The Bravery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Bravery | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  New York City, New York, USA |
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| Genre(s) | Rock Alternative rock Post-punk revival Indie rock |
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| Years active | 2003 – present | |
| Label(s) | Geffen Records Island Records |
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| Website | www.thebravery.com | |
| Members | ||
| Sam Endicott John Conway Anthony Burulcich Michael Zakarin Mike Hindirt |
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The Bravery is an American alternative rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott, John Conway, Anthony Burulcich, Michael Zakarin, and Mike Hindirt. Their debut album reached the top twenty in the United States and the top five in the United Kingdom. Their musical style has been compared to The Strokes, The Cure, New Order, The Smiths, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand.
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[edit] History
Frontman-songwriter Sam Endicott and keyboardist John Conway were classmates at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY in the late '90s. As freshman, their musical partnership began inauspiciously, playing local bars in mock-ska band Skabba the Hutt, 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 ad in a local paper, and brought with him bassist Mike Hindert, a classmate of his from George Washington University in Washington, DC. Drummer Anthony Burulcich was met through mutual friends in NY band Bishop Allen.
After playing its first gig at the Stinger Club in Brooklyn in November of '03 (opening for The Animators), the Bravery's post-punk-influenced dance rock was all the rage. A residency at Arlene's Grocery and whispers on the street eventually led the Bravery to a recording contract with Island Def Jam in the States and Loog in the U.K. The Unconditional EP followed in early 2005. The Village Voice proclaimed the Bravery to be "New York's Official Next Big Thing" while MTV and Rolling Stone hailed them as an artist to watch. Also, The band were tipped in the BBC News "Sound of 2005" as 2005's most promising act. They released their debut album, The Bravery, on March 14, 2005 in the U.K. (March 29, 2005 in the U.S.), following releases of "Unconditional" and "Honest Mistake" as singles. Their first radio airplay came on the show 'Alter Ego' hosted by Paul Driscoll on the Boston's WFNX. A co-headlining tour with Ash in the U.S. in spring 2005 coincided the release of the Bravery's self-titled album.
The Bravery was involved in a highly publicised feud with fellow synth band The Killers. On the day of the US release of the Bravery album, Killers frontman Brandon Flowers attacked the band in a radio interview, claiming that they were riding on the coattails of The Killers' initial success [1], and that anyone who was once in a ska band could not be serious about the music they were playing now. The Bravery dismissed these charges as ridiculous, and an exchange of colorful remarks insued, much to the delight of the UK press. Ironically, it was later revealed that Killers drummer Ronnie Vanucci had himself played in a ska band, Nevada-based Attaboy Skip. The feud was heightened by the fact that the Killers and the Bravery are both signed to Island Records. Flowers comments have, themselves, met much criticism, due to the fact that the Killers are seen by many as riding on the coattails of other popular new wave influenced indie bands such as The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand. Ultimately, Flowers apologized to Bravery frontman Endicott, saying that his remarks were only inspired by jealousy. [citation needed]
The Bravery played at Glastonbury Festival on Sunday 26th June 2005, following a year of success and increasing popularity. Their set was due to be aired live on BBC 3 in the daytime, but had to be shown well after the watershed, as bass guitarist Mike H stripped naked on stage due to the hot weather.
In November/December 2005 and January through March 2006, the band was the supporting act for Depeche Mode on their Touring the Angel tour of the US and UK. Following this, the Bravery relocated to Atlanta, GA to record their sophomore album with producer Brendan O'Brien, slated for release in early '07.
[edit] Members
- Sam Endicott - vocals, guitar, programming
- Michael Zakarin - guitar, backing vocals
- Mike Hindert (Dirt) - bass, backing vocals
- John Conway - keyboards (mostly analogue), synthesizers, programming, backing vocals
- Anthony Burulcich (Ant) - drums, backing vocals
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- The Bravery (2005), #18 US, #5 UK
- The Sun and the Moon (2007)
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | ||
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| US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | UK Singles Chart | |||
| 2005 | "An Honest Mistake" | #97 | #12 | #7 | The Bravery |
| 2005 | "Fearless" | - | - | #43 | The Bravery |
| 2005 | "Unconditional" | - | #34 | #49 | The Bravery |
[edit] Influences
- Buzzcocks
- Daft Punk
- The Rolling Stones
- The Clash
- U2
- The DFA
- The Beatles
- Depeche Mode
- Icehouse
- Peaches
[edit] Quotes
"We'd rather be a band that some people are going to passionately hate than be a ringtone band." -Sam Endicott
"There's no one as electronic as us that's also as rock 'n' roll as us." -Sam Endicott
"I think this is the beginning of a really cool period in music because what we've been living through has been mostly super-testosterone rock, and there's nothing wrong with testosterone but it is damn boring." -Sam Endicott
"We'll be touring in our van, and one guy's sleeping, one guy is watching porn and Mike's knitting." -Sam Endicott
"When I was about 12, I wanted a CD player for Christmas, but instead my parents gave me a really crappy electric guitar." -Sam Endicott
[edit] Trivia
- When the band appeared on Sky Sports' Soccer AM they randomly drew from a hat Wolverhampton Wanderers as a Football team to support.
- Their song, "Fearless", played during the credits of the Russian film Night Watch.
- Unconditional", The third single off of The Bravery's debut album, is featured in the soundtrack for Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.
- In the final episode of The OC's second season the song "An Honest Mistake" is featured. When Ryan, Marissa, Seth and Summer enter the Bait Shop, the song is being played in the background.
- "An Honest Mistake" was also featured at the beginning of an episode of CSI: New York entitled Youngblood. Interestingly, CSI: Miami star Jonathan Togo is a former bandmate of two members of The Bravery.
- "An Honest Mistake" was featured on the soundtrack of MVP Baseball 2005.
- "An Honest Mistake" was played at the end of the pilot of the Fox show "The Loop".
- A remix of "An Honest Mistake" was featured on the soundtrack of Burnout Revenge
- The Bravery-Killers feud is rapped about in a song by rapper Talib Kweli.
- Bassist Mike Hindert has an identical twin, who also plays bass, and fronts the band Red Hot Galactic Super Gravitational Pull.
- The song "An Honest Mistake" was a track on True Crime :NYC Soundtrack.
