In the rush and roar of 2005, there hasn’t been a more hyped band than the Bravery. Hailing from New York City, these four angular, stylish rockers have appeared in every major music magazine here and abroad, earning the label of the next big thing in rock for their fusion of classic garage rock and 21st century beats and production. It’s the Strokes meets the dance floor, and if the Bravery have anything to say about their newfound status as 2005’s “It” band of the moment, they’ll make good on that title.
“Hype is definitely a double edged sword,” says drummer Anthony Burulcich via phone before a recent tour stop in Portland, Oregon. “On one hand, hype is great because now everyone has heard the name of your band and people are going to go check it out. And the other side of that is even if people like you, and think it’s good, you’re always going to have the too cool for school crowd that immediately is going to hate the band that everyone likes.”
Beyond the hype though lies a relatively young, inexperienced band struggling with the accolades and attention. Just a year ago the Bravery (vocalist/producer Sam Endicott, keyboardist John Conway, guitarist Michael Zakarin and Burulcich) were toiling in obscurity, recording on a laptop in a Chinatown walkup, struggling to make ends meet and just hoping to have their music heard. They were one of the hardest working unsigned bands in the New York City music scene, doing everything themselves, from fliers, to recording tracks, to booking and promoting their own shows. The Bravery was “Do It Yourself” in every sense of the phrase.
But with every hardworking band made good, a little luck and timing is involved, and the Bravery received theirs in the gift of a little radio play before they even had an album or label.
“We were doing everything ourselves,” Burulcich says, “and a couple of DJs, one Zane Lowe in the UK who works at Radio 1, went to our website, downloaded one of our songs and started playing it. And Paul Driscoll at FNX in Boston, saw a show of ours in Boston, and downloaded the song. Same thing, he was at the gym, [our song] came on random on his playlist, and he was like, god, I gotta play this on the radio. That night he played it, and that’s really what got the attention from the labels.”
The Bravery, which began as a recording project in Endicott’s bedroom, was now in the envious position of negotiating their first major label record deal. Some would call it a bidding war, but the band saw it a different way.
“People throw that term around, bidding war, bidding war,” Burulcich notes. “It wasn’t a bidding war. I think nowadays labels aren’t signing as many bands as they once did, so when there is a band that one label wants, other labels are interested. But it was never like millions of dollars were spent on this band. That was not the case. You know, there were a few labels that were interested, and we met them and we went with the labels that we felt weren’t chasing the heat but really saw our vision and saw what we wanted to do.”
When the band finally signed with Island-Def Jam, also home to the Killers, a band the Bravery is often compared to, the Bravery had 9 out of the 11 tracks found on their self-titled debut recorded. But amongst all the hoopla and rollercoaster ride since being discovered, the Bravery have managed to stay grounded, and continue to approach their music with the same vision they started with.
“We had a vision before the label,” Burulcich says, “so why should it change now that we have a label. We just want to use that as a platform to meet as many people as possible.”
“We have to continue playing awesome shows, and get out and play as many shows as possible, and be the best we can be. The point is, we haven’t changed from last year. We knew what we wanted, we knew we weren’t going to half ass anything, and we’re happy with the way things are going.”
But the one thing the Bravery couldn’t control was their sudden, rapid rise to popularity, especially overseas in the UK and Europe, where the Bravery is already a household name amongst teenagers and music fans alike. Back home though, they are just starting to break, with the album released late last month and their first single, “An Honest Mistake,” receiving regular play on modern rock radio and MTV2. The Bravery also just concluded their first proper stateside tour, opening for English rockers Ash, and seeing their hard work begin to pay off.
“Just before [this tour] we had the finale to the UK tour which was two shows at Coco’s, which were sold out 1500 seat venues,” Burulcich says. “So then when we hit Philly, we’re opening for Ash, and there were maybe 100 people in the audience, and no one really knew our stuff. Now the momentum is really picking up. All the shows have been sold out now. I guess maybe people are reading about it, they hear that we’re in the States, and the shows are going great.
“But I don’t think anyone expected that [rise in popularity]. Last year, oh my god, we were happy when we opened the NME and there were three words written on the NME radio section “What’s On the NME Stereo,” and we saw the Bravery, we were freaking out. And what was it? Maybe a month ago we were on the cover of the NME.”
