Jesse Lacey | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Jesse Thomas Lacey |
Born | July 10, 1978 |
Origin | Levittown, New York, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupations |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 1999–2018 |
Labels | |
Formerly of | |
Website | fightoffyourdemons |
Jesse Thomas Lacey (born July 10, 1978) [1] is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who is best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the American alternative rock band Brand New. [2]
Lacey was the founding bassist of fellow Long Island rock band Taking Back Sunday but left the band after a personal incident involving guitarist John Nolan. [3] Along with members of the Rookie Lot, Lacey formed Brand New in 2000. [4] With Brand New, Lacey earned a number-one album in the United States due to the commercial success of 2017's Science Fiction. [5]
As well as fronting Brand New, Lacey has performed as a solo artist since 2004, although has not yet released any solo material, and instead performs material by Brand New, as well as covering other bands. [6] Lacey has produced and co-produced a number of records, including those Brand New, as well as Kevin Devine's Bubblegum and a track by Cymbals Eat Guitars. [7] [8]
Lacey was raised in a Christian family on Long Island, where he was a regular churchgoer, although Lacey has said Christianity was never forced upon him. [9] His parents listened to bands such as the Beatles, Steely Dan, Simon and Garfunkel and Bruce Springsteen, which Lacey has stated contributed towards both his interest and taste in music, commenting that "there was always a record playing, and good music, too". [10] Albums by Billy Joel, "Weird Al" Yankovic and The Big Picture by Michael W. Smith were amongst some of the first that Lacey owned. [11]
Lacey attended General Douglas MacArthur High School in Levittown, New York along with John Nolan. [12] After Nolan convinced Lacey to learn the bass guitar, the two friends would go on to form a number of bands during their high school years, one of which was named Gudmunder Bjornsen. [13] He also learned how to play the trombone while participating in the church choir. [14] In 1998, Lacey, along with Garrett Tierney, Brian Lane and Brandon Reilly formed the Rookie Lot, who would self-release a split EP as well as a demo tape.
In November 1999, Lacey formed Taking Back Sunday with guitarist Eddie Reyes; after adding Nolan to the band, Lacey moved to bass guitar. He contributed bass guitar and backing vocals to their first EP in 2001, but left the band during the recording sessions after Nolan slept with Lacey's girlfriend. [4] [15] Prior to becoming a full-time musician, Lacey had a number of different jobs, including working for the clothing retailer Gap Inc., a skate and bike shop, and also spending two days working at McDonald's, before quitting after being told "sexual harassment is going to happen, so get used to it". [14]
After the Rookie Lot broke up, its former members, with the exception of Reilly (who formed the Movielife), would form Brand New, recruiting Vincent Accardi as an additional guitarist. [16] After recording and releasing a number of demos, the band released their debut album Your Favorite Weapon in 2001. Lacey provided lead vocals and guitar for the album, as well as writing lyrics for all of the songs. [17]
The band toured heavily up until work began on their second album in February 2003. Influenced by his time on the road, Lacey wrote much of the album on acoustic guitar in his bedroom. [18] The album's success led the band to be engulfed in a bidding war between labels. [19] Brand New toured for nearly 300 days to promote the album, causing Lacey to tear his patellar tendon. [20]
After finishing the extensive touring and promotional cycle for their album Deja Entendu, Lacey had become unsure as to whether he even wanted to release another record. In an interview, Lacey stated that he had the realization that he no longer wished to be associated with many of the people and bands he'd met over the past years with Brand New, and he also felt as though he had no friends. [6] After writing and recording sessions in late 2004, the band became inactive. In spring 2005, Lacey became sick and subsequently underwent surgery for a number of problems. [21]
After the loss of a number of his friends and family members, Lacey and his bandmates purposely immersed themselves in their grief, channeling it into the songwriting with the hope of expelling it. [22] Having previously become disillusioned and uninterested in the bands and people they were previously around, Lacey found friendship in bands such as Thrice, mewithoutYou, Manchester Orchestra and Kevin Devine, remarking that they had "created a small community". [6] In later interviews, Lacey stated that the writing and recording of their third album, the critically acclaimed The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me , saved the band. [23] In 2008, Lacey along with his Brand New bandmates cofounded the record label Procrastinate! Music Traitors. [24]
One of Lacey's first solo shows was on April 27, 2004, at The Downtown in Farmingdale, New York, performing a mixture of covers and songs by his band, Brand New. [25] In July 2007, Lacey and Kevin Devine did an acoustic tour in the United States with Grace Read, with Lacey once again performing material from Brand New, as well as performing various tracks with Devine. [26]
In 2008 Lacey toured with Kevin Devine and Brooklyn native Brian Bonz, later stating in an interview how at this point he wished only to occasionally tour and perform Brand New material solo, believing that "the songs lack meaning" without his bandmates beside him. [6] After performing solo with Devine on December 12, 2015, Lacey was soon-after revealed to be part of Devine's Devinyl splits series, with his single, a cover of R.E.M.'s "Bad Day", seeing release early in 2016. [27]
Outside of Brand New, Lacey has frequently collaborated with Kevin Devine, both in the studio and live. In 2005, Lacey was featured Kevin Devine's album Split the Country, Split the Street , providing vocals on the songs "Cotton Crush", "Afterparty", and "No One Else's Problem". [28] In 2009, he would again contribute to the album Brother's Blood , singing on "Tomorrow's Just Too Late".[ citation needed ]
In 2013, Lacey produced the album Bubblegum. Lacey was initially nervous, as it was the first album he had produced outside of Brand New. [29] Along with Kevin Devine, Lacey frequently appeared onstage and on tour with Manchester Orchestra. [30]
Other appearances by Lacey include contributing bass guitar to the track "Rocket" on the Intramural 2007 album This Is a Landslide, as well as providing bass and guitar on Grace Read's song "Cloak and Dagger", from her EP Young Guns. [31] [32] At various Brand New shows in 2014 and 2015, Lacey joined support band Dinosaur Pile-Up on stage, performing their track "Nature Nurture". [33]
Lacey and his wife Andrea released a cover of "In Spite of Ourselves", originally by John Prine in February 2015. [34] In 2015, Lacey, along with Mike Sapone, co-produced the track "Aerobed" for the band Cymbals Eat Guitars, as part of the Devinyl Splits series, curated by Kevin Devine. [8]
American singer Halsey, a publicized Brand New fan, referred to Lacey as "largely responsible for why I write with such detail." [35] Lacey and the rest of the band earned songwriting credits on Halsey's 2020 album Manic as a result of her sampling the "(Fork and Knife)" demo on her song "Alanis' Interlude". [36] Brand New was thanked in the liner notes of Manic.
Early on in his career as a musician, Lacey cited bands such as Lifetime, the Foo Fighters, the Cars and Pearl Jam as influences for himself and Brand New. [16] He later taped the words "Hi Moz", a reference to the Smiths frontman Morrissey, to his guitar during their performance of "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2003. [37]
Towards the release of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, Lacey expressed his fandom of the Stone Roses and Ride. [38] During the Daisy era, Lacey cited Polvo, Archers of Loaf, Fugazi and Modest Mouse as influences. He named Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine as the influences for the album's guitar sound. [39]
Religious imagery and themes such as faith, the afterlife, the supernatural as well as moral issues are often explored in Lacey's songwriting. Lacey, however, has made it clear his songs are not, and never will be about Christianity, remarking that the band Brand New do not share the same beliefs, so to try to label the band with any one religion would be "absolutely ridiculous". [40] Film, television and literature have also influenced his songwriting. [41]
In Brand New, Lacey and his bandmates compose material separately from one another, rarely rehearsing or practicing together. Instead Lacey will often write material on an acoustic guitar, before bringing it to the rest of the band. [40] [42]
During the writing and recording of the 2006 album The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, Lacey was particularly influenced by bands such as U2 and Radiohead to try writing using instruments other than the guitar. [43] During the sessions, Lacey and Devine's friendship would play a major influence on his songwriting, with him looking to write more about current events. [44]
Lacey has been described by the media as being both enigmatic and reserved. [45] He has no public social media accounts and only occasionally gives interviews, stating in one interview that although he enjoys talking to people, he and his Brand New bandmates feel more comfortable not having to worry about interviews, photo shoots and music videos, and that "those peripheral things had nothing to do with the project we were working on". [23] [46]
His discomfort with interviews stems from American media outlets' tendency to misrepresent facts. "Most people don’t want you to look how you want to look. They want you to look how they want you to look," he said. "Writers have to make it interesting. The headline would end up being something stupid like 'We hate My Chemical Romance'." [47]
He also dislikes the idealized image that fans create of him in their heads. He said in 2006, "On the last tour, we were on the bus watching the Mets game, and some kid wandered through an unlocked door. He saw what we were doing, and he looked so disgusted at the fact that we were sitting around watching baseball. He thought we should be cutting ourselves and crying, not drinking beer and cheering." [48]
Following the success of Deja Entendu , Lacey was described by Kerrang! as a "heartthrob", an image which he disliked. "I don't want anyone listening to our music because they think I'm cute," he said. "We're hoping for things to go in a Radiohead way instead of a Justin Timberlake way. We want to be known for our music." [14]
I’ve been a real difficult person to be around most of my life. I kinda feel real hypocritical being up here sometimes and pretending I know about stuff when the stuff I might know about, I don’t really apply to my life or nothing. I’ve had to learn a lot in the last couple of years. A lot of that has been about finding the person that meant a lot to me and getting married. Realizing what commitment is about and loving people and i’ve realized how difficult i’ve been to people, my wife and my band and my friends and probably my family. It’s hard being 37 and learning a lot of hard lessons that you should’ve learned when you were 17. But i’m learning them I guess. [49]
Lacey is the second oldest of seven siblings, one of whom is a teacher. Another one of his siblings, Cody Lacey, is in the United States Navy. His brother Jamey Lacey is also a musician and was the vocalist of the band Coasta. [50] His father is a nurse. [51]
Lacey is married to Andrea King. They have one child, Bowie Charles Lacey. [52] [53] Andrea King had a son from a previous relationship, Miles, who became Lacey's stepson. Miles King Lacey died in February 2022, which the Lacey family did not disclose until June 2023. [54]
Prior to forming Brand New, Lacey attended Nassau Community College on Long Island for three years, studying child psychology and elementary education. [41] [55] Attending school with fellow musician John Nolan, the two friends had a brief, highly publicized falling out. [56] This would lead Lacey to write "Seventy Times 7", which appeared on Brand New's 2001 album Your Favorite Weapon, while Nolan would later write about the dispute from his perspective in the Taking Back Sunday track "There's No I in Team". Later, Lacey and his Brand New bandmates stated that the "situation cleaned itself up a lot sooner than most people thought it did", and that the situation had been blown out of proportion by fans and the media. [9] [57] [58] Lacey has described fellow musician Kevin Devine as one of his best friends, as well as citing him as a musical influence. [59]
Lacey has an interest in photography and graphic design, and has had a part in designing and composing artwork for a number of releases by Brand New. [60] [61] [62]
In late 2017, Lacey was accused of sexual misconduct by two women, who alleged the events occurred 15 years prior while they were underage and Lacey was in his early 20s. [63] [64] Lacey apologized publicly on Brand New's Facebook page (for cheating) and admitted to having a sex addiction in his past, which he had sought treatment for over a decade before the allegations were brought public. [65] [66]
With Brand New
With the Rookie Lot
Appearances
Year | Song(s) | Artist | Album |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | "Cotton Crush", "Afterparty", and "No One Else's Problem" | Kevin Devine | Split the Country, Split the Streets |
2007 | "Rocket" | Intramural | This Is a Landslide |
2009 | "Tomorrow's Just Too Late" | Kevin Devine | Brother's Blood |
2012 | "Cloak and Dagger" | Grace Read | Young Guns |
Production discography
Year | Album | Artist | Credits |
---|---|---|---|
2006 | The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me | Brand New | Co-produced with Mike Sapone and Brand New |
2009 | Daisy | Brand New | Co-produced with Mike Sapone and Brand New |
2012 | Bubblegum | Kevin Devine | Production, bass guitar, percussion, feedback and backing vocals on "Private First Class" |
2015 | Devinyl Splits No. 4 | Cymbals Eat Guitars | Co-produced the track "Aerobed" with Mike Sapone |
Taking Back Sunday is an American rock band from Amityville, New York, formed by guitarist Eddie Reyes and bassist Jesse Lacey in 1999. The band's current members are Adam Lazzara, John Nolan, Shaun Cooper and Mark O'Connell (drums), accompanied by Nathan Cogan (guitar) for their live performances. The band's former members include Lacey, Reyes, bassist Matthew Rubano, and guitarist-vocalists Fred Mascherino and Matthew Fazzi.
Brand New was an American rock band formed in 2000 from Long Island, New York. Consisting of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Lacey, lead guitarist Vincent Accardi, bassist Garrett Tierney and drummer Brian Lane, the band earned critical recognition as one of the most influential emo bands, and was acclaimed for their musical development and artistic innovation compared to other groups in the scene which they originated from.
Deja Entendu is the second studio album by American rock band Brand New, released on June 17, 2003, by Triple Crown Records and Razor & Tie. It was widely praised for showing the band's maturation from their pop punk debut Your Favorite Weapon, and critics described the album as the moment when the band "started showing ambition to look beyond the emo/post-hardcore scene that birthed them."
Tell All Your Friends is the debut studio album by American rock band Taking Back Sunday, released on March 26, 2002, through Victory Records. Forming in 1999, the group underwent several lineup changes before settling on vocalist Adam Lazzara, guitarist and vocalist John Nolan, guitarist Eddie Reyes, bassist Shaun Cooper, and drummer Mark O'Connell. Taking Back Sunday released a five-song demo in early 2001, after which they toured the United States for most of the year. They rented a room in Lindenhurst, New York, where they wrote and demoed songs. In December 2001, the band signed with Victory Records; they began recording their debut album with producer Sal Villanueva at Big Blue Meenie Recording Studio in New Jersey.
Your Favorite Weapon is the debut studio album by American rock band Brand New, released in 2001. Recorded and released a year after the band's formation, the album consists of pop punk songs about the highs and lows of teenage life. Your Favorite Weapon received positive reviews from critics and sold over 315,000 copies.
John Thomas Nolan is an American musician best known as the guitarist and co-lead vocalist of Taking Back Sunday, and the former lead singer, pianist, and guitarist of Straylight Run.
Kevin Devine is an American songwriter and musician from Staten Island, New York City, who is known for his introspective and political themes. He is a contemporary member of the underground indie rock and indie folk musical scenes, and his influences range from older indie artists such as Neutral Milk Hotel, Elliott Smith and Pavement to more mainstream and well known acts such as Nirvana and Bob Dylan. In 2013, Kevin Devine rejoined his previous band, Miracle of 86, for a series of reunion shows.
Cartel is an American pop punk band from Conyers, Georgia, United States, that formed in 2003. The group was featured on the MTV television series Band in a Bubble in 2007 as part of an experiment where they were given 20 days to write and record a full album. The current members of the band include vocalist/bassist Will Pugh, lead guitarist Joseph Pepper, guitarist Nic Hudson, and drummer Kevin Sanders. In April 2020, Pugh released an EP for a new side project, TAURIDS, with fellow Nashville residents Bobby Holland and Adam Bokesch—both musicians and audio producers/engineers from the band The Daybreaks.
Split the Country, Split the Street is Kevin Devine's third studio album. It was released in 2005, being the second of two albums released on Triple Crown Records. It is the first solo record released after Kevin was no longer in Miracle of 86. The album features more rock oriented songs with fuller band arrangements than his previous two releases, and was produced by Chris Bracco, Mike Skinner & Kevin Devine.
"The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" is a song by American rock band Brand New. It served as the first single from their second album Deja Entendu and was released on October 6, 2003 in the United Kingdom on 7" vinyl.
The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is the third studio album by American rock band Brand New. It was recorded from 2005 to 2006 in studios in Long Island and Massachusetts with producer Mike Sapone, and released on November 21, 2006 through Interscope Records, making it their major label debut. The album arose following the online leaking of several unfinished demos that were meant to be early blueprints of the upcoming record.
"Sowing Season", titled "Sowing Season (Yeah)" in certain copies, is a song by American rock band Brand New, which was released as the lead single for their 2006 album, The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me.
Procrastinate! Music Traitors is an American record label started by the members of the band Brand New. Little is known about the label other than its first release, a re-release of Kevin Devine's 2006 album Put Your Ghost to Rest.
Cymbals Eat Guitars were an indie rock band from Staten Island, New York, founded by high school friends Joseph D'Agostino and Matthew Miller. The band's name comes from a Lou Reed quote describing the sound of The Velvet Underground.
Daisy is the fourth studio album by American rock band Brand New, released September 22, 2009 on Interscope. It was co-produced by both the band and their longtime producer Mike Sapone. Brand New recorded the album in Sapone's studio in Bethpage, New York between 2008 and 2009. The band looked to channel their live performances, as well as the noise of bands such as Fugazi, Polvo, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus Lizard, in order to produce the raw and often chaotic sound of the album.
Dallon James Weekes is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was a member of Panic! at the Disco from 2009 to 2017, performing in the band as a bassist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist. He was also the frontman of the indie band and later solo musical project The Brobecks. Weekes currently performs as the frontman of I Dont Know How But They Found Me.
Bad Books is an American indie rock band formed in early 2010, and is composed of indie folk artist Kevin Devine and members of indie rock band Manchester Orchestra along with drummer Benjamin Homola. The collaboration began when Kevin toured along with Manchester Orchestra in November–December 2008 in support of his EP I Could Be with Anyone, and followed by the release of the split EP entitled I Could Be the Only One in January 2010.
Leaked Demos 2006 is a collection of previously unreleased recordings by American rock band Brand New. The recordings originally leaked on January 24, 2006 before eventually being officially released on cassette tape nearly ten years later on December 2, 2015. On January 12, 2016, the songs were made available as a pay what you want digital download.
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