I've discovered that when I am at a point when I need to squee and can't say it outloud, my eyes get all watery. Must stop that.

Anywho, in less then a month, I am going to see one of my favorite bands in Cleveland. That band is Brand New. Go ahead and say you haven't heard of them because a lot of people aren't familiar. I had someone say "Well, they must be new" to which I responded that they are about to release their 4th album.

So now I am going to do an entire blog about Brand New. Because I know there's a character limit on here, I might just post it on my website and then post a link here but I'm going to try to type it out in it's entirety for I do that.

So I was a junior in high school circa 2002/2003 when a friend (who is no longer a friend) told me she made this awesome cd. It was a mix and I thought it was amazing but one song stood out to me the most. That song was "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" by Brand New. I remember listening to it a lot and then branching out to their other singles that were out at the time "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" and also "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad"

I didn't really get into them until after high school when I was browsing the Meijer music section. I remembered that they had put out an album not too long ago (The Devil and God Are Raging Inside of Me) and happened to find it. I picked it up and immediatly fell in love with it. Looking back and after reading how many fans turned their backs on them after listening to this album, I was happy that I was able to start loving their new music from the get go, instead of complaining how it was so different from their other two albums. After listening to the music on the other two, I can tell the difference. They were pop punkish on the first, drifted into emo with the second, and then went full blown unclassified genre with the third. They had grown up and so had their music.

Over the last year and a half/two years, I've become a big fan. I constantly listen to their music from all three albums currently released, and even read fan fiction. (I said I was going fangirly)

But the strangest thing happened to me recently. Something that made me realize that their music transcends what I thought was just GREAT lyrics.

I told my boss and his wife that I would read any book they gave me cover to cover. I was in a book drought so I figured they had something I could read. They're Christians and proud of it. Me on the other hand is a different story. I proclaim myself a Catholic failure as I was baptised but never had my first communion. Religion has never played a very big part in my life as I'm the person who likes things from all religions and hates things from all religions. But that's a totally and completely different blog so moving on.

So imagine my surprise when the book Christi (wife to Barry, my boss) was "The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849"
My response was that of a crestfallen young child who didn't get a pony on Christmas morning. But as I agreed to read any book they gave me, I set off to my car over my lunch break to read. And yes, that's what I do on my lunch after I eat, I read and smoke. I was pretty far into the book since the print was rather large. I was on page 54 when I read something that struck a cord in my brain.

"Then Peter came to Jesus. 'Lord, if my brother keeps on hurting me, how many times should I forgive him?' he asked. 'Should I forgive him seven times?'
'No, not just seven times, but forgive him seventy times seven times', Jesus said.

http://www.easyenglish.info/faq/forgiving-people.htm

Okay, that's not a direct line from the book but it's from a website.
I paused and re-read the sentence. I was like "Wait, there's a song by Brand New called "Seventy Times Seven" about how one of the guys from Taking Back Sunday slept with Jesse's (lead singer of Brand New) girlfriend at a party when Jesse was there hanging out in the kitchen. I moved onto the next page when something about a millstone was mentioned. I then paused and was like "Okay this is weird. Brand New has a song called "Millstone". So when I finished that page I ran inside and told my boss about it. He was a little bit interested but brushed it off until I remembered something else. Brand New also had a song called "Jesus/Jesus Christ". I never thought about the lyrics til that day so I whipped out my phone and started reading him some of the lyrics. He was basically telling me that the parts I was reading to him were from parts of the bible. So I handed my phone over to him and let him read the lyrics. He would tell me the part and then tell me how it was related to the bible. This was something that was actually like the bible, not someone interpreting it as it was.

So that got me thinking about all their other songs and how there are references to God, etc. So a couple of nights ago I made a cd for him and Christi with the first couple of songs being the songs that were about God that I knew of (including their new single "At the Bottom") and some other songs I loved.

All I want to do now is to sit down with Jesse, not just to look at him and drool, but to talk about this sudden realization I have come across. Because to me, it's just insane. Don't ask me why, it's just something I can't describe. I don't think I'll even be able to describe it.

And in the realm of weird coincidences, there's a lyric in one of their songs that says "Fix me to chain around your neck, and wear me like a nickel"
It's strange because a few days before I had burned that song onto a cd, I had found a Chicago Transit token in a roll of nickels at work and had put it on a necklace. I realized it one day while driving and listening to the song while playing with that necklace.

So check out some of their music via YouTube videos! Only a few are offical videos, some are ones I've made, and some are what others have made.

The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows
Sic Transit Gloria....Glory Fades - Jesse does this sexy hand slide down his body. Um, yeah....
Okay I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't
Jude Law and a Semester Abroad
Jesus
The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot
Mix Tape
Seventy Times 7
Soco Amaretto Lime
Me vs. Madonna vs. Elvis
Play Crack the Sky
Sowing Season (Yeah)
Millstone - Yep, this is my video that I made. Shamless self promotion
Degausser
Limousine - written for Katie Flynn
Archers
The No Seatbelt Song
At the Bottom