The Brand

By: Nina Munizaga

"We don't wanna make a statement, we just wanna play at your party," is a comment you would expect from these three oddball musicians from the city of Hialeah. A statement, however, is exactly what The Brand is making.

As they sit on green plastic chairs outside Senor Frogs on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, guitarist/vocalist Jorge Gonzalez, bassist/vocalist Omar Garcia and drummer Juan Ona stand out among the midnight Sobe crowd. Dressed in typical punk rock attire - faded jeans, converse-looking sneakers and black-rimmed glasses - the shaggy-haired trio crowd a table that's scattered with little plastic colada cups, once filled with shot-size portions of Cuban coffee. These local musicians make up the high-energy pop-punk rock band cleverly called The Brand.

The idea behind the name comes from a marketing concept: using brand association in their favor, all logos, songs and band associated events are uniform and standardized so that they can be easily recognized by fans. In other words, they're aiming for a kind of Pavlov's dog-type conditioning. At the same time, the name mocks society. "Aren't we all just guinea pigs for large corporations' marketing strategies?" asks lead singer Garcia.

Even though Ona picked up the drums specifically for the band, the three have been playing together for about a year and seem familiar with each other on stage. Probably because Garcia and Gonzalez are not new to the music scene, both previously fronted the band The Inside, which broke up in 1999. Their long kept friendship has also played a part, making the three insist it's not all business, "if it wasn't for [Juan] The Brand wouldn't exist. We're friends first before we're band mates."
With influences from bands like Lush, Sweden's The Wanna Dies and California's That Dog, The Brand's look and sound is a combination of Weezer and punk rock with a lead singer that sounds like a fusion of Lou Reed and Neil Diamond; indeed, the members admitted to sounding like a "cracked-out version of Weezer."

When listening to the self-titled six-song debut, rock 'n' roll teen driven drama comes to mind (picture a scene from Sixteen Candles, with girls shrieking and crowding the stage, reaching out to grab the band members). Sweet harmonies, catchy rhythms and humorous lyrics like "Johnny's got a girlfriend, Bobby's got a girlfriend, you know I want a girlfriend too" screams of adolescents' hopeful desperation for love and affection.

After the CD release party for their multi-media EP - you can watch the video for "Christmas Day" on it - which takes place at the SoHo Lounge in the Miami Design District on Valentines night, the eccentric trio looks forward to touring opportunities across the state.

For more info on The Brand, visit their website at www.thebrandmusic.com.