"We illegally downloaded our own album"

Words by Brand New guitarist Vincent Accardi:
“We were devastated when the last record (2007's Devil and God...) leaked. We were in the middle of tracking the record and half of the songs that we had been working on got out there and we didn't even know if they would be on the final record but they were out there on the internet. We were recording in Massachusetts at the time and we all went home for the weekend and the record leaked on the Friday. When I got back to the studio everyone had really miserable looks on their faces and they told me the record had leaked and we were all so upset because those were demo's and half completed so we weren't given the opportunity to present the material in the way we wanted. At least when 'Daisy' leaked it was in it's full form and that makes it slightly easier to swallow.”

“When your album leaks it feels the same as when it's released- it's just out there. I can't imagine how many kids downloaded the album but I know we downloaded it! We were backstage at Reading or Leeds and were getting all these emails saying “The record's out, the record's out” and I just went to whatever website it was and got it. We all looked at each other like 'Alright the record's out now'.”

“Everything is so out of control as far as that stuff is concerned especially as far as anyone even being near having a plan on how to prevent it or protect those affected by it. It's almost become a part of how things are, you expect your album to leak and you expect it to be copied around the world. It was probably more difficult to accept when the technology first came out but we started at the same time as downloads took off so in a way we've never know any different. It's not like we're a band who have been around for twenty years and having every album we release go triple platinum- those guys must feel it a lot more. It's never been something that's affected us, we've always gauged our success by playing live and touring. You just have to accept that it's no longer a business you can make money from, people no longer make money from selling records.”

“Basically the way I see it is that kids were going to buy the album and burn it anyway so as long as it's out there and makes people happy then ultimately that's all I care about.”

"We illegally downloaded our own album"