"BRAND NEW WANTS TO DIE JUST AS MUCH AS YOU WANT THEM DEAD"
Table of contents:
Pre-Brand New
Brand New
Taking Back Sunday:
If you're on this website, there's a good chance you already know who this band is, and this is 100% going to feel like it's about to turn into the comprehensive history of Taking Back Sunday but I promise it all relates to the early lore of Brand New. Before everything else, Jesse Lacey was in a band with John Nolan during their sophomore year of high school called Gudmunder Bjornsen, whose EP was uploaded online by John after someone was trying to sell a copy of the CD on ebay.
These two go way back, as in like, attending private Christian schools from third grade until high school graduation. After Gudmunder Bjornsen, Jesse and John joined the very first incarnation of Taking Back Sunday, with Jesse on bass and vocals, and John on guitar. A highly embarrassing demo is released that I'm sure everyone involved would rather forget about. This friendship also led to Jesse Lacey's ownership of the black telecaster he occasionally played throughout the entire span of BN's career, which has an origin story of being stolen from John's church.
Taken from The Complete Tell-All Oral History of TBS in July 2011:
Antonio Longo: We were outside at a Sense Field show, brainstorming can get to join the band. Eddie said to me, "This is it, man— after this band, I am done. I'm going to make this one work." John Nolan, Jesse Lacey and I grew up together in the same private school, and John was like a member of my family. So when Eddie and I needed a guitar player. I wanted John to be a part of it.
...
John Nolan: Jesse wasn't too into the idea of being a bass player in a band. But he played bass, and I'd played with him before all through high school, so we just kind of asked him if he would play with us. It was a casual, open-ended kind of thing. He did the first three demos, including the backup vocals, and that was within the first three or four months of starting the band. I think he gradually just got more into the Brand New project and just kind of phased out naturally.
...
Shaun Cooper: I saw them play one show with Adam singing and Jesse playing bass and I was like, "That kid can't play bass for shit, and Adam's going to be a great singer. This is going to be the shit, I know it. I'm going to get in there and try out. I'm getting in this band— I don't care if I have to kill someone. I'm going to play so well, they're not going to be able to pick anybody else."
very far from the TBS most people know today
THE FEUD
NOTE: This section is kind of rough because I'm in the process of rewriting it since I decided to originally use LIVEJOURNAL as a source, which obviously isn't entirely accurate. This covers all of the Jesse/John stuff just to get it out of the way, this section ends in the mid 2000's, but the section after it starts in 1998.
One of the most hilariously over-dramatic emo drama of the 2000's and it still gets brought up well over two decades later. There are several different versions of this story that you may find on the internet, as well as several Pete Wentz and Mikey Way 'summer of like' style conspiracy theories (thanks, livejournal.) This all takes place in the spring of 2001.
ANYWAY, So comparing all the different accounts and retellings of this story, it's generally known that the most tame version is that John made out with a girl that Jesse liked at a party, and the most dramatic version is that John slept with Jesse's girlfriend. Listening to all the songs that spawned from this situation, you'd think that there was some sort of Judas level betrayal, when it's really just... typical angsty relationship drama. Shaun Cooper's version of the story is "John and Jesse liked a girl, John made out with her before Jesse did. Jesse got bummed about it. All these songs happened because of it."
According to the livejournal summary I originally got this all from, apparently Jesse freaks the fuck out immediately after and breaks up with both his girlfriend and John. R.I.P.
So, Spring of 2001, this is where The Songs start being written. You know the ones. Seventy Times 7 and There's No 'I' In Team, marking Jesse and John's falling out and the point where they stop making music together. Before this, they were still playing shows together, John had worked on the Brand New songs Magazines and My Nine Rides Shotgun. In between the writing of these songs and the actual releases of TBS and BN's debut albums, Jesse and John end up becoming besties again and tour together.
Another quote from the TBS oral history regarding their falling out and later rekindling:
Nolan: There were a lot of different things I kind of processed in the writing of [Tell All Your Friends]. I'd had that falling-out with Jesse, the whole "feud in the songs" thing got started. We'd been friends for basically our whole lives. That experience, of going through this intense parting of ways with someone who'd been a huge part of your life, affected how I felt and what I was trying to work through in my writing... After Jesse and I had our falling-out, we didn't talk for about a year. Towards the end of that year, Brand New got in touch with us about being direct support on their summer headlining tour. I took that as a good sign for the future of our friendship. I figured that if he felt okay about seeing me on tour every day, then something must've changed for him. We didn't sit down and have a big discussion or anything— I think we both were just ready to be in each other's lives again, and we gradually started reconnecting. A week or two into the tour we decided that I would join Brand New onstage for "Seventy Times Seven," and he would join us for "There's No 'I' In Team." There was a lot of venting of frustration and anger onstage for both of us. It was pretty strange, really. We didn't discuss much about what had happened, but every night we'd get onstage and relive it together. I think it helped us both to move on.
Around this time, John had also written the song "Your Name Here", which would eventually be released a few years later after he left Taking Back Sunday.
John wrote about the song here in March 2010:
"As many of you might know, I was involved in a much talked about and much sung about feud with Jesse Lacey of Brand New around that time. The short version of the story is that we had been best friends for most of our lives, and then had a falling out over a girl that we both liked(I know! It’s ridiculous.) He wrote a song called 70x7 about it and Taking Back Sunday wrote a song about it called There’s No ‘I’ In Team. The two of us didn’t talk for almost a year after that, and then gradually we reconnected and became friends again.
Somewhere in the midst of the ridiculous drama of it all I was overwhelmed with the simple feeling of missing my friend. That was what led to me to write Your Name Here. The first verse was actually written to the listener, using “Your Name Here” in place of any direct reference to Jesse. The chorus was written to Jesse and it was sort of an invitation. The lyrics were actual directions to my apartment on Long Island at the time.They were fairly accurate, but had to be altered slightly for the purposes of rhyming and general lyrical flow. It was Carman’s road that I lived off of. You also had to take the first right after the the first stoplight, there was no traffic light on my corner. I figured I’d be specific about that since I’ve talked to a few people from Long Island that actually tried to follow the directions with frustrating results."
The Rookie Lot
Jump back to January of 1998. At this point, Jesse starts The Rookie Lot with another childhood friend, Garrett Tierney, as well as Brain Lane, and Alex Dunne and Brandon Reilly (who ended up joining Crime in Stereo and The Movielife respectively). Listen to their demo EP here, their 1999 split EP with Yearly here, and watch one of their shows here:
I believe this is their ONLY recorded show. I may be wrong, but I've spent a stupid amount of time researching this band and have only ever seen this one.
One Last Goodbye:
Another pre-Brand New band that never got the same amount of attention as The Rookie Lot. Go listen to their EP! I think I'm the only one to have uploaded it to Youtube This band features Vincent Accardi on guitar and vocals, as well as three other kids from Long Island named Jarrett Boglioli (guitar), Brendan Hastings (bass), and Rob Granelli (drums). Unlike everyone else previously mentioned, I don't believe these three ever joined any other well-known bands because it's impossible to find any information about them. Their EP was only released on a couple cassettes, which I've only ever seen about 1 or 2 lucky Brand New fans own.
It's been 23 years, when's One Last Goodbye coming back?
BRAND NEW
1,500 words in and we're finally to the actual band! Is anyone still reading this???
YOUR FAVORITE WEAPON:
Out of The Rookie Lot and One Last Goodbye's ashes came BRAND NEW. In the year 2000, they form with Jesse on rhythm guitar and vocals, Garrett on bass, Brain on drums, and Vin on lead guitar.
The holy grail...
After a few demos, they put out their debut, Your Favorite Weapon, in 2001 on Triple Crown Records. At this time, they were writing catchy pop punk songs full of adolescent bitterness (in the best way possible).
These were up on brandnewrock.com from February 2001 until ~January 2003
2000-2001 also brings a very overlooked side project from Brian Lane and Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw (♡♡♡♡). Brian would produce beats and Daryl would sing over them, their first song was Midwestern Stylings. This song was later recorded acoustically and was recorded again as a demo for Worship and Tribute. “The Number No Good Things Can Come Of” by Glassjaw was another song originally from Beat Scientific. Their album, Students of the Drums, was set to come out in January 2001 but was never finished. (Information taken from longislandmusicscene wiki, so who knows if some of this stuff is at all accurate)
Ready for more Taking Back Sunday? This is where all those songs about the drama come in, specifically Seventy Times 7.
Lines later used in TBS's song "There's No 'I' In Team"
brandnewrock.com , late 2002
After YFW comes Taking Back Sunday's debut, Tell All Your Friends, which features the songs There's No 'I' In Team, which is definitely about Jesse, and Timberwolves At New Jersey, which is possibly about the situation but I'm not entirely sure if that was ever confirmed. From There's No 'I' In Team:
...
"Autographs? Just come see us play some music. It's free! And get the cd! It's on sale ya know.
Brand New will be playing an "in-store" acoustic performance at the Tower Records in Carle Place, NY on December 7. Please come down and support, it will be a lot of fun. And if it's not, then you can read magazines, or shop for other cds. Also, on December 14 at the Babylon American Legion Hall in Babylon, NY Alkaline Trio is playing. And so is Brand New. And so is Taking Back Sunday. That is one hot show. If you miss it, we think you're a little weird. Details on advanced ticket sales and such are coming soon."
(Said December 7th show seen here ^)
(interview from same day here)
Deja Entendu
At this time Jesse was dating Sherri DuPree of Eisley and then cheating on her. Wtf? And then she dated, married, and divorced Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory. And then she dated, married, and had a bunch of kids with Max Bemis of Say Anything and I'm not too sure if I can say they're living happily ever after. Taking Back Sunday was also having issues, with John and Shaun leaving the band, but more on that later.
Due to BN not having a website during this time, it's harder to keep track of everything that happened (as opposed to their website being constantly updated by them in 2002). There's at least two televised interviews (although I can't find any footage of the second one besides a few screenshots), a couple magazine interviews, and probably a lot of other content that's been lost to time. A lot of people (aka BN haterz) refuse to acknowledge how well-liked this album was and how Sic Transit Gloria and The Quiet Things were literally EVERYWHERE. Whatever...
Part 2, Part 3. I think this interview went fine, but a lot of people in the comments seem to disagree... This is pretty much the only time in BN history where they did televised interviews
Three other shows from 2003:
(Click a photo to see it in higher quality in a new tab)
Now jump back to the whole John Nolan and Taking Back Sunday thing. Again. This is the part where TBS is going to go on tour with BN, but TBS cancels shows and John and Shaun leave the band. This all happens in May, Deja Entendu is recorded previously in February, and later comes out in June. The rumor this time is that "Okay, I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't" is about John and Adam, but Deja was recorded before that situation so who knows. John later does a cover of Tommy Gun.
Jesse at some point shares a story about where the title of "Play Crack the Sky" comes from:
[Jesse spends the first two or so minutes talking about these Christian metal bands and being in a band with John Nolan and all this stuff]... "One day we were set up in this huge parking lot. It was probably 200 square yards, really gigantic, and there wasn't a soul in there and it was like noon or one and we just finished working, so me and John just walked out to the middle of this parking lot and sat down and looking around at how funny it was that there was no one within a mile of us and this band was setting up on stage, and so years back, Mylon LeFevre's greatest hit was 'Crack the Sky', and as this band is setting up, John's looking at them and he's all 'I recognize that guy for sure', like he was setting up his amp, and I was like 'I don't know who that is, that doesn't look like anyone I know', and he's like 'No, I definitely know this guy', and the guy gets up, and as soon as he gets up to the mic, John's like, 'that's Mylon LeFevre', like he totally recognized the guy, but the guy moved on and was obviously onto his adult contemporary thing and left his past behind him. So the guy gets up to the mic and he says 'hey we're so and so', and John stands up in the middle of this parking lot and screams 'PLAY CRACK THE SKY!' like as loud as he could, and you just saw this guy's spirit break. There was no one for two miles except the one kid who recognized him from his old life, and he just kind of like turned around and slumped down for like a few minutes, and then he came back and played the song. At the time it was about the funniest thing I'd ever seen in my life."
brandnewrock / fightoffyourdemons:
brandnewrock.com: Feb. 2001 / Nov. 2001 / March 2002
(The three month span of the website having ONLY that stupid Christmas picture and nothing else kills me.)
In late 2003/early 2004, brandnewrock.com goes offline. It isn't until May of 2005 when it's updated with the note: "Under Construction. Stay tuned for a new site in the next few days."
An actual screenshot of their website. Whoever made it is a CSS god. 44caliber.net could never.
In June of 2005, a new website goes live: fightoffyourdemons.com. Instead of the homepage being made up of diary entries from the members and tours, it was forty-seven links, then just seven links and a picture of Jesse, and then the same seven links with a cryptic photo that later ended up being the cover of their next album.
fightoffyourdemons.com: Sept. 2005 / Dec. 2005 / Feb. 2007
This site had a lot of pop-ups that were just walls of text. Usually these would be either quotes or rambling, or genuine updates on the band.
From an article by Newsday Long Island:
THE DEMOS:
Note included in leaked demos cassette, released in 2016
In later 2004, Brand New announces that they will be working on a new album. However, this is delayed by a year due to various issues. In late 2005, the band goes to Oxford Mississippi for an unsuccessful writing and recording session. They return to New York and begin working with Mike Sapone, who they had also worked with for YFW.
In late January of 2006, nine untitled and unmastered demos are leaked to the internet. How these got leaked is still unknown and the source only said that the songs "probably wouldn't be on Fight Off Your Demons".
The demos were only released on cassette, with 3 remastered demos being released on vinyl. Black variant / red variant
From a street team interview:
Garrett: If it affected anything, I would say it did it in a good way 'cause so many people were curious to hear what we have been doing--and for the most part, the record tracks don't sound anything like the leaked demos.
Jesse: For me it was different. It had me pretty down for a while. No one likes to show their creation in mid-process, and those songs weren't done. They were like blueprints. Just the plan, right? It put me in a state where I was under the impression that those songs had been wasted or something--that we had to go and write new things because those had been heard. Now, in retrospect, I want those songs to be on the album and many of them aren't, and I'm probably more to blame for that than anyone. This record already feels incomplete to me without those tracks and probably will forever.
Vin: I can relate to both of those sentiments. In one way it was kind of refreshing and motivating to know that people were still so interested and curious as to what we were up to in that period where we sort of disappeared. But I was also worried that it would derail the process because the four of us had created a pretty safe place where the only critics were ourselves. As much as we tried to shield ourselves from letting the leak affect us, it definitely did. There was a feeling of being robbed, after keeping everything so close to ourselves and then having it heard before it was completed. As Jesse said, I wish some of those songs were on the record. But they do exist on a certain plane, so people do know that we were working and creating.
Jesse: For me it was different. It had me pretty down for a while. No one likes to show their creation in mid-process, and those songs weren't done. They were like blueprints. Just the plan, right? It put me in a state where I was under the impression that those songs had been wasted or something--that we had to go and write new things because those had been heard. Now, in retrospect, I want those songs to be on the album and many of them aren't, and I'm probably more to blame for that than anyone. This record already feels incomplete to me without those tracks and probably will forever.
Vin: I can relate to both of those sentiments. In one way it was kind of refreshing and motivating to know that people were still so interested and curious as to what we were up to in that period where we sort of disappeared. But I was also worried that it would derail the process because the four of us had created a pretty safe place where the only critics were ourselves. As much as we tried to shield ourselves from letting the leak affect us, it definitely did. There was a feeling of being robbed, after keeping everything so close to ourselves and then having it heard before it was completed. As Jesse said, I wish some of those songs were on the record. But they do exist on a certain plane, so people do know that we were working and creating.
THE DEVIL AND GOD ARE RAGING INSIDE ME:
In late June of 2006 Brand New embark on their first full-on tour in 18 months, playing nearly all new material -- most of which winds up being on the new record, titled The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me. It is released on November 21, 2006.
There's almost no promo to speak of, save for three radio interviews given by Jesse, and only one new photoset is released. However, they do some extensive touring that winter and into the new year. During this time, fifth member Derek Sherman joins the band to play rhythm guitar during the tour. Sometimes he plays at shows and sometimes he doesn't. Being a massive leap from both YFW and Deja, death and loneliness are very prevalent themes throughout the album. From the dedication page of the liner notes:
for: Robert Sherman, Red Lacey, Leo Lacey, Bill and Virgina Sherman, James Mcauliffe, Rosemary Kancelerski, Frances Ambrosio, Manfred Cardone III, Sid Rosen, Seymour Lane, Michelle Lane, George Moe, Alexander Lambros, and Omar Ortega, all of whom left between the start and completion of this record.
The title, The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me, refers to a conversation Jesse had with schizophrenic musician Daniel Johnston who said his illness "felt like the devil and God were raging inside" him.
Brand New on GoTV, 2007.
Drama... Again:(I lied earlier, there's still more drama, and almost all roads regarding BN drama lead back to TBS)
I'm going through these as quick as possible because they're kind of ridiculous and I don't feel like spending more time researching these. If something's inaccurate, sorry.
1. January 29, 2004, Brian Lane writes in an interview: "John and Jesse have been friends for so long, they had a brief fall out, but they made up and are now still really good friends... I don’t care [about Taking Back Sunday], it’s not relevant really, none of us really care about those guys, they have done stuff, but we just stay out of it. I think at first Jesse cared a bit, but now that is all in the past... there aren’t any plans to [play a show with TBS again], but I wouldn’t mind." (Bonus: he also says that the best band on Long island at the moment is "Glassjaw without a doubt")
2. John Nolan is in a new band called Straylight Run. Their self-titled album was released on October 12, 2004, which features a track titled "Your Name Here (Sunrise Highway)" and is confirmed(?) to be about Jesse.
3. May 6, 2007, Bamboozle 2007 happens and there seems to be some bitterness on both sides regarding which times TBS and BN were slated to play, as they were on the same stage on the same day. TBS was meant to play first, and didn't want to play before BN, so BN made the decision to play first. Their set included playing Degausser twice, leaving the stage early, then being sent back out and playing Seventy Times 7. Afterwards, a sign was put up at their merch tent reading "BRAND NEW PLAYED ALREADY, GO HOME!!!"
4. Jesse and John are allegedly (source?? i forgot.) no longer on speaking terms by May 2007. However, a tumblr post from John Nolan suggests that they were still friends as of March 2010.
5. Sherri Dupree of Eisley (and ex-girlfriend of Jesse) is now married to Max Bemis, lead singer of Say Anything. As well as being the most proud emo motherfucker around, Max is also a former bffie of Jesse, but cut ties with him after Jesse refused to sing on Say Anything's record (AGAIN, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH OF THIS LITTLE SECTION IS TRUE I'M JUST GOING OFF OF OLD LJ POSTS HERE). Reportedly he told Max he "didn't want to be associated with the [emo] genre" anymore, prompting Max to title the record In Defense of the Genre. Supposedly the album contains several songs lashing out at Jesse, though honestly I think it's kind of a stretch. However, there is a song that has been confirmed(?) to be about John Nolan called "Skinny Mean Man". Why would Max Bemis write a bitchy song about John Nolan? Because before Max was jonesing after Jesse's ex, he was dating John's. Laura Hirsch acted as Straylight Run's merch girl for a couple years, and as John Nolan's girlfriend for even less. OH AND ALSO SHE WAS ALLEGEDLY STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL AT SOME POINT DURING THIS TIME Anyways, Apparently, John was none too nice to his young paramour, and after she ran to the comforting arms of Max Bemis, Max decided to write a little song about it.
2. John Nolan is in a new band called Straylight Run. Their self-titled album was released on October 12, 2004, which features a track titled "Your Name Here (Sunrise Highway)" and is confirmed(?) to be about Jesse.
3. May 6, 2007, Bamboozle 2007 happens and there seems to be some bitterness on both sides regarding which times TBS and BN were slated to play, as they were on the same stage on the same day. TBS was meant to play first, and didn't want to play before BN, so BN made the decision to play first. Their set included playing Degausser twice, leaving the stage early, then being sent back out and playing Seventy Times 7. Afterwards, a sign was put up at their merch tent reading "BRAND NEW PLAYED ALREADY, GO HOME!!!"
4. Jesse and John are allegedly (source?? i forgot.) no longer on speaking terms by May 2007. However, a tumblr post from John Nolan suggests that they were still friends as of March 2010.
5. Sherri Dupree of Eisley (and ex-girlfriend of Jesse) is now married to Max Bemis, lead singer of Say Anything. As well as being the most proud emo motherfucker around, Max is also a former bffie of Jesse, but cut ties with him after Jesse refused to sing on Say Anything's record (AGAIN, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH OF THIS LITTLE SECTION IS TRUE I'M JUST GOING OFF OF OLD LJ POSTS HERE). Reportedly he told Max he "didn't want to be associated with the [emo] genre" anymore, prompting Max to title the record In Defense of the Genre. Supposedly the album contains several songs lashing out at Jesse, though honestly I think it's kind of a stretch. However, there is a song that has been confirmed(?) to be about John Nolan called "Skinny Mean Man". Why would Max Bemis write a bitchy song about John Nolan? Because before Max was jonesing after Jesse's ex, he was dating John's. Laura Hirsch acted as Straylight Run's merch girl for a couple years, and as John Nolan's girlfriend for even less. OH AND ALSO SHE WAS ALLEGEDLY STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL AT SOME POINT DURING THIS TIME Anyways, Apparently, John was none too nice to his young paramour, and after she ran to the comforting arms of Max Bemis, Max decided to write a little song about it.
Brand New frequently appeared in Manchester Orchestra's videos in 2007.
Pre-Daisy:
From a magazine interview with Jesse:
Recent rumors have suggested Daisy may be Brand New’s last album, is there any truth in that?
Who knows? I’m one of those ‘the grass is always greener’ guys. I feel like there are so many other things to do and I’d like to do them all. I look at people who have been in bands for 30 or 40 years who are really cut out for it and it’s still the only thing they want to do. But for me it takes away so much from the other parts of your life.
Like what?
Just time. I’ve missed out on some time with my family and I didn’t get to go to college or get an education. I would have enjoyed being a teacher, a clam fisherman, a carpenter or to have worked with brick. The list is endless. When you’re young you can literally do anything but the older you get, the opportunities disappear. The course of your life is very distinct and laid out by big decisions—whether it’s where you live, who you love or what you do to occupy your time. When opportunities come up, you have to really examine them because time is short and it just keeps going faster and faster until you get to the point where all you can do is sit in a chair while someone feeds you. So it’s very important to choose what will make you happy and fulfill your life.
Are you happy with the decisions you’ve made so far?
For the most part, because being in this band, playing music and doing something that we love has been such a blessing. It’s provided me with so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise had. I’ve travelled, seen cities around the world, met many wonderful people and been paid to be creative. I don’t have the words to express how grateful I am for everything Brand New has given me.
Jesse Lacey and Kevin Devine, 2008
From an interview with Kevin Devine:
You're good friends with Jesse Lacey of Brand New, he even sang on a few songs on Split The Country/Split The Street. How did that friendship come about?
We were both in an amateur archery program, Silver Tips, in rural Connecticut summers growing up. I think his parents sent him there as discipline; I was voluntary as there's not much occasion for archery in the asphalt jungles of Bay Ridge. You'd get jumped carrying a bustling quiver around!
I wouldn't say we were rivals; more that we kind of ran in different circles. Jesse was more of a maverick stylistically (we called him 'Coltrane' because his improvisational, feel-oriented approach evoked the fluid unpredictability of jazz) and I definitely played it close, was more a proponent of the Octobad school - the famous 'aim, don't shoot!' philosophy (my nickname was 'Wonder' as in reliable whitebread).
It was a magnetized marriage of opposites; I think we learned a lot from each other; I learned to hang looser, and he learned the merits of team play. Obviously just one of many solid relationships formed at Silver Tips. There's an annual reunion we always go to together. It's well-catered.
...this isn't an entirely serious response btw, i include it for posterity
I wouldn't say we were rivals; more that we kind of ran in different circles. Jesse was more of a maverick stylistically (we called him 'Coltrane' because his improvisational, feel-oriented approach evoked the fluid unpredictability of jazz) and I definitely played it close, was more a proponent of the Octobad school - the famous 'aim, don't shoot!' philosophy (my nickname was 'Wonder' as in reliable whitebread).
It was a magnetized marriage of opposites; I think we learned a lot from each other; I learned to hang looser, and he learned the merits of team play. Obviously just one of many solid relationships formed at Silver Tips. There's an annual reunion we always go to together. It's well-catered.
...this isn't an entirely serious response btw, i include it for posterity
DAISY:
Jesse and Vin acoustic show. March 18, 2009, approximately 6 months before the release of daisy (September 22, 2009)
some livejournal responses to this performance:
callhomicide:
when he screams he sounds like he is trying to sound like kurt cobian. it sounds too much like the unplugged record.
you would think i would like that, but i don't
fritothegreat:
I can't listen to it.. the screaming is just.. off for some reason and it bugs me. I'll wait for a non-acoustic version so his screaming doesn't sound so shrill.
And yes I know I'm a bad fan for this comment.
smurfmonologue:
fans are allowed to not like songs a band puts out.
I don't like the entire Devil and God record. case in point.
Note: this person has since deleted their account. I would too, so embarassing.
hawtpants09:
it sounds like this record is going to be so loud and chaotic and unorganized. i'm stoked.
skaleez:
I just got home from the bar, and this is a little too much for me to handle.
haha.
brokenintention:
the best part of this video is the 30 or so seconds before the song actually starts. And I never thought I would ever say something like that about Brand New. Go figure.
Note: these comments are on a separate video of the same performance, which features banter between Jesse, Vin, and the crowd before the song starts
playcrackskybn:
I had the door closed and my mom was in the other room and yelled in is he gonna sing or just scream the whole time?
you know in brooklyn when he did the whole the new album is gonna sound like this... thing i thought he was joking. I really hope the whole album isnt him screaming. There is a big difference how he yells things (like he does with alot of kevin songs) and this screaming.
that being said i dont hate it
Their reply three hours later:
okay i think i like it alot more after listening to the one of the full set...maybe he just had a chance to grow on me.
when he screams he sounds like he is trying to sound like kurt cobian. it sounds too much like the unplugged record.
you would think i would like that, but i don't
fritothegreat:
I can't listen to it.. the screaming is just.. off for some reason and it bugs me. I'll wait for a non-acoustic version so his screaming doesn't sound so shrill.
And yes I know I'm a bad fan for this comment.
smurfmonologue:
fans are allowed to not like songs a band puts out.
I don't like the entire Devil and God record. case in point.
Note: this person has since deleted their account. I would too, so embarassing.
hawtpants09:
it sounds like this record is going to be so loud and chaotic and unorganized. i'm stoked.
skaleez:
I just got home from the bar, and this is a little too much for me to handle.
haha.
brokenintention:
the best part of this video is the 30 or so seconds before the song actually starts. And I never thought I would ever say something like that about Brand New. Go figure.
Note: these comments are on a separate video of the same performance, which features banter between Jesse, Vin, and the crowd before the song starts
playcrackskybn:
I had the door closed and my mom was in the other room and yelled in is he gonna sing or just scream the whole time?
you know in brooklyn when he did the whole the new album is gonna sound like this... thing i thought he was joking. I really hope the whole album isnt him screaming. There is a big difference how he yells things (like he does with alot of kevin songs) and this screaming.
that being said i dont hate it
Their reply three hours later:
okay i think i like it alot more after listening to the one of the full set...maybe he just had a chance to grow on me.
Brian Lane!!!
Similarly to The Devil And God, Daisy had a slightly messy release:
- Not a lot of promo and interviews (well, compared to Deja...)
- Album gets leaked before release*
- People hated it at first and said it was worse than YFW
- Album gets leaked before release*
- People hated it at first and said it was worse than YFW
*However: One very notable difference between the two is that for the most part, Daisy's "leak" wasn't several actual Brand New songs that had never been heard before. It was instead several songs by The Republic of Wolves, who someone had uploaded online under the name Brand New, as well as songs that had already been performed live before the release of Daisy. Not much of a leak, is it? I believe the only actual song to be leaked was At The Bottom.
Snippet from a positive review on livejournal:
"But this time around, little can be said about what is missing or what feels different. Their latest, Daisy, opens with "Vices." And, believe it or not, Brand New have never felt so brand new. It begins with a woman singing a ballad in a beautiful, fifties era mind set...and suddenly, the guitar and drums and bass rip through the tranquility, and Lacey opens. "WE NEED VICES! WE NEED VICES! WHERE IS ALL MY HOPE AND MY MARRIAGE LISENCE?" Could you call it metal? No. Could you call it screamo? No. It can only be defined as Brand New.
Daisy takes the best parts of Deja and The Devil and God and creates something that is like a lovechild of the two. Don't take the runtime seriously...at eleven tracks even, the album is dense...Take note: The album is Brand New's best yet, but it is HARDLY perfect. Its a bit slow, a bit TOO dense, and a bit to unrelenting.
But song after song, the album rolls into something that is exquisite. It takes a listen or two to understand what they are trying to achieve, but once you do, you realize that Brand New have created a modern classic, and without a doubt one of the best records of the year."
Daisy takes the best parts of Deja and The Devil and God and creates something that is like a lovechild of the two. Don't take the runtime seriously...at eleven tracks even, the album is dense...Take note: The album is Brand New's best yet, but it is HARDLY perfect. Its a bit slow, a bit TOO dense, and a bit to unrelenting.
But song after song, the album rolls into something that is exquisite. It takes a listen or two to understand what they are trying to achieve, but once you do, you realize that Brand New have created a modern classic, and without a doubt one of the best records of the year."
Source
Pre-Science Fiction
And so begins the several year period of "OH FUCK ARE THEY BREAKING UP???". Well, don't worry Brand New fans in 2010, you've got a couple years and one more album left before a whole lot of shit goes down and they disappear off the face of the Earth.
From yet another interview (May 11, 2012):
Today, the band is deliberately laying low, touring and recording sporadically and granting few press interviews.
By phone from his Suffolk County home, Lacey speaks earnestly but vaguely about the band's future. Brand New booked studio time in April, and its members took advantage of it -- but usually not together. "You start to lose that whole idea that it's important for our band to be known as this entity. And we put a lot more importance on our individual fulfillment, really," Lacey says. "In some ways a band can be limiting, especially after being in it for 10 to 12 years. It really has become a lot more about the friendship and the families we have with each other -- and the idea that we can't do this much longer."
So what's the band's future? "Brand New is always going to be Brand New -- I don't think we're ever going to say, 'Hey, we're never going to record a record again,' " Lacey continues. "But at the same time, there were things in the course of the band that we weren't looking ahead to what the next record was going to be."
At the least, Lacey confirms Brand New will still be together when it plays Bamboozle. "We're playing the day that Bon Jovi is playing, and it's just a total laugh. How does that make any sense whatsoever?" he says amiably. "You mention it in passing to your friends. Just the look on their faces: 'What do you mean?' 'I don't know, they asked us. So we're going to do it.' "
By phone from his Suffolk County home, Lacey speaks earnestly but vaguely about the band's future. Brand New booked studio time in April, and its members took advantage of it -- but usually not together. "You start to lose that whole idea that it's important for our band to be known as this entity. And we put a lot more importance on our individual fulfillment, really," Lacey says. "In some ways a band can be limiting, especially after being in it for 10 to 12 years. It really has become a lot more about the friendship and the families we have with each other -- and the idea that we can't do this much longer."
So what's the band's future? "Brand New is always going to be Brand New -- I don't think we're ever going to say, 'Hey, we're never going to record a record again,' " Lacey continues. "But at the same time, there were things in the course of the band that we weren't looking ahead to what the next record was going to be."
At the least, Lacey confirms Brand New will still be together when it plays Bamboozle. "We're playing the day that Bon Jovi is playing, and it's just a total laugh. How does that make any sense whatsoever?" he says amiably. "You mention it in passing to your friends. Just the look on their faces: 'What do you mean?' 'I don't know, they asked us. So we're going to do it.' "
♡ ♡ ♡
A decade before this, the band had a split EP, holiday EP, two albums that had a decent amount of public promotion, a tour dvd, a video documenting the making of Deja, televised interviews, AP magazine covers. Between ~2010 up until 2015, there was very little activity outside of tours and the occasional magazine interview. There were only two thing fans got music wise during this five year span: A rework of three of the demos that had previously been leaked before the release of TDAG (Brother's Song, Missing You, 1996), as well as the leak of Out of Range in 2013. At the time people weren't even entirely sure if it was a BN song because the vocals were done by Vin instead of Jesse, also probably because the last time a bunch of songs "leaked" (before the release of Daisy), most of them were actually by The Republic of Wolves.
2014. One of few BN videos from the 2010's that aren't from concerts. This is also where Jesse tells the aforementioned story about the guitar stolen from John Nolan's church.
Shone
While Brand New was mostly silent, a new band (Shone) cryptically arose comprised of Brian Lane, Andrew Accardi, and Vin Accardi (surely there was more than that but this band is fucking impossible to research...) SO. This began with various Brand New adjacent bands tweeting out "be patient.", and later the link heatthing.com, which ended up being the name of Shone's first album. According to someone on reddit who was admittedly telling the story from memory, before anything was really known about Shone, a scavenger hunt was set up and mainly took place in Long Island. Participants were people who had signed up to a mailing list from heatthing.com. They were sent letters in the mail (which I believe Brand New did something similar to right before the release of Science Fiction), which contained various clues.
I think the existance of these videos are a testament to how dedicated BN fans really were at this time. Unfortuneately when Shone finally did release music, they didn't get the best reception, which I think was caused in part by Jesse not being involved.
2000-2018
The beginning of the end...
The earliest record of Brand New hinting at the death of the band (at least that I could find) comes from the acoustic show that Jesse and Vin did, which took place before the announcement of Daisy. I don't remember exactly who said what, but one of them made mention of the album or a new song or something, and the other one replies with "that's if there even is an album" (or something along those lines). The crowd did not seem to like that comment.
It isn't until 2016 when people begin to realize that they probably aren't joking anymore. Shirts depicting the phrase "BRAND NEW 2000-2018" as well as a graphic of an upside down cross made up of flowers are sold and the same image starts being shown at the end of their concerts.
(click to open it in a new tab)
2016 begins with the official release of the leaked demos from 2006. They are only sold on cassette with two variations, red and black. Almost exactly five months later on May 17 2016, I Am A Nightmare is released. On July 22 2016, Out of Range, which had been leaked three years prior, was officially released alongside Mene.
mene mene tekel upharsin
Science Fiction
This is where this page starts to get REALLY rough because even though I was a fan of BN during this time, I'm still not entirely sure what happened here. So, 2017. Cryptic posts begin appearing on the subreddit, which still remains as the main home for BN fans (as opposed to livejournal and tumblr). People already know that the end is near, and suddenly a sixty minute CD begins showing up at the doors of 500 Brand New fans, each copy being individually numbered. This CD contains all of Science Fiction, but doesn't contain any actual information about the album. The album cover, title, and song titles end up being leaked when people try to find the songs on shazam.
Science Fiction is officially released on August 17 2017. It immediately hits #1 on the Billboard top 100 without any promotion whatsoever. As of 2026 this is the last music they've released.
A 7/10???? Unsubscribed.
Brand New in an October 2017 issue of Kerrang!
(click to open in higher quality in new tab)
Articles about Science Fiction:
billboard - Brand New’s ‘Science Fiction’ Is a Dizzying, Legend-Making (and Potentially Career-Closing) Album
uproxx - Brand New’s Great Would-Be Swan Song ‘Science Fiction’ Is The Emo ‘Abbey Road’
pitchfork - Best New Music (8.3/10)
vulture - Review: The Apocalyptic World of Brand New’s Science Fiction Feels Realer Than Ever
vice - Brand New's 'Science Fiction' and the Terminal Dread of Being Alive
stereogum - Premature Evaluation: Brand New Science Fiction
billboard - Brand New Bound for First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart
consequence - Album Review: Brand New – Science Fiction
pitchfork - “Same Logic/Teeth” named Best New Track
the av club - Brand New writes its own eulogy with Science Fiction
npr - Brand New, Again: 'Science Fiction' Is A Self-Revival
THE END (FOR REAL THIS TIME)
"I hope we see you again. We’ll be back to play some more shows before we go away forever. I’ll thank you again if I see you again, but I’d like to take the time now to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the time you guys have spent listening to our music and sharing with your friends and coming to our shows. We don’t feel entitled to any of this. We feel it’s a real privilege that we’ve gotten to do this with our lives and we owe it a lot to you so thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Hope you have a wonderful night and a good rest of your year."
- Jesse Lacey, at the end of their last show (*before their resurrection in 2025).
In the middle of their tour in late 2017, allegations against Jesse Lacey come out claiming that he groomed several underage fans. Shit hits the fan and people immediately begin disavowing Brand New. Jesse releases an apology, but people are still upset. Apparently the woman who originally brought this to light might not be the most reliable source, or at least something similar to that because a lot of people seem to not like her very much as a person (whether these are valid criticisms or just people who dislike her for causing the early death of BN, I do not know.) One thing I do want to bring up about this is that while doing research for this page, I found a handful of girls across different livejournal threads already calling out Jesse Lacey, as well as other men in the emo scene, as early as 2003. However, every comment relating to this was met with no attention at all, or people accusing the girls of either trying to brag, or just trying to make him look bad. During this time, it was common for livejournal users to say all kinds of shit about guys in bands that were popular at the time. However, comments accusing Jesse of sexual impropriety was very resentful and often brought up stories all relating to having a high school aged girlfriend, which lines up with what was said about him in 2017. Why this went ignored for so long, I could not tell you.
The first woman to bring up allegations against Jesse Lacey was a woman named Nicole. In 2017, right after the allegations came out, moderators of r/brandnew began banning users who questioned anything Nicole said, and in response r/fightoffyourdemons was created. If you're interested in finding out about the more odd things in this situation, I recommend sorting by top of all time. This megathread does a pretty good job at explaining what supposedly really happened (please note that most of the people who worked on this weren't actually there and don't know Nicole or Jesse personally, so there's no way of knowing exactly what happened). One of the most important things to take into consideration is that apparently Nicole graduated high school in 2005, and sent her first email to Jesse in 2007, but her livejournal posts from 2003 talk about going out with Jesse IRL. Just because she emailed him in 2007 doesn't mean she didn't already know him. This post shows screenshots taken directly from her livejournal. Very interesting.
About listening to BN, here's a comment I shamelessly stole from reddit:
"Honestly, it’s not even fair to Brian, Vinnie or Garrett, for us to act like Brand New is some badge of shame. Jesse was a piece of shit, but it’s not like he was the band, alone. As far as I’m concerned, their music belongs just as much to us as fans that it does to Jesse."
Their last show took place on October 29th 2017 in Dallas. After this they officially cancelled the UK dates.
R.I.P. ♡ love you
Note: As of Jan. 2025, I've taken out a lot of what I previously had written in this section. 1. I was very confident that Brand New weren't ever going to come back, and it's starting to look like I might've been incorrect. 2. It was a sloppy, low-effort way of ending the page and was not complete. 3. The way I wrote about the allegations against Jesse Lacey was very lazy and came off as too victim-blamey and almost read as if I was denying that they happened. 4. I originally made this out of boredom and threw it together in about one week in 2023. I didn't realize anyone was even going to see it and filled it with exaggerated stories, dumb rants, and off-topic rambling.
Post-Brand New (incomplete section)
On July 8, 2024, a Reddit user claiming to be Nicole posted the following comment:
Nicole here, on a throwaway. Just wanted to pop in to say that I’ve done A LOT of healing since I spoke out and I don’t care if they start to play shows again. I never wanted anyone who felt an emotional connection to the music to stop listening. I would request they don’t book in Buffalo so it’s not thrown in my face and I’m not put in a situation where I do something stupid, but other than that, I really don’t care.
I chose not to speak up for 15 years because I knew this music meant something to a lot of people and I really didn’t want to ruin it for everyone. Unfortunately, I reached a place where I had to prioritize my own mental health over the mental health of strangers and I still feel a lot of shame that I couldn’t just keep my mouth shut for the greater good.
Seven other women reached out to me privately to tell me he did the same thing to them, but they didn’t want their names to go public and I will respect their privacy until the day I die. They’re really the only reason that I don’t struggle with my initial decision to speak. Every single day, I think of all the people who can no longer listen to their favorite band because I couldn’t just suck it up and handle my shit. I’m still working through that guilt. Especially since I still have MY favorite band to lean on through all of this and I couldn’t have done it without them. Shout out to Iron Chic!
TBH this entire experience has created a pretty wicked martyr complex in me that I still can’t shake - I’m not sure if this comment is a function of that or not, I’ll ask my therapist in our session today. I’m still struggling to afford my therapist for as many sessions as I actually need, but I’m getting there. Please forgive me if any of this comes out weird or whatever, I’m still working on it.
But either way, ya’ll. Please don’t feel guilty for continuing to listen or support the band. The last thing I wanted was for other people to be without support during their own emotional crises, and I know Brand New has been a huge emotional support for many of you. And that’s ok. Life isn’t black and white. He did a lot of bad things but he did a lot of great things, too. And it’s ok to recognize and appreciate the good things. That doesn’t mean the bad things are any more forgiven or acceptable. You can’t erase the past, but you can study it, take what’s useful, and learn to move forward with grace. Please take what’s useful to you! Just because it harmed me doesn’t mean it won’t be useful to you. All I ask is that people that I know in real life turn to someone else when they want to talk about Brand New. It’d be nice if ya’ll stopped playing it on jukeboxes so I don’t get triggered by surprise, but I’ve got coping mechanisms for that situation now, so no big deal.
I do want to thank whomever it was that kept playing it randomly at Sligo in Davis Square in Boston back in 2015. My reaction back then was to throw my drink at the wall and sink to the floor, unable to speak or move. It happened 2 or 3 times before I started recognizing my reaction as PTSD - this is what got the ball rolling for me to get a diagnosis and then to speak up. So THANK YOU, random person, if you’re here! You changed my life!
I’ve checked in on this sub a few times over the years, and I appreciate everyone that’s had kind words and support for me over the years. I appreciate the naysayers, too. What I’ve read here has really helped me grow SO MUCH as a person and I will forever be grateful for that. It still floors me.
Wishing everyone health and happiness as we continue along this journey of life, whatever it looks like to you. ❤️
I chose not to speak up for 15 years because I knew this music meant something to a lot of people and I really didn’t want to ruin it for everyone. Unfortunately, I reached a place where I had to prioritize my own mental health over the mental health of strangers and I still feel a lot of shame that I couldn’t just keep my mouth shut for the greater good.
Seven other women reached out to me privately to tell me he did the same thing to them, but they didn’t want their names to go public and I will respect their privacy until the day I die. They’re really the only reason that I don’t struggle with my initial decision to speak. Every single day, I think of all the people who can no longer listen to their favorite band because I couldn’t just suck it up and handle my shit. I’m still working through that guilt. Especially since I still have MY favorite band to lean on through all of this and I couldn’t have done it without them. Shout out to Iron Chic!
TBH this entire experience has created a pretty wicked martyr complex in me that I still can’t shake - I’m not sure if this comment is a function of that or not, I’ll ask my therapist in our session today. I’m still struggling to afford my therapist for as many sessions as I actually need, but I’m getting there. Please forgive me if any of this comes out weird or whatever, I’m still working on it.
But either way, ya’ll. Please don’t feel guilty for continuing to listen or support the band. The last thing I wanted was for other people to be without support during their own emotional crises, and I know Brand New has been a huge emotional support for many of you. And that’s ok. Life isn’t black and white. He did a lot of bad things but he did a lot of great things, too. And it’s ok to recognize and appreciate the good things. That doesn’t mean the bad things are any more forgiven or acceptable. You can’t erase the past, but you can study it, take what’s useful, and learn to move forward with grace. Please take what’s useful to you! Just because it harmed me doesn’t mean it won’t be useful to you. All I ask is that people that I know in real life turn to someone else when they want to talk about Brand New. It’d be nice if ya’ll stopped playing it on jukeboxes so I don’t get triggered by surprise, but I’ve got coping mechanisms for that situation now, so no big deal.
I do want to thank whomever it was that kept playing it randomly at Sligo in Davis Square in Boston back in 2015. My reaction back then was to throw my drink at the wall and sink to the floor, unable to speak or move. It happened 2 or 3 times before I started recognizing my reaction as PTSD - this is what got the ball rolling for me to get a diagnosis and then to speak up. So THANK YOU, random person, if you’re here! You changed my life!
I’ve checked in on this sub a few times over the years, and I appreciate everyone that’s had kind words and support for me over the years. I appreciate the naysayers, too. What I’ve read here has really helped me grow SO MUCH as a person and I will forever be grateful for that. It still floors me.
Wishing everyone health and happiness as we continue along this journey of life, whatever it looks like to you. ❤️
Full comment thread can be found here, as the replies to her comment are a bit interesting On December 15, 2024, Brand New had a private reunion show in Nashville. Two days prior, a cryptic Reddit post hinting at a reunion was made but later deleted (unfortunately, I saw the post but didn't screenshot it because I thought it was bullshit. I'm a really great archivist, I know.)
At this point, the bio is continued in the 2025 updates tab, as Brand New has returned and I now have things to write about in present tense instead of past tense!! After many, many years as a Brand New fan, I finally saw them on June 16, 2025, and I consider it to be one of the best days of my life.