As a path to pop stardom, the route taken by Brand New is bizarre. In 2001 the Long Island quartet sent ripples through the US rock scene with a punk-pop debut that they later denounced. Two years on, they rode the wave of emo-rock with Deja Entendu, an album of slower, darker songs that brought them international acclaim. Then nothing. With emo exploding, their third album was tipped to be one of last year’s biggest hits, but it didn’t appear. Brand New refused to inform their fans of what had gone wrong.
Yet in their absence the band’s fanbase has mushroomed. Four old tracks on a fairly bare MySpace site have taken more than five million hits, and their only UK show this year, at Brixton Academy, sold out in a matter of hours. Not bad for a band who have barely scraped the bottom of the British charts. Astonishing for one whose majority of fans are traditionally fickle teenagers.
Indeed, the bulk of the Brixton crowd would have still been at school when Deja Entendu was released. Rather than move on, however, they appeared to have steeped themselves in Brand New’s back catalogue. Two drum beats in to the opening number Tautou they were screaming, crying and hugging each other, before belting out every line.
A purple spotlight showed the singer Jesse Lacey in shadow, but his bandmates could be identified only by their grinding guitars and heavy drums. During Jaws Theme Swimming, the dancefloor became a sea of waving arms, while the former single I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light was hijacked by fans who drowned Lacey out.
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Only twice did the singalongs stop — on the new numbers Mamas and Take Apart Your Head. Rather than enjoy a sneak preview of Brand New’s third album, now due out this autumn, the kids seemed perplexed. No wonder. The former was an atmospheric ballad that nodded to Coldplay, the latter a magnificent slow song that dragged its feet before bursting into feedback.
As if to prove that the band have moved on, Lacey expressed regret at the lyrics of the ten-year-old track Soco Amaretto Lime, a celebration of youthful foolishness and never-ending parties. It was a crowd favourite nonetheless. Brand New are certainly set to get bigger. How many of their current fans will stick with them is another matter.