First Four-Track Demo [2000 - Self released]
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Dear Sorry [2001 - Self released]
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Your Favorite Weapon [2001 - Triple Crown Records]
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After signing a single album deal on Triple Crown Records, the band set to work on their debut, Your Favorite Weapon. The album was to be a mix of slightly altered rerecorded songs from their demos as well as several new ones. As Lacey, the band's songwriter, was only a teenager when he wrote the album, the lyrics were primarily driven by teen angst. The album was produced by Mike Sapone. The album was a moderate success[citation needed]. This allowed the band to tour nationally and internationally, supporting such bands as Taking Back Sunday, Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, Glassjaw, Incubus, Dashboard Confessional and Finch.
The song title "Seventy Times 7" in Your Favorite Weapon comes from a verse in the Bible - Matthew 18:22 - where Jesus tells Peter he must forgive his brother "seventy times seven" times - "Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how oft should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy times seven times.". The song is about a disagreement between Jesse Lacey and childhood friend John Nolan, lead singer of Straylight Run formerly from Taking Back Sunday. Taking Back Sunday later released "There Is No I in Team," which is their side of the story.
The first and only single released from Your Favorite Weapon was "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad," which received airplay on both MTV2 and Fuse. Since the release of the album, the band has expressed dismay at the fact that the album was not necessarily their best work. They also released a remade version of "Jude Law..." on their website as a free MP3.
Soon after the release of Your Favorite Weapon, the band released two songs on a split EP with Safety In Numbers. "Moshi Moshi" from this EP was also later available as a B-side on the UK "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad" single.
Split w/Safety In Numbers [2002 - Triple Crown Records / Fadeaway Records]
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Deja Entendu Demos[2003]
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Deja Entendu[2003 - Triple Crown Records]
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The band's second album, Deja Entendu, was released in June 2003 to much popular acclaim as well as favorable reviews. The album contains slower, deeper, darker songs with a more polished sound and complex lyrics about a wide range of topics, including lung cancer and sex.
The title is French, translating to "already heard," which is a comment on the band's opinion that all modern music sounds the same. It is worth noting that the band's name, "Brand New," is also a play on this concept. The album's songs have long titles, such as "Good to Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have to Do Is Die" and "Okay I Believe You, but My Tommy Gun Don't." It was produced by Steven Haigler, who was the sound engineer on the Pixies' Trompe le Monde.
The band has stated that most of the songs were not demoed and were "rushed", and that eleven out of the twelve songs recorded for the album appeared on it - with only "Flying At Tree Level (Version 1.0)" left off, with the track later appeared on the Beer: The Movie compilation soundtrack, and "Play Crack The Sky" being a late addition.
Three singles were released from this album on Eat Sleep Records and Sorepoint Records. The first single from Deja Entendu was "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows." Their second single from the album, "Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades," is a shortened version of the common Latin phrase Sic transit gloria mundi and is a reference to a line from the movie Rushmore. Both of these singles were top 40 hits within the UK, and their videos received relatively heavy rotation on MTV2 and Fuse TV. The band released a third single from this album, "I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light," solely for radio play.
During 2003, their debut album was also remastered and re-released. The album was then released for the first time in Australia and Japan during early 2004.
A limited edition EP, entitled The Holiday EP, was released soon after the album in late 2003, available only to the band's Street Team members. It contained re-releases of several B-sides and demos from Deja Entendu, album art by artist Brian Ewing, as well as a single new song - a cover of "O Holy Night." Available for only the price of postage, this EP sold out quickly, and has never been re-released. Consequently, it is now extremely rare and can sell for up to ninety US dollars. Between May 2004 (with the release of the UK "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" CDS B-sides) and June 2005, no new material was released by Brand New and no new information was publicly released to fans. During that time however, the band was signed by Interscope Records, a major label.
On December 28, 2003, the New York Times music critic, Kelefa Sanneh ranked Deja Entendu as one of the best albums of 2003, ranking the album number 5 on his top ten list, and Brand New were the artist of the year according to the 2003 Alternative Press Readers Poll
The Holiday EP [2003 - Self-released]
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The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows [2003 - Eat Sleep Records/Sore Point Records]
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2006 album demos [2006]
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The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me [2006 - Interscope Records/Tiny Evil Records]
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At the end of 2004, Brand New appeared on the cover of Alternative Press magazine, who had deemed their upcoming album the "most anticipated of 2005" but little to no information was actually provided about any new material. The band had very little contact with fans about new music or shows until in June 2005 when their Web site was finally updated, announcing that the band had started recording and confirming long-standing rumours that in early 2005 Lacey had been hospitalized for appendicitis, with the Web site specifically mentioning he had been "sick," "had surgery" and that there "were multiple things wrong with [him]," but stated that "most of [his problems] have been fixed."
In late 2005, the band started recording their highly-anticipated third album in Oxford, Mississippi, with producer Dennis Herring, but later dropped him in favor of Mike Sapone with whom they had worked on their first album. Also, this album has aided in giving this band the title of "America's Radiohead" by Alternative Press magazine.
On January 24, 2006 nine demos recorded in preparation of the new album were leaked onto the internet. All songs were untitled and were of unknown origin with only with a comment attached that they were "demos that probably won't be on Fight Off Your Demons", the then rumored title for the new album, based on the band's new website address. In the following months, with Brand New doing their first tour dates in over 18 months, several songs from the demos were performed with a full band, and some by just Jesse - some were fleshed out and had new lyrics. New songs had their debut as well during the summer tour dates. There was much speculation about the names of songs and the album name but very little solid information.
After much speculation and rumor regarding the final release date, and Alternative Press publishing a preliminary date of October 10, 2006, as the release date, the official website announced that the new album would finally be released on November 21, 2006 in North America, and the day before in Europe. Soon after, a track listing and the unusual cover art were revealed on as well as new information regarding the release of the first actual single - "Sowing Season" - one of the new tracks previewed during the summer tour. A rerecording of "Untitled 08 (Yeah)" from the demos, the single finally got a public airing on radio on October 19, 2006, and appeared on their MySpace page a day later. "Untitled 06", which made the album with slightly altered lyrics, was re-recorded and released as a bonus track on the UK album as "Luca (Reprise)". According to Lacey in a radio interview from the UK (BBC Radio 1 with Zane Lowe), the title The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is taken from a conversation he had with his friend about a friend who is schizophrenic.
In late December 2006, an unusual video was released for the instrumental track "Untitled", also known as "--", which mainly consists of a man spray painting a wall with "the evil and good are raging Inside me" and correcting it to give the album title. On January 16, 2007, "Jesus Christ" was announced as being the "official" first single from the album. On January 19, the band performed the song on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. From January to April, the band will tour Europe, USA and Canada.
