I was given Brand New’s “Deja Entendu” CD by one of my guy friends shortly after the album had first come out in 2003.

Currently on tour through the U.S., Brand New - a five-person band that originated in a basement in the suburbs of Manhattan - has come a long way from its local hardcore independent music scene.

In the late 1990s, Jesse Lacey and four friends were part of the band “The Rookie Lot” and produced a five-track album. When the group broke up in 1999, a few members parted ways and the leftover members started working on new material in 2000. The result was the Brand New - a band name that Lacey insists was borrowed from a friend?s band that broke up years earlier. The 2001 release of the group’s first album “Your Favorite Weapon,” received positive feedback from other bands and gave Brand New the chance to tour with big-name artists such as Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, Taking Back Sunday, Good Charlotte, Less Than Jake and Incubus.

In an interview with Drowndedinsound.com, Lacey said the band’s success - which has continued through its second album, “Deja Entendu” (2003) and its third, “The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me” (2005) - lies partly with its old-fashion ways of producing music and the media that goes along with it. He said he feels torn between growing up in the age of technology yet still wanting to produce albums that resemble his favorite bands of the past.

“Music is really mind-boggling because hard copy won?t really be found in a mechanical fashion any more,” Lacey said, “there are already people that only buy things online. There are also still people who go out there and buy records, special editions with triple CDs and double booklets and that’s just going to end.”

The band toured the U.S. , Europe, Canada and Australia, headlining the Give It a Name tour in the UK alongside Jimmy Eat World, and were featured in Alternative Press, Rock Sound, Kerrang and NME. Brand New will embark on a new tour this fall with openers Thrice and Mewithoutyou.

As the band prepares to produce more music in the near future, it is important to them to keep in mind not only what their fan-base will like, but also what pleases them musically, Lacey said.

“Some of the kids just don’t get the new stuff and that?s OK because they enjoyed what they enjoyed,” Lacey said. “We’re happy with it. I can understand why other people don?t love the things I listen to and I like that. I make music for myself and if everyone else likes it then that’s just a bonus.”