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| | Brand New Interview
I recently had the opportunity to interview Vinnie of Brand New on their headlining tour kick-off at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC on October 30th, 2003. I’d just like to say “Thanks” to him and Indy as well as those at Razor & Tie / Triple Crown for making this interview possible.
Jared: Well, you guys just finished the tour with Dashboard Confessional and I was wondering what that whole tour / experience was like.
Vinnie: Honestly, probably, one of my top two tours, definitely one of my favorite tours. We, all the crew, all the bands, became such good friends. It was a really big learning experience ‘cause the shows were a lot bigger. Obviously Dashboard is a lot bigger production than us. It was an awesome learning experience for all of us. Everything was fun. Every night was just a huge hang out. Some of the venues were gigantic, which was actually, a little uncomfortable. For a month and a half we never saw clubs this small. It was like, you know, especially us, we’re really like use to interacting with the crowd and making ourselves really accessible to see people, especially before and after the show and that was like one of the strange parts about it. You know Dashboard had such tight security and then you’re in such large venues it’s hard to get around. That was kind of disappointing, but I mean outside of that, it was great.
Jared: What was the crowd reaction like you know being on a Dashboard bill and his typical fan base and the crowd he draws?
Vinnie: Well, we have a lot of little girls too. So it wasn’t too different and, actually, we were pretty well received by the crowd. I guess us and Dashboard pretty much share the same crowd so it was pretty cool. Are you a fan of Dashboard?
Jared: He’s ok.
Vinnie: Hey, it’s all good, you don’t have to lie. (laughs)
Jared: Yeah, I saw you here at the Bender Arena stop. What was that music you guys came out to?
Vinnie: Oh, Pharaoh Monche.
Jared: Yeah, you guys coming out to that tonight or on this tour?
Vinnie: Naw, we can’t keep doing that man. Honestly, like, if I was like tired a little bit, just not feeling well, the minute we were waiting and that came on I was like “Hell Yeah”. I was so syked to play. I was like “this is gonna be sick.”
Jared: Well, tonight is the kick-off to your headlining tour with Hot Rod and Eisley. What made you guys bring them out with you?
Vinnie: Uh, one thing about going on tour, and especially when it’s not your tour, you know… basically we love their bands. That’s it. You know what I mean. We had the opportunity to choose who we wanted to take out. When we first started touring Hot Rod did anything they ever could to help out. The first time we ever got a tour with them we were like little kids man. We couldn’t believe one of our favorite bands was taking us out, know what I mean? Just like a lot of tours we’ve been on I’ve liked the bands that were on, but I don’t wanna sit and watch them every night. You know it gets old. And both these bands are bands I could definitely sit and watch every night and enjoy.
Jared: So what other bands besides these ones would you like to tour with?
Vinnie: Uh, the Foo Fighters (stops interview to talk to friend)
Jared: Are there any surprises or covers that we can expect tonight or on this tour? You guys like covered “El Scorcho” by Weezer before.
Vinnie: Yeah, that stuff is always really random.
Jared: Oh really?
Vinnie: Yeah, we don’t ever really know how to play them. Then we’re like “we got extra time so we just outta play one of those songs”. Surprises? Not really surprises. We’re going to have a few extra lights this time which is weird. We’re not use to that, but besides that, I’m just excited to be able to play this many songs again. You know we like came off a headlining tour last spring and then went into Warped Tour and then went into Dashboard so it was a couple months of just us doing half hour sets and it’s just as soon as you’re getting into it you’re like “shoot we have to stop”. So I don’t know if we’re going to make it through the entire set because we haven’t played that long in so long, but it should be fun. I’m looking forward to that.
Jared: So what’s the set list going to be like on this tour? Half the first record and half the new one?
Vinnie: It’s a pretty good mix. There were a lot of songs off “Your Favorite Weapon” that, uh, we always played ‘cause they were favorites of ours and we kinda just forgot about the other songs on it so we tried to bring a couple of those back.
Jared: Ok. You guys recently shot a video for “Sic Transit Gloria”.
Vinnie: Yeah we did. Pretty syked about that. (Garrett then shows him the shirts with tour dates on the back and they go nuts)
Jared: Can you like elaborate on what the storyline behind it was?
Vinnie: Uh, basically, it’s kind of, sum it up, really easily, it’s like a “Master of Puppets” kind of deal. Just that phrase entirely like just kinda weird, creepy, puppetry thing. No puppets in it, though, the idea of it.
Jared: So when can we expect to see that video?
Vinnie: I think it drops…November 15th, or 14th, something like that. Somewhere around there.
Jared: And recently your guys’ music has been spreading across the globe. You guys just got picked up in Japan and Australia. What’s it like knowing your music is reaching that far out?
Vinnie: As far as Japan goes I just don’t really understand it ‘cause I don’t understand how..
Jared: You can like the music and not understand it?
Vinnie: Yeah. And anyone I’ve ever talked to is like you go over there and they know every word which is pretty amazing. Um, honestly, it’s really, really scary thing to think about. I remember when we first started and going to New Jersey and being like “Wow, people from New Jersey comes to our shows now.” And then you go a little bit further now and then you’re in Florida. To think that oceans away people that don’t even speak the same language as you are enjoying your music. It’s mind blowing. It’s actually like a honor, so privileged to be able to do what we’re doing and make it go that far.,
Jared: You guys ever plan on heading out to Japan?
Vinnie: Uh, actually, I think depending on what things are looking like maybe sometime in the spring I think we’re going to try and get over there and Australia.
Jared: How about your music being featured on video games or being MTV’s “Next Big Thing” and Rolling Stone’s “Hot Band of 2003”?
Vinnie: Weird. It’s all weird. Weird because, you know, the only thing I could ever think of when I was little was “I gotta be like Nirvana or Green Day. They’re everywhere.” And it’s just like the coolest thing in the world, going on tour and being in magazines. And they’re doing it. You keep doing it and doing it. You don’t even realize what’s going on. You go out and do a photo shoot and go and do the video and you never see all this. But like everybody at home and your mom is constantly calling you and being like “saw the magazine you look awesome and everyone is flippin’ out at home. I know how special it means to me ‘cause I’m so proud of us to be able to have the opportunity to do something like that. I always try to kick it back into perspective. When I’m like what was it like to open up a magazine and all I wanted to see was pictures of Billy Joe or Kurt Cobain or something like that. That’s crazy. I’m like if you really think about it kids are looking at us like that. That’s an insane thought. Somebody’s got our picture on their wall and they like our music. What is that? It’s crazy. To think about the fact that all these songs start out in a basement or room and to turn into such a huge thing is just a monster idea. Crazy.
Jared: Well, that’s also part of my next question. You just did your first national television appearance on Kimmel and with the amount of fans that showed up and the way they reacted.
Vinnie: That was, like, oh jeez man, most surreal experience ever. That was actually where I just said I’ve been thinking about it more often. When we did that we were standing on the stage and I was like so scared and I was like “dude, this is insane, we’re about to play on the TV. I’m like not, not, not only are there, like, a great amount of kids here to see us who are coming out to support the fact that we’re going to be on TV, but there, some random dude who is going to be flippin’ through the channels and likes to watch Kimmel and watch us. You know what I mean, it’s crazy. That’s when we all start to talk about how insane it is to think that we wrote these songs in a basement and they started out as nothing and like now this is where they all went, it’s all wild.
Jared: And the fact that so many people are watching it at that one time.
Vinnie: It’s pretty scary.
Jared: But also, next week, Alternative Press comes out and you guys are on the cover of that. Who came up with the idea of the cover?
Vinnie: Actually, it was pretty much, we showed up and we had no idea what was going on. The photographer was like “Listen, I kinda wanna mess around with this.” I think he had done a few covers and, um, he kinda wanted to make it a bit more interesting. And we thought that that was fine. He was like “I don’t want you guys to be holding your guitars and whatever. We were like fine and we sat down and he told us to hold these pieces of papers in front of your face and we were like “what’s going on.” And basically told us the idea and we said “cool” and hung out and that’s what it turned out to be.
Jared: Yeah, usually covers are so generic.
Vinnie: Not even just that. Like everything. Know what I mean? Like every video a band is playing in the house, now the band is playing on the roof, now the band is playing in the backyard. Know what I mean? Don’t people wanna see something else?
Jared: But knowing that you guys have an 8 page spread. 8 pages of a pretty well circulated magazine just focused on you guys. Is that just as well mind boggling? And what is the article about?
Vinnie: It talks about where we came from, family, what songs are written about. Basically, just a elaborate interview about everything we get asked all the time. Know what I mean? I guess it just goes into it with a little more depth.
Jared: It’s being rumored every other week that you guys inked a major label deal such as DreamWorks and was wondering if that was official?
Vinnie: Yeah. That’s official now. That’s over.
Jared: What are you guys expecting to get out of DreamWorks as opposed to Razor & Tie or Triple Crown?
Vinnie: Um, hopefully the same exact thing that those guys have done for us. Because they have done a lot and have worked out for us and it was great and a family feel, the whole environment. They knew that we were busting our asses to work and get our music out there to kids and we knew they were busting their asses to help us do it. And, you know, I don’t look at DreamWorks as “Wow, a major label with a lot of money. We’re going to blow up and be this huge band.” I look at it as we went a label that loved our music and would let us explore what we needed to do and would back anything we wanted to do. Not just making sure that we’re number one on TRL when that record comes out. ‘Cause honestly that’s not what I want. I want a career. Obviously you’ve heard everyone talk how this record is so different from the last and blah blah blah blah and you know what the third one will probably be like that too. We want to explore music. We want to see what we’re capable of and there is a lot to discover as far as writing songs and you know, we did it, we wanted someone there who would understand that and would let us explore that and we felt DreamWorks best suited that.
Jared: Yeah, because, even though Triple Crown is a smaller label, your CD was still everywhere.
Vinnie: That’s what I’m saying. That was the idea. They loved our music. We loved everyone that worked there and Razor & Tie and everyone was so excited about everything. Eveybody just worked with the same goal in mind just let’s build a career, let’s freaking do what we’re doing. It worked out well.
Jared: Now even though Deja came out 4½ months ago, is there any plans for your major label debut already?
Vinnie: Uh, no, not really. We’re still trying to figure out what the hell we’re doing. I think next year, it kinda occurred to us, we’ve been pretty much touring for the last three years non-stop, so as of right now the new year is looking like uh the end of January we’ll be in Europe for two weeks with Straylight Run and Moneen and then maybe another US tour and maybe go overseas, we’re not really sure. Maybe sometime around the summer we’re going to try and take a little time off for ourselves and hang out, have a good amount of time to try and write the next record. This one was pretty rushed. We actually didn’t have most of the songs when we went into the studio. Kind of wanna go in a little bit more prepared. Just have time to feel out what we really wanna sound like. Just need a breather.
Jared: Yeah, three years is a long time to be away (from home).
Vinnie: Yeah
Jared: Now speaking of Deja, where were most of those songs inspired from since they’re so different from the ones off of “Your Favorite Weapon”?
Vinnie: Uh, well, you know. We get that question a lot lately and I’ve been trying to explain to people that “Your Favorite Weapon”, you know, that record came out probably close to three years now and we had had those songs probably three years prior to that so a lot of those songs can be close to six to seven years old, you know? And, so, you’re writing songs at 15 and then you’re writing songs at 20 and 25. There’s just so many things you pick up along the way just touring and then obviously you’re going to start listening to more music and things are going to going to influence it. And that’s the only explaination I really have for it. We wrote what we wrote. We weren’t even sure if we liked any of it, but we were like “this is what we did and let’s try to make it work.” I’m not going to lie. When I got the record back I wasn’t that proud of it. I was very confused about it. I was like I don’t know if any of this is good or not. And right before it came out and we started practicing it and I sat with the record for a little while I was like: “I love this. I love these songs. I think we did a really good job. I’m proud of us.” The one thing I remember sitting down and having a song finished in the studio being like really excited knowing the energy we put into it and then the next day being really confused about it and was just like as long as we love these songs and that people still hear that the same four kids are inside it that were on “Your Favorite Weapon” and they’ll believe it if they want to. Hopefully it just gets well received and fortunately for us it did.
Jared: Along with that then, were there any songs that were recorded for Deja that didn’t make it?
Vinnie: Yeah. There are a couple and you’ll probably never hear them. We had to release a couple B-sides for Europe and we went back to listen to them and were like “we know now why they didn’t make it to the record.” They were just mediocre to everything else. It didn’t feel like us. So we left those aside. There are a bunch of songs that were demos for the record that we’re pretty excited about trying to fix up and release in some way and I’m sure over time they will be just don’t know when or where. Not even thinking about it.
Jared: What was your favorite song off of Deja to play or just listen to?
Vinnie: I have no idea. I have no idea. I always, there is that time during a set where I’m like “I love this song.” I always look at it on the set list and when I see “The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot” and I’m like “whatever” but after I play it I’m like “I really proud of that one. That’s really sick.” But that goes for every song.
Jared: Well, now that you have two records out, which song gets the best crowd reaction, the crowd the most pumped?
Vinnie: It’s weird. It’s always different. For the most part everything is pretty well received. But then you play “Jude Law” and everyone is like “Yeah” and you play “Quiet Things” and “Sic Transit”. But then it’s cool ‘cause “The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot”, “Soco”, “The No Seatbelt Song” I like to think that kids are enjoying those just as much as everything else that they can scream their faces off to. I know I am.
Jared: Jess recently stayed in LA to record a song for KROQ for a Christmas comp. Do you know by any chance which song he recorded?
Vinnie: Uh, oh my god, I forgot what it was, I think it might be “Oh Holy Night” but I’m not sure.
Jared: Was it him by himself?
Vinnie: Yeah, it was kind of an up in the air thing. It happened so fast.
Jared: Paul from the site wanted to know if Jesse had gotten with the girl from IMX yet.
Vinnie: (Laughs) Uh, as far as I know no. I keep yelling at him ‘cause he got her number and I don’t understand why he hasn’t yet.
Jared: Back to the Kimmel thing, are there any TV appearances lined up?
Vinnie: Uh, not that I know of.
Jared: What have you recently been listening to? Album and/or artist.
Vinnie: Uh, actually, since I’ve been home I haven’t stopped listening to the new Coheed. I love that record. I think it’s brilliant. I think they’re a brilliant band. And I’ve started listening to Pearl Jam again and picked up a Marilyn Manson record. I finished up his autobiography on tour and I said “Let me listen to this stuff again.” I’ve been diving into weird stuff like Nine Inch Nails like just interesting stuff. I’ve been listening to a lot of Fugees and Biggie Smalls.
Jared: Yeah, Manson actually played here and sold out the club on this past weekend. Uh, what do you think about recently fellow Long Island native band The Movielife breaking up and I know them being good friends of yours?
Vinnie: Uh, I’m sad they’re not going to be a band anymore, but it’s their decision. So if it makes them happy not to be doing it it makes me just as happy. It is definitely a shame that something like that happened to them and The Reunion Show. It’s kinda scary. You don’t ever expect that to happen.
Jared: Were you a fan of Elliott Smith?
Vinnie: Yeah. I went around a whole day after that happened really confused. That kid was a great song writer. The world lost a real great musician. We were all really bothered by that.
Jared: And the last question, what can we expect from Brand New in 2004 in general?
Vinnie: More crazy antics and stranger music probably. I really don’t know man. It’s all with the wind. Hopefully another good year. Hopefully things keep going the way they’ve been. We’re more excited about things than we’ve ever been. Hopefully everybody stays with us. We’re going to do all we can to keep making the music we want to and trying to let people here it.
Jared: You have anything else that you’d like to say? Any last comments?
Vinnie: I just put together a skateboard and I’m excited. Outside of that no. |
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Displaying posts 1 - 15 of 18. |
04:25 PM on 03/21/04 | lets hear it for elliot smith. | | |
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04:44 PM on 03/21/04 | yay, i'm still kinda down about elliott. | | |
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08:27 PM on 03/21/04 | Good interview. Some really good questions. | | |
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08:34 PM on 03/21/04 | i respect vinnie during that interview because it seems like he's really considerin the question and givin a real answer - the hesitations, the repetition of "crazy" shows that at times it is mind bogglin for him and that's awesome. it makes me as having a love for music, and a huge respect for brand new, happy that vinnie didn't fill up the interview with simple cliche answers.
brand new rules. | | |
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10:02 PM on 03/21/04 | Originally Posted by Gunz i respect vinnie during that interview because it seems like he's really considerin the question and givin a real answer - the hesitations, the repetition of "crazy" shows that at times it is mind bogglin for him and that's awesome. it makes me as having a love for music, and a huge respect for brand new, happy that vinnie didn't fill up the interview with simple cliche answers.
brand new rules. |
Well you sumed up everything i wanted to say but put it into better words. =) | | |
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05:10 AM on 03/22/04 | that is probably one of the best interviews i've seen on this site, and maybe even of brand new in general anywhere. excellent job, my friend. | | |
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07:39 AM on 04/08/04 | I like Brand New's music, but it seems like they have the rockstar attitude now- I hope they get grounded again | | |
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09:22 AM on 04/08/04 | Originally Posted by sinbad I like Brand New's music, but it seems like they have the rockstar attitude now- I hope they get grounded again |
oh shut up | | |
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01:13 PM on 04/08/04 | way to be mature buddy- what's wrong, someone can't have a different opinion than you- or are you just mad that not everyone sweats this band- like i said, i like brand new's music, i really do- but they have changed and people have noticed it-
and one more thing.... stop taking people's posts so personal, you're not in the band | | |
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05:15 AM on 04/09/04 | Originally Posted by sinbad way to be mature buddy- what's wrong, someone can't have a different opinion than you- or are you just mad that not everyone sweats this band- like i said, i like brand new's music, i really do- but they have changed and people have noticed it-
and one more thing.... stop taking people's posts so personal, you're not in the band |
1. your 'rockstar' complaint is stupid.
2. who took anything personal? | | |
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04:12 PM on 04/09/04 | keep responding to my posts | | |
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10:49 PM on 06/24/04 | Good questions VEry long answers | | |
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11:54 PM on 09/20/05 | good interview, got to know a lot about the band I love oh, so much. | | |
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03:29 AM on 10/23/05 | Originally Posted by To.Die.For. good interview, got to know a lot about the band I love oh, so much. |
I agree!! Brand New are brilliant!:bigsmile: | | |
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