Land of The Brave
The Bravery Deserves a Listen. Why? Because Dominick Scala Said So.

By Dominick Scala

I love to listen and I love to write. My attitude towards writing about other creative people is this: “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.” Any press is good press, but no press keeps you out of people’s heads completely. As much as this particular article goes against my above said principle, The Bravery deserves some notation and a good listen. I noticed the speed bump a couple weeks back when I was researching The Killers and now it has come full circle in my preparation for this lovely piece. Apparently rivalries translate better than good songwriting. Hmmm. The gist is that the ‘he said, she said’ phenomenon that often some often call ‘journalism’ overshadows actual artistry.

That being said, the only reason I wasted those 124 words is to express the point that The Bravery is worth your time musically. My goal here is to remind people why we listen to what we listen to and why we talk and write about these people that enhance our lives.

The Bravery is a five-piece ensemble from New York City. Their sound, some say, is post punk-ish dance rock (which basically means adding a keyboard player to an edgy straight forward indie-rock outfit).

The band started gigging in 2003 in Brooklyn, most frequently at Arlene’s Grocery. Their new wave dance style rock kept the NY hipster scene chatting and eventually landed them a recording contract with Island records in the States and Loog in the U.K. When the first Bravery EP, “Unconditional” was released in 2005, the Village Voice, MTV, and BBC News hailed them as up-and-coming artists to keep an eye on. Not long after, they released their self-titled full-length album. They began to see themselves on the covers of magazines, playing shows with U2 and Depeche Mode, including performing at massive venues such as Glastonbury, SXSW and Coachella, and enjoyed recognition half way around the world.

After extensive touring for their first two releases, The Bravery recruited Brendan O’Brien (Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, Neil Young etc.) for their follow up LP “The Sun and the Moon.” This record explored added textures of synthesizers and peculiar instrumentation and, two weeks before the release, they played two secret shows back at Arlene’s in Brooklyn. The Bravery is also the first band to release a new song on iTunes a week prior to the official full album release. Their musical wave landed them the supporting act for such arena fillers as The Smashing Pumpkins and Incubus. A few of their singles topped the charts in the U.S. and the U.K., namely “Believe” which lasted six weeks at No. 4 in the States.

I watched their latest video “Hatefuck” on the government-monitored Facebook and found it to be grotesquely sexy, in a voyeuristic Rock ’n’ Roll fantasy type of way. That song, along with plenty of other lovelies, will be available on their latest release “Stir the Blood” due out sometime this November.

The Bravery is currently on a headlining tour and will perform at 8 p.m., on Oct. 16, at the Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Highway, in Fort Lauderdale. Tickets are $19.99. For more information visit cultureroom.net.

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