Rising like the Sun and the Moon--An Interview with Sam Endicott of The Bravery

Somewhere, someplace, pounding through some lucky person’s eardrums, exists The Bravery’s sophomore album. Slotted for release in early 2007, The Sun And The Moon follows up the New York rockers’ self-titled debut in 2005. The debut – a vibrant retro mixture of rock, techno, and pop in the spirit of Bloc Party, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, and Rock Kills Kid – has gathered a sizable fan base for the band and a fine collection of raving reviews. With the likes of MTV, Pitchfork, Mojo, and Rolling Stone praising The Bravery, it’s no surprise that the music world waits on the edge of its seat to see what The Bravery has cooked up. For more info on the upcoming release, Perpetual Toxins got a hold of Sam Endicott—The Bravery’s vocalist and guitarist.

"It still sounds like us, but it’s very different," reports Endicott of The Sun And The Moon, "It’s a lot more organic…the sounds are created by unusual acoustic instruments like strange organs, vocal effects, a string quartet…that sort of thing." The album will be missing much of the synthesizer instrumentals found in their debut release, in part because of producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan, Aerosmith, , Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen, etc. etc.) and the band’s Atlanta recording location. "It was different because we did most of it in Atlanta," confesses Endicott, "but we did a lot of it the old way too—just in a basement in New York…the best of both worlds."

The "old way" is certainly familiar to the New York residents, who met in college after a childhood education in punk rock (and aspirations to be astronauts). Endicott, who grew up outside of the city, was blown away by the musical diversity found within. "[We] started going to underground dance clubs and hearing this great indie-electronic music. It was like techno for people who liked rock."

Inspired by the fusion of his old love with techno (not to mention the presence of John Conway, the "electronica guy," who went to college with Endicott), he set out to create a "garage-y, live rock band" melded with the sounds and beats of the New York underground. With bandmates Mike H., Michael Zakarin (who were pulled in from a newspaper ad), Conway, and Anthony Burulcich (veteran drummer from Bishop Allen), the rookie band played their first show—opening for The Animators at Brooklyn’s Stinger, summer 2003.

"It was an absolutely tiny club," remembers Endicott, "There was like, 15 people there—mostly siblings and ex-girlfriends." Despite a knife-fight at the closing of the show ("Though I don’t think any of our siblings or ex-girlfriends were involved"), the show was a relative success. The surprising upswing in local popularity soon after encouraged the fledging group. "We’d stand outside Tower Records all day handing out CDs we had burned." All the fliers posted and demos handed out yielded results.

"Suddenly some major radio stations started playing the mp3’s from our website, which almost never happens." The tracks being handed out were early cuts of tracks soon to be found on their self-titled EP, much of it recorded long before the Stinger show with only Endicott and Conway. "It was incredibly amateurish. The equipment we used was beyond shitty." As soon as major radio stations began to take notice however, "we started taking the whole thing more seriously." Mostly because more than radio stations and listeners were getting hooked on The Bravery’s cocky retro sound—record labels were too.

Island Records signed the band to their roster, and The Bravery EP was released in 2005. Greeted with eager open arms by listeners and critics, The Bravery proved their merit with a blistering set of catchy tunes that evoke memories from the ‘80s dance floor mixed with punk attitudes. "Unconditional" and "An Honest Mistake" are lined with bouncy bass backbones while lacey synthesizer effects, scything guitar bits, and Endicott’s bittersweet vocals lightly toe their way through the retro sound blast. The release could not have come at a better time either: The Killers had released their Hot Fuss blockbuster a year before, Hot Hot Heat were priming for their release of Elevator a month later, and music lovers eagerly awaited Franz Ferdinand’s sophomore release You Could Have Had It So Much Better. The music world was swelled with the ecstasy of ‘80s dance-infused rock outfits, and The Bravery launched their debut right into the center of the storm with a refreshing playful attitude.

With the album’s success came the music videos, the most eye-catching being "Fearless," in which the band members perform the song on-top of racing speed boats. "That was the most fun day of my life," recalls Endicott with glee. "They just strapped us to boats and did it for real. The advice they gave us: ‘If for some reason the boat flips over and you’re trapped underwater, just try not to breath.’ That was reassuring…It was also kinda the most terrifying day of my life." Fearless indeed.

While Endicott leaked all he would about The Sun And The Moon, he does reassure us that The Bravery will resume their touring madness again to support the album. He’s not thinking too much past then, but does muse that he would someday like to produce other bands. But, releasing his own band’s second album and the touring campaign to support it comes first. "We’d like to do this for the rest of our lives," he declares. With hints of major changes in their catchy retro sound, The Bravery’s sophomore release should prove to be one of the most interesting albums of an exciting year for music.

(Soon to be Published in Perpetual Toxins Magazine)