The Brandos

The gritty, back-to-basics rock & roll of New York's the Brandos has roots in the Seattle scene, but not the one that become famous. Brandos frontman Dave Kincaid once led the Allies, an early-'80s power pop band that won an MTV contest with the video for "Emma Peel." However, the new wave-influenced acts emanating from the Emerald City back then received little attention outside of the Pacific Northwest so Kincaid split from the Allies and moved to New York in 1985. While skimming through the Village Voice, Kincaid saw an ad from the group Soul Attack looking for another lead singer. Kincaid joined the band and changed their name to the Brandos. Featuring Kincaid on vocals and guitar, Ed Rupprecht (guitar), Ernie Mendillo (bass, vocals), and Larry Mason (drums), the Brandos released their first album, Honor Among Thieves, on Relativity Records in 1987. The Brandos reaped positive coverage in Rolling Stone and Time; moreover, the video for "Gettysburg" was played often on MTV, a channel that rarely supported artists on indie labels. In 1988, Kincaid was chosen as Best Male Vocalist (Independent Label) at the New York Music Awards. The Brandos also left Relativity that year to sign with Geffen Records. But the Geffen deal was tangled in legal hassles, and the group ended up at RCA Records in 1989. RCA dropped the Brandos after they finished their second LP, Trial by Fire, in 1990. The Brandos' third album, Gunfire at Midnight, was distributed by Germany's SPV Records in 1992. Rupprecht and Mason departed from the band in 1993, replaced by ex-Del Lords members Scott Kempner (guitar) and Frank Funaro (drums). In 1996, Frank Giordano (vocals, guitar) was added to the lineup; the group's fourth LP, Pass the Hat, also appeared that year. Kincaid completed a solo album in 1997 but returned to the Brandos for another LP and gigs in Europe with Bryan Adams, Van Morrison, and Deep Purple.