Band-ity - The Neighbourhood

My next 3 posts are going to be research into 3 different bands from the alternative / rock genre, and I will look at their band's brand identity (band-ity); i.e. album covers, single covers, videos, websites, lyrics etc.
This will help with my research and will help me back up my choices for the way I am branding my band.


The first band I am going to research is The Neighbourhood, as they are the main inspiration for my band.
The band have described their sound and everything they do as 'black and white', which is shown in everything they do.

This was the first official release by the band; 'I'm Sorry' was released in May 2012 and is an LP featuring 3 songs. You can see that this is where the band's branding started, with the beginning of the grey-scale background and the band's logo being the main focus on the cover. In the background of this cover and of 'Thank You' are pictures of California, which is where the band are from.

'Thank You,' is a single released in December 2012, featuring 2 songs. The band's logo features at the bottom of the single, and the name of the band is written along the right hand side of the cover in small font. This emphasises how the band want to focus more on the branding of their band rather than their commercial image. Also, the image on the cover is a screenshot from the music video of the single, making it easy for new fans of the band to see the image and remember the video, or visa-versa.

 

 

 

This is the debut album of The Neighbourhood, titled 'I Love You' and released in April 2013, which contains 11 songs. The album cover is extremely clever in its design, because the images on the cover are the title of the album (eye, heart, U); the band have written the title of the album in 3 simple images, including the upside down house which is the band's logo. I like the fact that the band have established their logo throughout their previous releases and LP covers, so they feel like they can use their logo without writing their name on the album and the fans will still know it's there's.

The band have been asked several times about their album and LPs, mainly why they used the statements 'I'm Sorry', 'Thank you', and 'I Love You' as the titles. Jessie (the lead singer) said this: "They’re all statements that are supposed to be very powerful and meaningful, but are so abused in everyday life that the meaning has basically been stripped from them. I am a huge believer that a vibe is more important than words could be. Melody and harmony does more to a human being than words do in all aspects of life."

This is an LP released by the band in December 2013, featuring 3 songs. The simple white background highlights the writing and makes it more prominent  Also, the name of the band isn't in full, the vowels are taken out; they feel they are established enough now after 3 previous releases to not need to write their band name fully.

 

 

The band's website (http://thenbhd.com/gb/) also follows the black and white theme, and so does the video on the first page of their website, as you can see above.

 

All videos by the band have been directed and produced by the same duo, ENDS (Zack Sekuler & Daniel Iglesias Jr.). This makes the brand identity of the band a lot more consecutive, and the band are good friends with ENDS so they have a lot more artistic freedom with their videos than other artists generally have, and their videos are widely open for interpretation.

'Sweater Weather'
The video follows the band around California in an old-fashioned car with a the 50s theme.
 

'Female Robbery'
This is a Hitchcock-inspired video, and portrays a chilling story of a young girl who, caught between a drunk dad and an unhappy mum, is dragged to what looks like her own funeral, but all is not what it seems.

 

'Let It Go'
The video is a very powerful representation of the meaning of the lyrics; "The song is about letting things go and letting things roll off your back," he said. "I think it's something we have to learn as human beings - the ability to take something negative in, digest it, and move on. It doesn't mean to forget about it. It doesn't mean let it take you over. Just living with it and functioning still.", Jesse - lead singer.

'Afraid'
This video shows lead singer, Jesse Rutherford, shown in past (teen) and present forms. Rutherford himself was naked throughout much of the video to express his vulnerability and fears, also the eyelids show the different perspectives of everyone in the band, from writing the songs, to playing basketball. The video also incorporated a part of OG Ron C's 'Chopped Not Slopped' remix in the middle of it.

Also, with the previous release of a vinyl record for their LP 'I'm Sorry' and my idea of releasing a vinyl for 'Sweater Weather' for my band, I thought it would be good to use this quote from The Neighbourhood members Jesse and Bryan to support my idea for wanting to release a vinyl version of the single...

"Do you think vinyl is still an important music format?"

Jesse: Very. Not, in my personal opinion, not for listening, but for collecting and for appreciating.

Bryan: I think it's better. I think for listening. I think the sound quality is better. Sometimes it's just not worth the squeeze, in terms of… to get a record player now, if you want a nice one, they're very expensive. You have to get the sound system to be able to play that record, and you have to go and buy the vinyl. So it's kind of a hassle to get it all but, if I had the option of already having it all and being able to play it, I would use it a lot more, because I know that technically, the sound quality is better.

 

 

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After reading the comment:

 

I love the greyscale they use throughout their music videos and album covers, and I hope to use this in my own pieces. Also, the videos are very different from other videos in this genre, and they're always open for interpretation, which is what I find so appealing about them. I will try to incorporate this into my own video, and use simple props and backgrounds to do so.