History & Biography Hailing from Syracuse, NY, Brand New Sin is a six-piece hard rock band with three guitarists. The band came together when former Godbelow members discovered singer Joe Altier and launched a band with a sound dissimilar to Godbelow. The band signs with Now Or Never and upon release of its debut in June 2002 opens a string of dates for Motörhead and Morbid Angel. Brand New Sin shot a cameo for the movie called School Of Rock in 2002, which featured Joan Cusack. The band’s then label owner was acquainted with the film’s casting manager.
The band's Recipe For Disaster album was out in the summer. A tour of the USA with Society 1 and Scum Of The Earth was also underway, but was not completed. Instead, the band jumped onto another tour with Dog Faced Gods and The Black Halos. Tequila was issued in November. The band was dropped by Century Media in the middle of 2007 after the group refused to renegotiate its contract. The band kicked off 2008 by announcing the departure of singer Joe Altier “to pursue other interests.” The singer began playing locally as Brand New Joe. Former Nine Ball/Nine Stories High singer Joe Sweet joined the group in May of 2008. The band announced the departure of singer Joe Sweet after only one year of service however. The man wanted to concentrate on his creative vocation as the organizer of Utica Music And Arts Fest. Guitarist Kenny Dunham also decided that it was an opportune time to leave. Guitarist Kris Wiechmann picked up the vocalist spot consequently. Joe Altier completed a short-form documentary on his life, which was freely available on the Internet as of May of 2009. He was still working on a solo record. Brand New Sin, with Kris Wiechmann on guitar and vocals, released a demo entitled Distilled in summer of 2009. The band picked up guitarist Tommy Matkowski (formerly of The Born Again Rebels) as a replacement for Kenny Dunham.
Goomba Music entered into a two album record deal with Syracuse, New York hard rock band Brand New Sin in 2011. The band would enter the recording studio in late May with an autumn of 2011 release being planned. Brand New Sin would issue a new album called United State in October on Goomba Music. The Syracuse heavy rockers announced a string of live dates in support of the newest release, United State. The American shows were in progress in late 2011. Joe Altier had a solo project in 2014 called Just Joe. He issued a piano cover version of Metallica's Blackened! It was announced that the sextet would reunite for a concert at the Lost Horizon in Syracuse, New York, USA, which was its hometown, on May 4th 2019.
Reviews BRAND NEW SIN - same - NOW OR NEVER
Brand New Sin is a brand new band from Syracuse, NY formed by former Godbelow members. One loud band with a three-guitar attack, Brand New Sin is six parts Monster Magnet (vocalist Joe Altier in particular), one part Black Label Society (especially the leads), one part Motorhead and one last part Lynyrd Skynyrd. There really isn't much originality here to speak of, but whether that is relevant or not today is up for discussion. Instead the gang is really hard rocking with an organic sound. BNS alternates the loud songs with more soulful and slower moments where the music is best suited to kicking back and taking things in as opposed to banging one's head. The band needs a sharper snare sound, it being recorded rather murky, but otherwise is sharp and loud the way the gods meant hard rock to be. Brand New Sin is a mature band beyond its young age and a cool proposition for lads and lasses into the aforementioned bands.
BRAND NEW SIN - TEQUILA - CENTURY MEDIA
It seems like a long time has past since Brand New Sin last released an album. Of course, the band’s last album was issued only a year ago, although it seems with the purchase of Now Or Never Records (the band’s original label) by Century Media that album got lost in the shuffle. On the other hand, it is not everyday that Century Media releases groovy hard rock albums and knows how to promote such releases. Brand New Sin might be better off on Liquor And Poker Music.
In the meantime, Tequila is more rootsy, organic hard and heavy rock from the quintet. Be it Danzig or Monster Magnet or plain classic heavy metal that one likes this album has something to offer. The colours and the artwork are hackneyed for sure and the vocals of Joe 'smokey' Altier might be too gloomy for some, but Tequila is full of honest to goodness American hard rock. That means, titles like Worm Whore and Did Me Wrong, lots of guitar, many riffs and the obligatory cover version, in this case the oft covered House Of The Rising Sun. For my tastes, Numero Dos is the best song here given its fab guitar after guitar, although with 14 tracks included there is plenty of material here for everyone to pick and choose their own favourites. - Anna Tergel
Interviews
|