Song: "Millstone"
Artist: Brand New
Album: "The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me"
Year: 2006
"Millstone" is a song that appears to be about looking back on your life and having some regrets about the way things have turned out. It could be as simple as losing your faith or perhaps not just a religious angle. It could just be about losing who you are as a person. This person, the vocalist, places no blame on anyone but himself for the way things turned out in his life. He wears the burden around his neck and he is remorseful for the mistakes he's made. Whatever he's walked away from, whether it's family, friends, relationships or even God, he owns up to it, regrettably. Brand New, from Long Island, New York, formed as a band back in 2000. Their first album, 2001's "Your Favorite Weapon" saw the band use sort of a pop punk style and was mildly successful. When it was time to record their second album, 2003's "Deja Entendu", Brand New changed up their style a bit and the maturity of the music and songwriting really shined through especially on the hit singles "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" and "Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades". This album would go on to be certified Gold. In 2006, Brand New signed with Interscope Records and released "The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me". This album saw the band descend into some darker material. Vocalist/guitarist Jesse Lacey was really exploring his inner demons on this record almost to the point of leading him to depression. The first single "Sowing Season" was dark and emotional while the second single "Jesus" would go on to be the highest charting single in the U.S. for the band. In 2008, Brand New formed their own record label called Procrastinate! Music Traitors. In 2009, they released their fourth studio effort, "Daisy". This album proved to be the highest charting of all the Brand New albums, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 charts. Despite the success of "Daisy", Lacey felt that a lot of the songs on the album focused on the possible end of the band. He began to wonder if the band had said everything that it wanted to say and if it was time to move on. Thankfully, he would later squash that notion, however he did say he was unsure if Brand New would release a new full album in the future. Due to the way music is received today with all the new technology in place, he pondered if Brand New would just release songs digitally, perhaps a song a month or a batch of songs all at once instead of a whole album. All these things would possibly affect the way that the band would release material in the future. By 2012, it was said that Brand New had indeed secured some studio time and were, in fact beginning the process of working on a new album. Brand New has turned out to not only be quite a successful band, but also a very influential band. Lacey is credited with being a well respected songwriter, his songs containing extremely personal and emotional meanings. Since the band's existence, they have either opened, headlined or co-headlines some of the biggest music festivals around the globe, Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, Bamboozle and Big Day Out just to name a few. They have also shared the stage with the likes of Thrice, Senses Fail, My Chemical Romance, Alkaline Trio, Bouncing Souls, Flogging Molly, Taking Back Sunday and Finch. Currenty, as I said earlier, the band had been in the recording studio as late as April of 2012, reportedly working on new material for what would be their fifth studio album.
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