It’s the middle of April and TYPE O NEGATIVE is on the road again for the first time in a few years joined by CELTIC FROST. Landing the opening slot and definitely the odd band out in this picture is no other than BRAND NEW SIN who fit onto this bill in name only. BNS deliver a straight forward, working mans band, 2’s and 4’s style rock n roll that has been missing for more than a few years now. I was able to take a few minutes of singer Joe Altier’s time to discuss the tour and recent months that have surrounded BNS.

SMN: How was the UK tour?
JOE: The clubs were packed by the time we played and as soon as we got into it, they didn’t do like they do here where it takes until the end of the set for them to wake up and go, ‘cool.’ They were just immediately into it jumping and bouncing, cheering and going nuts and when we’re done we were going out hanging out at the bar like we always do and so many people were coming up to us like, “I can’t believe you’re sitting out here with us!” And I was like, “Why?” And they were like, “but you’re in the band!” And I said, “So, I’m just an opener!” And they would say most bands just sit in their dressing rooms like rock stars. And I told them we’re not rock stars by any means and we would stand by the merchandise table.

SMN: How were the fans?
JOE: I loved it! The fans in the UK have such more open minds to music. They want to have fun. Over here they get held back by so many rules, you gotta have a wristband, with a wristband you gotta stand here, and you can only shoot photos for this song. It’s tough and you wonder why nobody comes to the shows here.

SMN: How was the UK press?
JOE: Malcolm Dome (British Music journalist) reviewed our show – LOVED US! He kept wanting to talk with us so it felt good to have him on our side

SMN: You recently recorded some new songs, tell me about them.
JOE: We did four songs, three that we wrote with Tony (Producer Tony Battaglia – SHINEDOWN). Two were pre-written and we co-wrote with him and he kinda helped us out with them and one of them we just sat down and went through the writing process together and one was a SHINEDOWN B-Side that he wanted to hear what we sounded like doing. He thought it may be nothing but let’s do it while we’re here. It’s very untypical of BNS.

SMN: What song is it?
JOE: It’s called, ‘Beautiful.’ They gave it to a girl on Atlantic Records and it’s a total chick song. (Joe sings some of the lyrics). Tony said this would be so funny if we made a video of you singing this song (laughs) and we would just blow people’s minds. So we recorded it. What we’re trying to do is, what’s holding us back is we haven’t found the connection to the radio and the mainstream. And it’s not like we’re trying to change our music, but I guess the best example is STONE SOUR. They have some of the biggest crossover ballad type of songs and then you listen to the rest of the record and it’s some of the heaviest stuff out there. That’s what we can do with this. Sprinkle a couple of these (ballads) in there then the rest of the record we do what we want and do the best. Tony will help us get better sounds and get the best out of us.

SMN: How about the state of the industry?
JOE: It’s bad! When Capitol Records is no more and they have a building. Epic laid off 250 people. A #1 record can sell 110,000 units and be #1.

SMN: Look at the smaller labels – Subpop, Vagrant, Drive-Thru, Fueled By Ramen. It’s crazy when labels working out of the bedroom and having a huge success and more longevity than major label bands.
JOE: I think it’s because they give their artists a chance to develop. Major labels – you don’t sell out of the box and you’re done.

SMN: Look at SHADOWS FALL.
JOE: I’m afraid of what’s going to happen there.

SMN: They sold more in Week One at CENTURY MEDIA than they have at ATLANTIC.
JOE: Almost double with Century (on The War Within). Granted record sales are down, but not in that genre of music. Their genre is still selling.

SMN: LAMB OF GOD / KILLSWITCH ENGAGE / SHADOWS FALL all from that first HEADBANGERS BALL tour and LOG is the one on top of that class. And HELLYEAH just sold 45,000 in their first week.
JOE: And somebody told me that wouldn’t work. HAHA! How could that not work? Come on, it’s Vinnie Paul and the MUDVAYNE guys with Jerry and Tom. Mudvayne sold a million records, PANTERA has a pre-existing fanbase. That’s our problem, we don’t have a pre-existing fanbase. If we had that and tried to get to a level where we’re CLUTCH and we’re a touring band. Even CLUTCH had help in the beginning being on Major Labels. I don’t want to drive a Ferrari. I just wanna pay my bills and go home. Simple things in life. If I’m well known, so be it. Other than that, I can’t imagine the paparazzi. Even Pete (Peter Steele of TON) has had stalkers over the years where girls come to his house on a bus from middle America and strip and show up on his doorstep.

SMN: How’s the current tour going for you – a lot of sellouts?
JOE: Let me see, Providence – sold out, Worcester – close, Philly – sold out, Jersey – sold out, Chicago – sold out, Columbus sold out, Cleveland – close, Milwaukee – close, St. Louis – sold out, Kansas – sold out, Denver – sold out, SF – sold out. And they were worried that the west coast was going to be tough as TON has always been thought of as an East Coast band like LIFE OF AGONY. LA is going to be weird as I heard Fred Durst has been calling to get on the list (laughs)! He wanted some VIP setup for the TON list.

SMN: Does Fred matter?
JOE: But DANZIG is coming out because Kenny and Johnny are in his band now. They might do a song.

SMN: Back to recording…soon?
JOE: We’re set, ready to go. We have the 4 songs, use 3 and maybe the 4th. When we came home from the UK, like we always do, after all the writing we did for RECIPE and for TEQUILA, we have a back catalog of songs that we just wrote and wrote and wrote. Some didn’t make any sense and now we’re going back and listening to the recordings because we MP3’d every practice. Every night we get done Kevin (drummer) will burn us a disc or go home and filter out the crap so everybody has these CD’s that we listen to in the van or when we’re home and then we’re like, ‘I forgot about this song, I got an idea now!” When we got back from the UK, we had a month off and we made a list of 10 songs. We took those 10 songs, the 4 we did in Texas, then 3 we’ve been working on while on the road. So nearly 20 that we can go to bat with that we can play and tweak that we can pump out another record. It just remains to be seen. The biggest thing is making sure the band believes in it. Everyone’s morale is up and this is the tightest we’ve ever been as a band. We’re focused on what we want for our future, what we want to do with our band, the ideas that we want, and the people we’re putting around us this time, you know, we’re really happy so I don’t think anything’s going to stop. That’s how I think a lot of bands get down as if you’re not going to let it stop, then don’t. We’ve built up a following on the East Coast and we can go play a 6-week cycle and go and go.

SMN: If you had your choice between Major and Indie, what would it be?
JOE: Indie! The major has the clout and the money, but if you don’t perform right away, you’re gone. If we were on a major label, we would have never gotten 3 records out.

For fans of true Rock n Roll, go pick up a disc from BRAND NEW SIN and listen to what music has been missing!

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