extra weight because it was not just another stop on a packed run. Breaking Benjamin’s setlist also ran through I Will Not Bow, Until the End, Crawl, Red Cold River, Blow Me Away, Follow, So Cold, Dear Agony, Polyamorous, Breath and Awaken, but the night’s biggest takeaway was the first live show with Medeiros behind the kit. He has previously been identified as a drummer for RED and OTHERWISE, and his arrival marked a clear change in the band’s touring lineup rather than a one-off fill-in.

Benjamin Burnley framed the debut as a deliberate move, telling the crowd that the band usually avoids playing a new song before it is available, but that night they were making an exception and treating Something Wicked as the group’s new single. The rollout was already in motion online, where a Breaking Benjamin teaser page had posted the line, “Something wicked this way comes...,” signaling that the release and the live reveal were coordinated.

The drummer change also lands in the middle of a larger transition for the band. Shaun Foist stepped away from touring after saying he had battled Hashimoto’s disease since 2017 and had dealt with fatigue, leg weakness, stiffness, weight changes and drum-control issues. After that, James Cassells of Asking Alexandria filled in for eight months, and Burnley publicly thanked him for helping through a difficult stretch while welcoming Medeiros to the stage moving forward.

Cassells responded in kind, saying that stepping in during an unexpected chapter had been a privilege and thanking the musicians, crew and fans who supported him. For Breaking Benjamin, the Rockville appearance made the change impossible to miss: a new single, a new face at the kit and a summer schedule that keeps the band on the road immediately after the festival, with Sonic Temple set for May 14 in Columbus, Ohio.