Happy humpday! Celebrate with Brand of Julez…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
New York City! The Big Apple.
How did you meet?
Well I formed the band with my brother at 13 and 16. We went through the trenches in high school trying to find dedicated musicians like ourselves but were the same age as us. That was SUPER hard to find! So we went through a bunch of drummers needless to say. Playing in the local NYC/NJ scene we met Nick Kashmanian who was playing guitar in his own band. We played a lot of shows together so we were pretty good friends. So when it came time to add a 2nd guitarist to Brand of Julez, he was our first pick. Now we’re just about 3 years playing together and going strong! We met Frankie D at a bar in Long Island. He had a huge fro at the time so we started talking because of hair! We stayed connected through social media and he would post drum cam videos in his basements. I was instantly interested. So when our last drummer bounced, it was perfect timing for us to get together with Frankie.
How long have you been playing as a band?
We started BOJ in 2012.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Ah yes, the famous question. We had so many “Cool” band names listed and we’d look them up on Myspace (memory throwback huh?) and they would be taken from some band in Idaho or something. So we decided to personalise the name. My nick name in high school was Julez and my brother’s name is Brandon. So with a couple variations, Brand of Julez name was born.
What are your influences?
As the singer guitarist, it all started with Kurt Cobain for me. From there I fell in love with all the rock bands in the 90’s, STP, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Alice in Chains, Bush, all those bands. Today I’m mainly influenced by a mixture of new bands like Pop Evil, Papa Roach, Asking Alexandria, Jared James Nichols, Like a Storm, Rival Sons, Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, Black Stone Cherry, and a bunch more! A good mixture of old school and new school.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Our music is very honest. We don’t hold anything back. With our live shows, lyrics, we give it all. And I think that’s what a lot of rock bands aren’t doing these days. So I believe that’s what makes us stick apart form other groups.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
It varies on whatever I’m feeling at the moment or whatever I’m going through in my personal life. I like to be very open in my lyrics. I feel if you want to connect with people and your fans, they need to know where you’re coming from. So topics range from, finding yourself, falling in love, falling out of love, politics, drug addiction, being betrayed, girls and sex and lastly, we have a song called “Falling Up” that was written about the events that took place on 9/11 in New York. So it’s a pretty wide range of topics I write about.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Lots of HAIR. SWEAT. ENERGY! Everyone in our band has long curly hair (totally by accident!) We want to bring a show to the people so if we see you sitting down or not having the best night of your life, our goal is to change that. By this point, well over 1000 shows.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Our first national tour was with the band Otep. Despite what people say, we had a BLAST on that tour. So many good shows and memories. We’re best friends with their drummer Justin Kier. We stay at his place every time we tour through California. At one of the Otep shows, we were in Atlanta and some chick took her boobs out during our set and flashed the band. That was pretty wild. She was unfortunately removed from the show! I actually have a CRAZY story from the Otep tour but, we’ll save that for another time!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Brandon uses Ernie Ball Music Man basses and a Fender P Bass. Nick uses Schecter guitars. Frankie uses a Ludwig drum kit. I play Gibson and Fender guitars.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Yes, we have a single out on radio right now. The song is called “Take it All Away”. We just released a music video for it a few weeks ago. Check it out! We also have our debut album “Forward” on Spotify/iTunes/AppleMusic/etc. Lastly, check us out on tour with Messer on the west coast from May 25th – June 15th.
What are your plans for 2019?
More touring and recording! We’re currently working on our new EP.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be ing and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
This is a cool question! I’d have to say I would love to Shinedown on tour. Been a fan of them since the beginning, I think we would be a great fit with them. A cool band I’d like to us on tour is Wildstreet. They’re a kickass rock band from NYC, they just invited us to play their CD release show the beginning of March this year. Such a fun show! That would be a crazy sick tour!
Brand Of Julez: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify
