Justin Lee Brannan

Justin Lee Brannan (Born October 24, 1978) is a musician, voice actor, writer, blogger, and lyricist from Brooklyn, New York. [http://www.mostpreciousblood.com Most Precious Blood ] ]

He is best known as the founding member of Indecision and Most Precious Blood, two well-known and respected hardcore bands from Brooklyn, New York.

History

Born into a musical family in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where he still lives, Brannan taught himself to play guitar, getting his first real guitar when he was 10 years old. Never learning how to read sheet music, he plays entirely by ear. Justin played his first show on stage with a band when he was just 14 years old.

He is the founding guitarist and song writer for two seminal New York City hardcore bands, Brooklyn's highly revered Indecision (1993-2000) and Most Precious Blood (2000-still active). Both bands were always loosely tied to the straight-edge and vegan/vegetarian hardcore scenes and were outspoken on their stance on animal rights, animal rights activism, atheism and vegetarianism.

Brannan also played guitar in two other hardcore bands of note, The Judas Factor (with Rob Fish of 108 and Resurrection) and Milhouse (from which Indecision would poach WreckAge/Exit label-exec and vocalist Artie Philie for the final incarnation of Indecision).

All of Brannan's bands have forged themselves as workhorses. Taking cues from the frontier punk bands such as Black Flag and touring 250-300 days per year across the globe, equally inspired by bands like Fugazi and their good friends in Sick Of It All, Indecision and Most Precious Blood made their name daring to go where other bands hadn't gone before. Both bands collectively have traveled to well over 40 countries throughout Europe as well as the entire United States (save for Hawaii), Puerto Rico, Canada, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

Indecision was the first American band to play in Croatia (Zagreb) after the Croatian War of Independence ended in 1995 and Most Precious Blood was "the" very first American hardcore band to ever step foot on South African soil.

Brannan's bands all seem to have an agnostic or atheistic slant to their lyrical content and approach; often manipulating famous Roman Catholic imagery for artwork in their own profane while provocative way. Some of Most Precious Blood's record covers were banned and censored because of this - most notably the Our Lady of Annihilation album cover designed by Brannan and his long-time fellow photographic artist & comrade, the ingenious Justin Borucki.

Life outside music

Brannan has worked in NYC radio for many years, getting his start as an assistant to Robin Quivers and a production intern on The Howard Stern Show at WXRK 92.3 FM and later turning up at NYC's world famous WNEW 102.7 FM to work as an assistant producer for The Radio Chick Show.

A freelance voice actor, Brannan can be heard on many radio commercials and TV spots on MTV2 and Headbangers Ball. He was awarded a Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified gold & certified platinum sales award for his contribution towards the commercial success of the Lamb of God "Killadelphia" DVD. This DVD has since gone platinum.

Justin also plays in a "New Weird America" group called Bonfire of the Vanities.

He's recently turned up on the FUSE TV channel, co-hosting several episodes of a video countdown show called "The F-List". He can also be seen on You Tube acting in a satirical commercial for the music profile site Pure Volume, as well as interviewing bands and doing commentary on many of the High Roller Studios Presents projects such as the Hellfest and the New England Metal Fest DVDs.

He has contributed music reviews for [http://www.foundrymusic.com Foundrymusic.com] as well as several sordid tales from various early Indecision tours circa 1996 for a book called "Anecdote" published independently some years ago.

Justin currently works at a Wall Street firm as an asset manager. He lives in Bay Ridge with his adopted pitbull/greyhound named after his favorite sweet smelling spice.

Education

Justin attended Xaverian High School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York and later Fordham University at Lincoln Center. Justin left to pursue a career in music before fully attaining a degree in journalism.

Caninus Phenomenon

Brannan and long-time femme comrade Rachel (Rosen) met on Rosen's old radio show the infamous WNYU 89.1 FM's Crucial Chaos. They have masterminded many bands and projects throughout the years most recently (and notably) a death-metal grind-core group called Caninus ("pronounced K-9-us"). The band received international notoriety for being the first band to feature an animal as a lead singer, their two adopted pet pit bulls.

The band began as an inside joke and quickly became the media's darling novelty - receiving national exposure through coverage from FHM, Maxim, Stuff, Details, GQ, Vogue, Satya, Rolling Stone, Varla, National Public Radio, The Howard Stern Show and several other "morning zoo" type radio programs. They've even received several unsolicited celebrity endorsements - everyone from Andrew W.K. to Susan Sarandon has given Caninus 'the nod'.

Regardless of the mainstream media attention, Brannan has been quoted as calling Caninus itself "a joke which morphed into a social experiment" referring to the current state of music and culture where "everything is disposable and all you need is gimmick" to get the attention of all the "glossy people"

Caninus' message promoted rescuing and adopting domestic animals rather than buying and breeding them - which is no surprise since Most Precious Blood have worked closely with organizations like PETA and PETA2 since the bands inception in 2000.

Trivia

* Has been linked to the "Johnny Thunder" character on The Sports Guys radio show formerly on WNEW 102.7 FM, now off the air.
* Justin is a 1010 WINS fanatic - a famous New York news radio station
* Standing on the Brooklyn Bridge as the second plane hit on the morning of September 11, 2001, Brannan gave an eyewitness account live on the air with NY radio station "WNEW 102.7 FM". He desrcibed, in horrifying real time, a plane moving in over the skyline, "dwarfing the massive buildings with its shadow" and then smashing into the South Tower at 9:02 A.M. Brannan was the only known radio broadcaster to be live on the air at the time of the 2nd attack since most networks and stations were relying on monitoring the time-delayed television newsfeeds for their accounts. This segment has since found it's way to the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City.
* Justin's father, the late James Wiley, released a bootleg Bob Dylan album during the highly documented 1967-69 "Great White Wonder" / "Isle of Wight" era Dylan post-motorcycle accident when Dylan began jamming with Robbie Robertson and The Hawks (later renamed as The Band). Selections from the bootlegs of this era were subsequently given official release as The Basement Tapes by Columbia Records in 1975.
* Despite his "WASPy" name, Brannan is of Italian descent.
* Is a vegetarian. [ [http://www.peta2.com/outthere/o-sexyveg08_winners.asp The 2008 World's Sexiest Vegetarians Are… // Out There // peta2 ] ]

Collaboration with other artists

Brannan has written music with a wide array of people. Most notably:
* Roger Miret, "Agnostic Front frontman"
* Monk Orff, "son of world renown German composer" Carl Orff
* [http://www.uncommonmusic.net/index.cfm NASA] "Def Jux prog-rapper/engineer/producer"
* [http://www.uncommonmusic.net/thepresence.cfm The Presence feat. Cirrus]
* Ronni Raygun Thomas, "childhood friend, musician and filmmaker"

References