Death knell for Teh Bravery

Great.

Great! Wow! Fant!

SOMEONE THROUGH A WRENCH IN THIS HYPE MACHINE BEFORE THE WORLD ENDS

THIS IS THE WORST CRAP I HAVE EVER HEARD

i quite like tom vek, though. and the magic numbers. and kano. the dears can swivel.

If there's any justice then Bloc Party will be as big as Franz Ferdinand. Their album is much better but there's no big Take Me Out type ubiquitous single. The Kaiser Chiefs could be pretty good as well in a straight up indie pop way.

I hope Kano does better than Wiley though. Even appearing on this list is indicative of Big Industry Push though.

i've got a handful of bravery tracks here now and they're OK at best ... there's a nice needling riff in "tyrant", f'rinstance. but, you know, they sound like early spandau ballet. *all* this new-wave-of-electro-rock stuff sounds like early spandau ballet, whereas it should sound like a flock of seagulls.

mind, i've only heard one song. they're the kind of band i'd like to see live; i have a feeling they'd be FUN.

Second-rate Killers? That's gotta be some new category of godawful!

Aigh.

(ps: "Somebody Told Me" is a better single than anything Bloc Party has done.)

On behalf of Jonathan Richman and Ric Ocasek, shaddap, you

Maybe I ought to pay more attention to the radio and MTV and less attention to ILM and the BBC.

Also, Jonathan Richman is a total ponce.

At least they seemed to be enjoying themselves... except for the bassist. He seemed to think he was way too cool to even be there.

In a just world, anyway.

It's just all so utterly predictable.

(also true of the Killers)

OTM. ILM needs more graphs.

Someone find out who their PR firm is.

A friend of mine who really likes the Killers was talking shit about this band because they were basically overproduced and too much style over substance, which is a pretty harsh indictment.

no, that means they already have a pr firm.

All I know is, the show I was at was nowhere near full, and when my friends went to get tickets an hour before, they were told it wasn't expected to sell out.

http://www.ambitious-outsiders.com/dwnlow/bravery_promo.jpg

I've only heard 'Honest Mistake' and it's kind of uh, uninspired, they sold out the Academy 2 by me which Gang of bloody Four failed to do.

But they really are contemptible. SKABBA~

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/music/features/11548/index.html

"Look at a band like the Bravery. They're signed because we're a band," Flowers said. "I've heard rumors about [members of] that band being in a different kind of band, and how do you defend that? If you say, 'My heart really belongs to what I'm doing now,' but you used to be in a ska band. I can see the Strokes play or Franz Ferdinand play and it's real, and I haven't gotten that from the Bravery. I think people will see through them."

Uh, quite easily?

(sorry)

http://www.aavc.vassar.edu/vq/summer2002/extras/images/skabba.jpg

(Third from right.)

But no one who's ever been in a band called Skabba the Hutt and now sings for The Bravery even classifies as a musician. Such a person is called a knob.

LUV 'EM & LOATHE 'EM

By MAUREEN CALLAHAN
PHOTO The Bravery's hightly stylized frontman Sam Endicott ingnites criticisms.
James Quinton

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March 31, 2005 -- THEY are the most buzzed-about New York band since the Strokes - playing sold-out shows in support of their just-released, major-label debut; garnering glowing profiles both here and in the U.K.; routinely turning away would-be groupies, including supermodel Kate Moss.

Yet the Bravery - whose excruciatingly perfect New Wave look and sound have drawn snickering comparisons to the more credible Killers - are the recipients of a very specific, undiluted brand of New York-centric hate and contempt.

"It's funny - even by New York back-biting, playa-hating standards, this is on another level," says Rolling Stone contributing editor Rob Sheffield.

When the Williamsburg-based band played a sold-out show at neighborhood venue Northsix, wheatpasted flyers went up, comparing the Bravery to bland, prepackaged cartons of milk.

Click Here!

Bloggers dug into the band's lineage, posting pictures of a then-bleached-blond, dreadlocked Sam Endicott - the Bravery's lead singer, now of pale skin, black eyeliner, and a carefully-coiffed jet-black mohawk - from his days in a ska band called Skabba the Hut, back, of course, when ska was the prevailing "next big thing."

"Skabba the Hut remains the most disturbing thing about them," says MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago.

"But there's a reason to hate them, and it's because they are a parody of what the New York rock scene was. It's now become a fashion endeavor for white kids."

And loathing the Bravery isn't just sport for New York scenesters, who see them as unwelcome heirs to the city's less-heralded, more talented predecessors like the Rapture, Radio 4 and Longwave.

This week, even Killers frontman Brandon Flowers took a very public swipe at the Bravery's ska roots.

"How do you defend that?" he asked, adding that the Bravery only got signed to a major label because of the Killers' success. "I think people see through them."

The Bravery's response: You think?

"At our first show in London - our first song in - I got a bottle thrown at my head," says lead guitarist Michael Zakarin.

"I expected it. I had heard that London was like a good, harsh New York crowd with better aim."

Singer Endicott has a theory as to why his band elicits such virulent contempt: "I think there are people that want us not to do well, but it's a very small group of music snobs and they tend to be vocal," he says.

"I think a lot of critics have the mentality that you should only play to people in New York City and not blow up too big," adds guitarist Zakarian. "You have success, and people want to crush you."

But it's not quite that easily explained.

The Bravery's eponymous debut record has won critical raves from Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly.

They were named among "top artists to watch" or "the next big thing" by Spin, Rolling Stone, BBC News and the Village Voice. The NME - a highly influential U.K. music magazine - was an early champion and recently gave them the cover.

They've sold out two mid-April shows at the Bowery Ballroom and just added another date at Irving Plaza.

"It'd be simpler if they were just plain bad," says Rolling Stone's Sheffield. "The fact that this record is good is a big disappointment to some people. You'll hear people say, 'Officially, I don't like them, but I kinda like that record.'"

In fact, Sheffield says he first saw the Bravery when they played the scenester-packed Motherf - - - er party on New Year's Eve. "They were great," he says. "The crowd was really into them. But there's something about them . . . they look like they could've been assembled by a 'make-your-own-hipster-dance-rock-band kit.'"

The Bravery is hardly the first band to engage in self-mythologizing - "part of the rock tradition," says Dave Itzkoff, who wrote a six-page profile of the Bravery in New York magazine, "is the idea that your band had a consistent vision from the very beginning."

But the Bravery's extreme posturing, coupled with an unabashed careerism and the sense that they're capitalizing on the marketable sound of the moment, seems to be the band's true Achilles' heel - though Zakarian insists that such criticism "is bull - - - t. We're going after a sound, not a trend."

That said, last week, the band played a K-Rock sponsored show (including free beer!) at the Lower East Side club Rothko to a suspicious crowd. As the band took the stage, one concertgoer grumbled, "I can make it through a verse and a chorus - maybe. But once they get to the bridge, I'm gone."

Endicott was in his scrupulously put-together New Wave uniform, replete with a dollar bill taped around his wrist and the word "lionized" written in black marker on his knuckles. The bass player - as he does at many shows - regularly turned his back on the crowd to take an artful swig of beer before spontaneously spraying the crowd (as he did at last month's Northsix show and many, many others).

And, like an overeager kid who just wants everyone to really, really like him, Endicott announced the band's last song (a cover of INXS' "Don't Change") and threw rock tradition to the wind by ignoring the conceit of leaving the stage and letting the crowd demand an encore: "You want another song?" he asked, still breathless.

Even the members of the crowd - all of whom paid for tickets - weren't quite sure what to make of the Bravery.

"I could hear the instruments more than I could hear the words," said a 23-year-old investment banker. (In Endicott's defense, he announced he was sick.)

Despite that, the banker said, the band is clearly, definitely marketable.

"I sell bad companies, so I have to make bad companies sound good," he said. "This is how I'd sell the Bravery: through viral marketing, grass-roots promotion, and bringing lots of kids to Rothko and feeding them free beer."

100--Uncut
This album really is just too good to be true. [Apr 2005, p.114]

100--E! Online
While their sound is decidedly of the moment (Bloc Party, the Killers, et al), their songs are undeniably catchy as all get-out.

80--The Guardian
They don't sound too new, but their shuddering pop melodies and knack for smiling through gritted teeth might just make the Bravery the nation's favourite new band.

80--Delusions of Adequacy
The Bravery treads the same well worn path as bands like The Smiths and The Cure but manages to avoid tripping on its roots by adding a unique personality.

80--Q Magazine
If The Killers hadn't got there first with Hot Fuss, The Bravery's debut would have been revolutionary. Instead it is merely a brilliant pop record. [Apr 2005, p.115]

70--Urb
They definitely know their way around the early Duran catalog, not forgetting the requisite stops at New Order and the Psychedelic Furs. [Apr 2005, p.101]

70--New Musical Express
It's bold, brash, trashy fun that will tempt Killers fans to fall in lust all over again. [19 Mar 2005, p.57]

70--PopMatters
While the Bravery are certainly not in league with the Strokes, Interpol, or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, this record is a strong one with some unexpected surprises.

70--Blender
This is dramatic, radio-loving rock primed to outlive the current I Love The '80s infatuation. [Apr 2005, p.113]

67--Entertainment Weekly
There are countless other bands using electro blips to make us boogie and bang harder. [8 Apr 2005, p.65]

60--Rolling Stone
The Bravery do a jockier version of the New Wave competition, pumping the drums in straight-ahead tunes such as "An Honest Mistake" and "The Ring Song."

60--Dot Music
If you’ve heard one song by The Bravery you’ve pretty much heard them all. The keyboard settings may change, as do the guitar FX pedals, but there’s a formula at work here and how much you get out of this record depends entirely on how interesting you find that formula.

40--Alternative Press
Where, say, Franz Ferdinand can fill dance floors with a jagged, arty sense of danger, the Bravery are more vanilla in their approach (read: They're Duran Duran). [May 2005, p.132]

33--Stylus Magazine
Completely forgettable.

30--The New York Times
[A] rather dreary pastiche.

I'm not sure who to believe. I am beginning to lose my faith in the rock music media.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0515,sylvester,62935,22.html

When did Tiny Mix Tapes change their name?

"I don't even know anymore"

When someone puts on a song by teh Bravery, why oh why does my critic brain have to go and make me think about it? I heard "Honest Mistake" and thought it was shitty, and there's a long, convoluted and intricate explanation on why just the line "it was an honest mistake" is shitty the way they use it, but why even?

amusing.

awfully amusing? THE POSING OMG I CAN'T GET SAM ENDICOTT'S CROTCH OUT OF MY BRAIN.

the music, while incredibly derivative, wasn't horrible...until he started singing. i was more amused by the band's onstage antics. because oh, did they cultivate their antics.

a friend who was also at the show said Endicott reminded her of Squiggy out of Laverne & Shirley. me, i just kept thinking these guys would make excellent action figures. esp. the guitarist, with his action mullet. and Endicott, with his fantastic mic-stand fellating molesting action!

once. i wouldn't do it again. and i wouldn't see them on purpose, but if they happened to be playing with someone you actually wanted to see, you might be amused at the posing.

the 14 year olds for whom it was obviously their first concert were amusing/saddening to watch as well. hooray for selling '80's yoof cultcha back to kids who didn't live through it in the first place! it's the circle of life, and it moves us all.

one of these days, Endicott's going to slip whilst molesting his mic stand onstage, and he's going to knock one of his own teeth out, and he's not going to be happy about it.

but it will be terribly, terribly funny.

Oh my god so OTM!!!

I know that 80's retread is all the rage right now with the Strokes/Killers/Interpol/Franz Ferdinand/Bloc Party/Kaiser Chiefs doing that Duran Duran throwback two-step, but who made the decision that all these bands get one quality breakthrough single apiece? Who's doling this stuff out? "Fearless" is the latest in a line of catchy cuts from this pseudo-retro-movement; driven forward less by frontman Sam Endicott's awful caterwauling and more by the mix of dreamy organ, relentless three chord bass and bare-bones Meg White-ish percussion. It's an enjoyable but paper-thin track that reeks of one-hit wonder. In any case, I sure liked this song a lot better before I found out it was written as response to the events of September 11th. Now I feel all icky.

Having just read this thread, I'm glad that this is all I've heard of The Bravery and glad that I'll not likely have to hear more.

This is basically the dance-rock equivalent of rice pudding.. with some hipster garnish. I like this. It's a bit momentous, but very comfy at the same time.

Who knows, but while I'm not getting any sorta "Album of the year" vibe now, it's certainly the most enjoyable album I've heard in years that incorporates all of these dance-rock/80s/disco-punk/hipster-fashion trends all into one tasty manufactured thing. That, in of itself, is not why I like this.

I like it because The Bravery is not trying to force itself upon you. It's the same trick that The Strokes used, except I think these guys sound like they're having a lot more fun than the Strokes -- which isn't too hard these days.

And I don't mind The Rapture or Interpol, for example, but those bands' recent albums are mixed to be IN YOUR FACE.. which kinda reveals all the dermatological elements of the bands' sounds that wish I didn't have to be, well, so close to, zits and all.. whereas the Bravery kinda keep all of their elements a safe distance away. It's just a very well crafted mix.. not "too much" of one thing, not "too little" of another.

I don't think I'll be listening to this much after a few months, but so far, except for one song, all of the songs have been quite fun! (I'm at "Out Of Line" now...) Of course, The Bravery is derivative as fuck. I'll be the last person to call this album original. But who cares.

Just musings on first listen. I might love this tomorrow. I might throw it against a wall by this weekend. Who knows.

I guess it helps to not pay attention to MTV or The Bravery's press machine... I've never heard much about them, but I saw a snippet of "An Honest Mistake" on MTV in Las Vegas a few weeks ago and I kinda liked it.. so I previewed the CD last night at a local store, and found it palatable enough to buy. It was on sale for a used CD price. Hence.

Reading the thread above, it seems 40% of it talks about their clothes, and 20% of them refers to Killers comparisons. I'm not doubting the Killers comparisons, but I've only heard one Killers song, and I can't remember it... I can still remember about a third of The Bravery from last night's first listen.. which isn't a great feat, but it counts for something -- against the Killers, I guess. Will give The Bravery more listens this week!