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The Bravery

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The Bravery

The Bravery are an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott, John Conway, Anthony Burulcich, Michael Zakarin, and Mike Hindert. Their music is a synthesis of indie rock and electronica. Their music has reached the top ten in the United States and the top five in the United Kingdom.

History

Formation

Frontman-songwriter Sam Endicott and keyboardist John Conway were classmates at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY in the late '90s. As freshmen, their musical partnership began inauspiciously, playing local bars in mock-ska band Skabba the Hut, which also included CSI: Miami star Jonathan Togo. The two went on to play together in numerous bands and recording projects, including new wave outfit Conquistador. Upon moving to NYC in early '00s, Endicott switched from bass guitar to vocals and began writing the music that would later become "The Bravery". Guitarist Michael Zakarin joined after answering an advert in a local paper, and brought with him bassist Mike Hindert, a classmate of his from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Drummer Anthony Burulcich was living in Boston where he had studied percussion at Berklee College of Music. After the tragic death of his sister, Burulcich moved back to his childhood home in Long Island New York to be with his family. On the day Burulcich was moving, while driving with his belongings in a Uhaul truck, Endicott called him. Endicott and Burulcich were introduced by mutual friends in NY band Bishop Allen.

Rising Fame

The band played their first gig at the Stinger Club in Brooklyn in November of '03. To promote their local shows, they manufactured 1,000 posters and 3 song samplers containing the songs “An Honest Mistake,” “No Brakes,” and “Public Service Announcement.” Both items featured the iconic “Phoenix” image by New York artist C. Finley. The same artwork later became the cover of The Bravery’s debut album. The band self promoted themselves by handing out cds and postering the Lower East Side of Manhattan and Brooklyn . The band also promoted themselves on the internet and were one of the first bands on myspace to have a profile. Their myspace profile pointed to the thebravery.com where the same 3 songs were available as downloadable MP3s. [1]

After a few months of headlining and selling out small clubs, the Bravery booked a residency at the Lower East side club Arlene’s Grocery. The Bravery played every Thursday at 10pm in May of 2004. Every show sold out and garnered the attention of many record labels. Around the same time, the band received their first radio airplay on the show 'Alter Ego' hosted by Paul Driscoll on the Boston's WFNX. Aaron Axeleson at Live 105 in San Francisco and Zane Lowe at BBC Radio 1 in the U.K. also downloaded the MP3 of An Honest Mistake from thebravery.com. With 3 major radio stations around the world playing the MP3 of An Honest Mistake and sold out shows in New York, The Bravery signed in August of 2004 to Island Def Jam in the United States and Loog Records in the UK.

Debut UK EP (Unconditional EP)

For the month of November 2004, The Bravery moved to the Stoke Newington part of London . The band imported their residency idea to London playing every Thursday at The Metro Club in SOHO. [2] The band toured the entire UK, Scotland , France and Holland between Thursdays. The band also opened shows for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Razorlight .

Loog Records released the Unconditional EP, [3]a limited edition 3 song EP on cd and 12” vinyl containing the songs “Unconditional,” “No Brakes,” and “Out Of Line.” The NME wrote, “Unconditional already has the time-worn feel of an indie classic.” [4] The cover was taken from C. Finley’s oil on canvas named “Colab.” “Unconditional” received heavy airplay on Radio 1 and XFM London . The band made their TV performance debut on Later With Jools Holland.[5] The band’s first NME feature, contained the headline "Raging Hedonists," [6] and exposed their reputation for drinking and partying.

The Bravery played New Years Eve of 2005 at the Motherfucker Party [7] in New York City. Bassist Mike Hindert was almost arrested for stripping naked and exposing his genitals, displaying a painted smiley face and the words “Happy New Years.”

Sam Endicott was featured on the cover February, 2005 Issue of L'Uomo Vogue.[8] The cover photo and feature photos were taken by Steven Klein

On February 16, 2005, The Bravery opened the NME Awards with a performance of “An Honest Mistake.” [9] Paul McCartney, Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis and many members of the elite British music scene and press were in attendance.

The Village Voice proclaimed the Bravery to be "New York's Official Next Big Thing" [10] while MTV and Rolling Stone hailed them as an artist to watch. The band were also tipped in the BBC News "Sound of 2005" as 2005's most promising act. [11]

Debut Album (The Bravery)

The Bravery’s first single "An Honest Mistake", was released in the UK on February 28, 2005 and debuted at # 7 on the UK Singles Chart. The single reached # 12 on the US Modern Rock Chart. The CD single contained the b-side “Hey Sunshiney Day.” The 7” Vinyl contained the b-side “Hot Pursuit (Duet Version),” a duet with lead singer Sam Endicott and Gillian Conway (sister of keyboard player John Conway.) The DVD single contained the video for An Honest Mistake, Unconditional Video, and The Making of the Unconditional video. C. Finley’s painting “Girls On Florescent Phones,” was used as the cover art.

File:Bravery.jpg
File:Bravery LimitedEdition Album Cover.jpg

The self titled debut album, The Bravery, was released on March 14, 2005 in the U.K. (March 29, 2005 in the U.S.). C. Finley’s painting “Phoenix” was used as the cover art. The first 10,000 copies in the UK were made with a silver foil cover and a black embossed Phoenix. The band was featured on the cover of the March 12th issue of the NME. The album was released in Europe on April 4, 2005. The band was featured on the cover of French Music Magazine Magic . Australia released the album on May 4. “An Honest Mistake” became a top ten hit on Triple J radio in Australia.

The Bravery was involved in a highly publicized feud with fellow new wave revival band The Killers. On the day of the US release of the Bravery’s album, Killers frontman Brandon Flowers made criticisms of The Bravery on mtvnews.com,[12] stating that they were riding on the coat tails of The Killers' initial success [13] and that anyone who was once in a ska band could not be serious about the music they were playing now. During a radio interview on Live 105 in San Francisco that evening, The Bravery dismissed these charges as ridiculous, and an exchange of colourful remarks ensued,[14] much to the delight of the UK press. The feud was heightened by the fact that the Killers and the Bravery are both signed to Island Records in the US.

The Bravery’s second single, "Fearless" was released in the UK on May 23, 2005. The single's slim line CD featured a cover of "An Can Dubh" by U2 as the b-side. The b-side for the 7" vinyl was a cover of The Cars' "It’s All I Can Do". The DVD single contained the Fearless Video as well as Live Footage of "No Brakes" recorded at club Koko in London on March 1, 2005. C. Finley’s artwork entitled "Lady With A Blunt" was used as the cover art.

On May 28, 2005, The Bravery played 3 shows in one day taking a Helicopter from Homelands festival in Winchester, to Birmingham, to London. The Bravery’s last show of the day was the 1st of 3 sold out headlining shows at the Astoria. [15]

On June 14, 2005, The Bravery supported the opening night of U2’s European tour in Manchester, UK. [16] During the Bravery’s opening song, "Rites Of Spring," the power failed on stage. The band left the stage coming back 10 minutes later, only to have the power shut off again. Bono wrote a letter to the band thanking them, stating "P.S. If you ever need anything, call Edge, Adam or Larry." The Bravery went on to support other European dates for U2 including a sold out 90,000 capacity Croke Park concert in Dublin on June 27.[17]

The Bravery played at Glastonbury Festival on 26 June 2005. Their set was due to be aired live on BBC Three in the daytime, but had to be shown well after the watershed, as bass guitarist Mike Hindert stripped naked on stage due to the hot weather and threw himself into the drumkit to end their set. [18] A photo of Mike "Dirt" Hindert’s bum on stage with 40,000 people in the distance was featured in the following issue of the NME and Blender Magazine where Mike is quoted as saying "A bottle of Jager will usually do that to you. It wasn't the best showing of my life. I should get a girl to fluff me beforehand"[19]Dirt’s nakedness is now immortalized on film in Julian Temple’s Glastonbury The Film.[20]

The video for "An Honest Mistake" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award.[21] The Bravery attended the VMAs in Miami Beach and were thrown out of the official Island Def Jam after party at club Mansion. While drinking in the VIP section with fellow IDJ artists, Jay-Z, Ludacris, The Killers and Fall Out Boy, Bravery drummer Anthony Burulcich jumped on stage stealing the microphone from the MC trying to rap over the music. Security jumped on stage causing a fight resulting in The Bravery band members and crew being kicked out. [22]

The "Unconditional" single was released in the UK on August 29, 2005. The slim line cd single contained a Michael Brauer radio Mix as the A-side and a Benni Benassi dance remix as the b-side. The remix reached the top 10 on the UK dance charts. The Maxi single contained the b-sides "Oh, Glory" and "An Honest Mistake" remix by Superdiscount. The cd was enhanced with the video for Unconditional. "Phoenix Girl", an acrylic and graphite drawing on paper by C. Finley’s was used for the cover art.

Throughout 2005, The Bravery sold out headlining shows all over the world and played some of the largest festivals including:

Les Inrockuptibles, SXSW, Coachella, Radio_1’s_Big_Weekend, HFStival, KROQ Weenie Roast, Inland Invasion, KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Homelands, ConcertsBFD, Provinssirock, Glastonbury, Werchter, St Gallen, Montreaux Jazz Festival, Quart Festival, Oxygen Festival, T in the Park, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, Movement Festival in Jakarta, Lowlands, V Festival, Jersey Live, and Voodoo Music Experience.

In November and December 2005 and January through March 2006, the band was the supporting act for Depeche Mode on their Touring the Angel world tour. The tour traveled all over the US, UK, Europe and even stopped in non traditional touring countries like, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. During the European leg of the tour, the band set up their portable recording studio in the back lounge of their tour bus. Sam Endicott credits the Eastern European leg of the tour as the beginning of the writing and demoing process for their next album. "I wrote a lot on the Depeche Mode tour," said Endicott. "At first it was really hard, but I got used to it. You’re just crammed into a corner of the bus with a coat over the amp between two people who are trying to sleep." [23]

Second album (The Sun and the Moon)

In June 2006, after months of writing and demoing at their home studios in New York City, the Bravery moved to Atlanta, to work with producer Brendan O’Brien,. Brendan’s resume included Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Velvet Revolver. The band’s original concept of their new album was to show the 2 sides of the band. One being "The Sun," a more organic approach of production using acoustic instruments. The other being "The Moon," a do it yourself indie dance production, reminiscent of their debut album. The idea was to release 2 discs of the exact same songs done in different ways "The Sun" and The Moon."

The songs for the "Sun" portion were finished and mastered by November of 2006. The band played a limited number of small shows on the US East Coast and in South America including a few secret shows under the name "Wyld Stallyons" to showcase new material from their 2nd album, The Sun and the Moon. After road testing the songs, The Bravery went back to Atlanta in January 2007 to re-track and re-mix some of the songs.

In February, the band uploaded a medley of three new song clips to their official page.[24]

US alternative radio stations received the cd pro for The Bravery’s first single "Time Won't Let Me Go" the same week as the band played in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and the SXSW festival. The single immediately shot up the charts garnering The Bravery their first alternative Top Ten Hit in America.

Two weeks before the release, The Bravery played a number of special shows in New York City including 2 secret shows on May 8 at Arlene's Grocery, the very club that the band credits as the club where they were discovered.[25]

On May 22, 2007, The Bravery’s second album The Sun and the Moon was released and debuted #24 on the US album charts. Endicott describes the new album as a departure from the synth-heavy sound of their debut. Speaking to Billboard, Endicott said that the band wanted to go in a different direction to their electro–influenced debut. He said, "We did it to death a little bit. We were a little sick of it. We went so synth-crazy that it got a little boring to us. It was more like, what does an acoustic piano sound like or what are real organ sounds? That stuff was more exciting to us."[26] The cover and artwork are candid photographs taken by Jo McCaughey and Drew King. Sam Endicott and Art designer Andy West, took a newsprint/collage approach to the layout of the album.

The Bravery recorded a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins song "Rocket."[27]The song was released on a cover mount cd for Spin Magazine and on iTunes as a downloadable single.

The Bravery toured extensively in the US headlining dates until June. The band headed to Europe on their own headlining tour stopping to play Oxegen and T In the Park festivals. July – September, The Bravery supported Incubus on their outdoor amphitheatre summer tour. Immediately after, the band supported Smashing Pumpkins on their US theatre tour. In October, The Bravery headed to Mexico where they played Motorkr Festival in Mexico City. [28] They finished 2007 headlining more dates in the US.

iTunes named The Sun and The Moon as one of their top 10 alternative albums of the year, while "Believe" was named #5 on the list of Top 10 Alternative Tracks of the Year. [29]

The Bravery’s second single "Believe" is currently #9 on the Alternative Radio Charts. They performed "Believe," "Time Won't Let Me Go," "An Honest Mistake," and "Unconditional" on the Pontiac Garage 5 Stories above Time Square on New Years Eve 2008. A reported 1 million people were in attendance. Footage was aired on MTV and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. [30][31]

On January 9, 2008, The Bravery invited their fans to be a part of the shooting of their video for "Believe". The performance based video was shot in Hollywood and is currently being edited and animated in Liverpool England by Good Times.

During the week of January 28, 2008, The Bravery were featured as MTV's "Artist Of The Week."[32] MTV aired promotional clips containing skits, acoustic performances and concert footage. The Bravery single debuted in Billboard's top 200 singles chart the following week.

The Bravery recently wrapped up their headlining tour of the U.S. in Portland, Maine.

Second album addition (The Sun and The Moon Complete)

While on the road, The Bravery continued working on "The Moon" recording on the back of their tour bus, in hotels and dressing rooms. In December 2007, The Bravery headed back into their New York City home studios to finish up their more raw and electronic version of the songs.

In January 2008, The band announced the new release of The Sun and the Moon Complete, a two disc set featuring "The Sun" (the original Brendan O’Brien produced 12 songs) and "The Moon" (the same exact 12 songs, in the same order, but re-imagined and re-worked by the band.) In an Island Records press release, Endicott states, "This is ‘The Moon’ side of ‘The Sun and The Moon,’ all the same songs but a completely different album. ‘The Sun’ is us experimenting in the studio; ‘The Moon’ is us back on our home turf.”

iTunes announced The Bravery as the first artist ever to pre-release a different song every week prior to the album release. On February 19, 2008, the first single, a rerecording of "Believe" debuted on iTunes. A song a week followed: "This is Not the End" released on February 26th, "Bad Sun" on March 4th and "The Ocean" on March 11th.

The Sun and the Moon Complete was released on March 18, 2008. A new album cover and packaging accompany the 2 disk set.

Current Events

The Bravery's current single "Believe" has reached #4 on the Alternative Rock Charts this week (Week of March 24, 2008). It is the highest chart position for the band in the United States. They are currently on tour and will appear on Late Night With Conan O'Brien on April 2.

Videos

"Unconditional":[33] Shot inside The Frying Pan club on Chelsea Piers in Manhattan, The Bravery's video for "Unconditional" featured fans and friends dancing among the band as they performed. The Frying Pan was a sunken ship resurrected and refurbished into a night club. Sam Endicott’s concept was to pack the club so tightly, that the people became the texture of the video. He wanted to capture the New York underground movement of the time; The combination of dance music with a punk rock aesthetic. Directed by Tyler Oliver, the video was shot with 2 cameras strapped to each other side by side. The film from each camera was developed with different coloring. Tyler Oliver layered the 2 shots over each other, giving the effect of Endicott walking from one screen to the other.

"An Honest Mistake":[34] The concept of the video was conceived while all 5 band members were relaxing at an Amsterdam Coffee Shop after their show on November 12, 2004. Inside the shop, a television was showing footage from Domino Day. Everyone in the shop watched, mesmerized by the overwhelming displays of Domino’s toppling. [35] This song was aired in a Fox popular drama series, "The OC" in season 2.

Shot December of 2004 in a warehouse in Culver City, CA, the Bravery's video "An Honest Mistake" takes a Rube Goldberg journey through contraptions using fans, rockets, light bulbs, pulleys, eggs and an even an aquarium. The video starts with one Domino falling, creating a reaction of huge domino toppling displays. World record holder, Robert Speca was hired to set up and knock down the domino displays. One display took Robert 5 hours to set up, only to be knocked down and immediately set up again. Director Michael Palmieri, shot the video in color, but took all the color out except yellow in post production. A climactic ending reveals a flaming arrow just missing a target. The video was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award.[36] [37]

"Fearless":[38] Endicott originally conceived the video wanting each band member strapped to the hoods of cars while racing down the German Autobahn. However, MTV refused to show a video of this nature, on the grounds that it was "too dangerous." Instead, Endicott had each band member (including Drummer Anthony Burulcich playing a full drum kit) affixed to the front of their own speedboat. The video was shot on April 5, 2005 in the Ocean off San Pedro, CA. During a Coast Guard safety briefing at 6am, the bravery were told, "If the boat capsizes, stay put, hold your breath, and we’ll come get you." The Coast Guard gave the band members Dramamine to avoid vomiting. Wearing full body harnesses under their clothes, each band member was tied to the boat on all four corners. Drummer Anthony Burulcich’s boat almost capsized after hitting a large wave. He caught his snare drum. Luckily the rest of his drum kit was bolted to the boat. Director Diane Martel, was originally going to shoot the video in color, but after many test shoots, she and the band decided to switch to black and white.

"Time Won’t Let Me Go":[39] Shot April 7, 2007 in Brooklyn, New York, The Bravery’s video for "Time Won’t Let Me Go" features Bryan Berg, the world record holder for building the largest House Of Cards. Endicott’s concept of the video was to show a character build a house of cards, walk into the house of cards, escaping the real world and discovering a world where everything was made out of playing cards. When casting the main character, the band watched clips of Bryan building card houses. They opted out of hiring an actor and cast Bryan as the main character. Directed by brothers Brad and Brian Palmer, the video immediately was added to all the major video channels and even reached the top 10 at VH1 and MTV2.

"Believe": [40] Produced by Draw Pictures and shot on January 9, 2008 at Club King King in Hollywood, the Bravery’s video for "Believe" features Sam Endicott’s directorial debut. Working with Liverpool England based animation team, Goodtimes Moving Images Ltd, Endicott’s video is a performance video utilizing camera tricks and post animation. Saturated colors make the video feel old and TV like, while camera tricks like the Alfred Hitchcock style Dolly Zoom and Endicott wearing a doggy cam (a camera strapped to the body allowing the subject to be completely centered in frame while the background moves) while crowd surfing, combine with post animation. Instead of hiring extras, The Bravery invited 200 of their loyal fans to be apart of the video. The video debuted on Yahoo! on February 7, 2008.

"Honest Mistake" was featured in the television series, The O.C. during the second season finale episode, The Dearly Beloved. It was also featured in the video game Burnout: Revenge.

"Believe" was featured in EA Sports' Madden NFL 08, on the second episode of Reaper, the fifth episode of Moonlight, promos for the second season of Friday Night Lights, The Hills and on the second episode of Gossip Girl. Meanwhile, "Time Won't Let Me Go" has been featured on promos for the fourth season finale of Rescue Me, One Tree Hill. "The Ocean" was featured on an episode of Grey's Anatomy on October 11, 2007. "Honest Mistake" was featured in EA Sports' MVP Baseball 2005. Unconditional appeared in the game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. Swollen Summer was also used to promote summer specials on Comedy Central in 2005. "Time Won't Let Me Go" appeared near the end of the 2008 movie Never Back Down. In addition to the aforementioned "Time Won't Let Me Go," Promo's for Rescue Me have also featured "Public Service Announcement."

Members

Discography

Albums

Singles

Year Title Chart Positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock UK Singles Chart UK Dance Chart
2005 "An Honest Mistake" 97 12 7 - The Bravery
2005 "Fearless" - - 43 - The Bravery
2005 "Unconditional" - 34 49 5 The Bravery
2007 "Time Won't Let Me Go" 124 10 - - The Sun and the Moon
2007 "Believe" 106 4 - - The Sun and the Moon

References

  1. ^ The Deli - Interview with The Bravery
  2. ^ The Bravery - The Bravery : The Bravery - Album Reviews - NME.COM
  3. ^ The Bravery | Music Artist | Videos, News, Photos & Ringtones | MTV
  4. ^ The Bravery - The Bravery : The Bravery - Album Reviews - NME.COM
  5. ^ YouTube - The Bravery Play Honest Mistake On Later With Jools Holland
  6. ^ Bravery to roll into town again - Rock and pop - Music - Entertainment - Manchester Evening News
  7. ^ URB Magazine: Urb Blogs
  8. ^ Icon International
  9. ^ YouTube - The Bravery - An Honest Mistake
  10. ^ village voice > nyclife > Fly Life: New York's Official Next Big Thing: The Bravery by Tricia Romano
  11. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Sound of 2005: The Bravery
  12. ^ Killers' To-Do List: Lawsuit, Beef With Bravery - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News
  13. ^ http://www.nme.com/news/111853.htm
  14. ^ stereogum: Bravery Respond To Killers
  15. ^ BBC - London - Entertainment - "We like playing shows"
  16. ^ U2 Manchester, 2005-06-14, City of Manchester Stadium, Vertigo Tour - U2 on tour
  17. ^ U2 Dublin, 2005-06-27, Croke Park, Vertigo Tour - U2 on tour
  18. ^ Sam Endicott Interview - One on One
  19. ^ Fearless - The Bravery Star'S Strip Mistake
  20. ^ Radiohead - Various : Music From Glastonbury The Film - Album Reviews - NME.COM
  21. ^ Universal Music - U.S. MTV Video Awards nominees
  22. ^ WireImage.com – The Largest Entertainment Photo & Video Archive
  23. ^ The Bravery begin work on new album | News | NME.COM
  24. ^ The Bravery preview new album online | News | NME.COM
  25. ^ The Bravery preview new album at secret shows | News | NME.COM
  26. ^ The Bravery announce second album details | News | NME.COM
  27. ^ Smashing Pumpkins tribute album tracklisting revealed | News | NME.COM
  28. ^ MOTOROKR Fest 07, Ciudad de México – Last.fm
  29. ^ The Bravery
  30. ^ 'You Have To Vote For Who You Want To Be In The Finals' | Video | Paris Hilton And 'Hottie' Pal On Politics, Marilyn, Farts | MTV
  31. ^ http://www.youtube.com/v/hSz4xO8Tfn0&rel=1
  32. ^ MTV Buzzworthy Blog » Artist Of The Week
  33. ^ YouTube - The Bravery - Unconditional: Closed Captioned
  34. ^ YouTube - The Bravery - An Honest Mistake: Closed Captioned
  35. ^ YouTube - Exclusive Interview: The Bravery as Artist of the Day on
  36. ^ Bravery Making Rock Music Danceable Again - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News
  37. ^ Universal Music - U.S. MTV Video Awards nominees
  38. ^ YouTube - The Bravery - Fearless
  39. ^ YouTube - The Bravery - Time Won't Let Me Go
  40. ^ YouTube - The Bravery - Believe
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