Champion Your Band, 2 - Brand New by ktmcf121

[assassin_696]

Brand New

 

Genre: Rock

 

Label: Interscope

 

Members:

 

Jesse Lacey - Vocals/Guitar

 

Vinnie Accardi - Guitar

 

Brian Lane - Drums

 

Garrett Tierney - Bass

 

 

 

I first heard of Brand New shortly after they released their second album, Deja Entendu, and immediately passed them off as "just another punk rock band," however, after listening to Your Favorite Weapon a few times and then listening to Deja, my opinion of them changed dramatically. This is no ordinary band. They can hardly be described by a single genre of music, with songs ranging from 3-part harmony, pop punk

 

anthems to almost depressing songs that seem to draw influences from bands like The Cure and darker genres of music.

 

 

 

Shortly after releasing Deja Entendu, Brand New seemed to drop off the face of the earth. The only communication between them and the rest of the world was a mysterious website and rumors that they were recording a new album. Finally, in late 2006, they emerged again, this time with an equally ground-breaking album and a series of tours across the U.S. and Europe. I got to see them live twice in one week after 3 years of waiting. They have since released a number of B-sides off the new album, including aloC-acoC(copyright laws wouldn't allow them to name it Coca-Cola :lol: ) and (Fork and Knife).

 

 

 

Discography

 

 

 

Your Favorite Weapon

 

Released: 10/9/01

 

 

Brand New's first full-length album. This is your typical pop-punk album about breakups and ex-girlfriends, with a few twists. For one, there is an extreme amount of bitterness and even violence in this album, with songs like Jude Law and a Semester Abroad, and Seventy Times 7. Lyrics from these 2 songs include "And even if her plane crashes tonight she'll find some way to disappoint me by not burning in the wreckage or drowning at the bottom of the sea," and "Have another drink and drive yourself home, I hope there's ice on all the roads and you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt and again when your head goes through the windshield."

 

 

 

Amid the violent lyrics are a few softer songs that hint at more than just a simple breakup, such as my personal favorite song on the album, The No Seatbelt Song, and the acoustic Soco Amaretto Lime. There also seems to be some friendly banter between Brand New and Taking Back Sunday on this album as well as TBS' first album, Tell All Your Friends.

 

 

 

Rating: 7.5/10 (relative scale based on their best album)

 

 

 

 

 

Deja Entendu

 

Released: 6/17/03

 

 

Literally translated, Deja Entendu means "already attended to" or "already heard" which seems to be a nudge to the majority of alternative or punk rock bands that seem to put out the same album over and over again.

 

 

 

The first thing you notice about this album is that it has a distinctly different sound than the first album. Brand New ditched the canned pop-punk sound that YFW sometimes had for a more emotional sound. Higher highs and lower lows are all over this album, sometimes even in the same song. The bitterness from the first album carries over, but it's "matured" much like the album's sound. Instead of being directed at ex-girlfriends, it seems to be directed at society and the unfairness of life in general. It seems that every song has a meaning and the lyrics are completely original and heartfelt, not just recycled garbage like a lot of bands nowdays are putting out. I don't think I can pick just one favorite song on this album, but Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades, Okay, I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't, and Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis are some of the standout tracks, in my opinion.

 

 

 

Rating: 10/10

 

 

 

 

 

The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me

 

Released: 11/21/06

 

 

After a 3.5 year hiatus, Brand New returns, stronger than ever, and yet at the same time, seemingly broken beyond repair. I don't know what happened between these 2 albums, but it must have been life-shattering, because the album's title explains exactly what the songs are about. Every song has an introspective, almost cynical tone to it. Jesse has obviously taken a good hard look at himself and his own beliefs and began questioning everything. In the 3 times I saw them live, they only played one song off YFW, and it was the song that most resembled their later work, which makes me think they resent the pop-punk sound they started with. Jesse also seemed very depressed, and the last time I saw them, he said "This song is about a girl that died in my house" before playing Limousine which might explain some of the lyrics that come with this album.

 

 

 

Songs such as Millstone and Jesus Christ immediately reflect some cynicism and self-loathing even, with lyrics like "I used to be such a burning example, I used to be so original... I used to pray a God was listening, I used to make my parents proud..," and "Jesus Christ I'm alone again, so what did you do those three days you were dead?" almost as if he's questioning his own faith. Not the Sun and The Archer's Bows Have Broken are the only real upbeat songs on the entire album, and even they carry some religious overtones, such as the lyric "you're beating with a book everyone that book tells you to love." Overall, a good album, but I wish they had just included the 2 B-sides that have been released since then instead of the 2 instrumental(read: filler) songs, Welcome to Bangkok and Untitled.

 

 

 

Rating: 8/10

 

 

 

 

 

Other Songs:

 

Moshi Moshi

 

Am I Wrong

 

My Nine Rides Shotgun - these 3 songs were on a split EP with Safety In Numbers

 

aloC-acoC - on the Sowing Season single, available by pre-ordering TDAG

 

(Fork and Knife) - released on iTunes

 

 

 

Links:

 

Official Website

 

Myspace

 

Purevolume

 

Wikipedia Article

 

 

 

Videos:

 

 

Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades - probably the best music video of all time

 

 

 

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Past Archive

 

Thousand Foot Krutch by kalphiteman4

[Craiglowery]

Awesome review!!

 

 

 

I love Brand New. I was never a fan of their 1st album but when Deja Entendu came out I really started getting into them, then Devil and God came out and I was hooked.

[look_its_rob]

Brand new is one of my favorite bands of all time, however i didnt really like their new CD.

 

 

 

it was a new sound i just didnt really care for.

[M_u_s_ii_X]

I listened to Brand New yesterday, i read 1 of my old Kerrang! magazines. I think there a great band. \

[Kalphite]

Very good article, I'm definitely going to look into them.

[klankaos]

Well written article!

 

 

 

Unfortunately, they're not quite my kind of music. Little too musically simplistic, from what I'm hearing so far. And too heavy. But I can see where the appeal comes from, they sound better than most other bands of their genre I've heard.

 

 

 

On second thought, I quite like The Quiet Things Than No One Ever Knows. Still not quite my type - not in the melodic range enough, some of their lyrics sound a little non-harmonic - but they're better than I thought from the other one.