With the band members all chipping in to the conversation with massive amounts of enthusiasm, colourful language and mutual agreement, it seems only appropriate we attribute their words of wisdom to The Braves as one shuddering collective entity. Talking about their eclectic sound, the band exclaims, “We are anti-genre. We don’t want to put ourselves in a box. Genres confine you and then you are doomed to be in some sort of category or scene. If you have your own sound, you have your own product. You’re not doing it for anyone else. You are doing it for yourself.”
Contrasting the new album with the previous 10” single Taipan/Raving Young Sons, the band say, “It’s completely different. [The album] was recorded in five hours and it is raw as shit. It’s just a different vibe. It captures the live sound more than any of the other recordings.” This rawness of the sound is matched by the edginess of the lyrical content which covers “everything from power excess to the abuse of trends in the youth nowadays whether it’s drugs or self-abuse,” they say. “We have songs about the death of gallantry. It covers a myriad of themes including diabolical madness.”
Such lyrical concerns reflect a series of core underlying philosophies the band has almost turned into a manifesto. On their Facebook page they proclaim that they have “set out to do something apart from the crowd” and during the interview they explain they are discontented with “the perpetuation of the media nowadays that keeps on rolling and that tells kids over and over again that excess is good and [with] the consumer ideal that more is better”. They despise what they call “the glossy sheen of bullshit”. So, what are they seeking as a viable alternative? “We want the most out of little,” the band says. “What we really want is something that you can relate to rather than something you are forced to relate to through a flood [or] an excess of whatever they tell you. We want to get into as many ears as we can. It’s not for a consumer media to pick up and flog to people. It’s for us to get it out to the kids who are disengaged and to anyone who doesn’t want to be part of the poppy sheen.”
The band’s passion isn’t confined to discussions of such hot topics as they also explode with feverish energy whenever they hit the stage. “It’s a release,” the band enthuse, explaining the inspirational and cathartic power of live performance. “When you are up there and you strike that chord and you see some stranger’s eyes going back into their head, it’s brilliant. There’s nothing like it. There’s no better drug. It brings out the animal in people. It’s complete instinct. It’s primitive. At our second gig we started an all-in brawl. It ended up with the two bouncers on the floor. Some people want that jangle pop or that twang pop or something but that’s all bullshit. We get that chang. It’s like martial arts coming at you, it’s rock‘n’roll.”
Discussing the upcoming album launch, the band promises, “We have got the best lineup. We have got the most shakin’ bands going around. When we come on, it will be sonic prowess. It’s disgusting. It’s all over your face. It’s great.”
BY GRAHAM BLACKLEY
