The Bravery wants to experiment

The group has reinterpreted some of its material.

By JOHN BENSON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

An honest mistake is often the reason why rising bands fall into obscurity with the release of a sophomore album.

Such fears were definitely prevalent for rock act The Bravery, which a few years back was heralded — along with The Killers — as part of the neo new wave scene. Based on the success of its 2005 self-titled debut effort and hit single “An Honest Mistake,” the New York City band was cognizant of its delicate future.

“I think we didn’t want to do the same album all over again,” said singer Sam Endicott, calling from Las Vegas. “We wanted to try new stuff.”

New stuff meaning new sounds and perhaps a different style or two are common approaches for groups; however, the members of The Bravery were thinking bigger and more adventurous.

“When we first started recording the album, we had to make a decision,” Endicott said. “Are we going to do what we kind of did on the first one? Or are we going to experiment and try different things? And then we were like, ‘Let’s try both.’

“One album would be more organic, acoustic and with a producer in the studio. That’s more experimental for us. The other disc would be kind of like more the first album, electronic, dance rhythms, darker and no producer.”

Though The Bravery’s vision was grand, money proved to be an issue. In the end, it was decided the band was better off showing its acoustic and organic side, which is the motif explored on the group’s 2007 sophomore album, “The Sun and the Moon.” Still, Endicott and his band mates weren’t content.

So recently the group announced it was releasing “The Sun and the Moon Complete” next month. The double-CD finds The Bravery’s dream coming to fruition, with one CD featuring the organic sound and the second album featuring the same songs reinterpreted new wave style.

“That was where kind of the name ‘The Sun and The Moon’ came from, because it was kind of like there will be a sort of lighter and more organic side and then a darker, more synthetic side,” Endicott said. “It was more just something we wanted to do for ourselves. We really wanted to get the material out there. And we’re starting to play new versions live, and that’s really cool.”

Fans attending the band’s upcoming Cleveland date Saturday at the Agora can expect to hear plenty of reinterpreted material. For example, the string-enhanced “Tragedy Bound” has been face-lifted with synth beats and arpeggiators. 

It’ll be interesting to see what the updated “The Sun and The Moon” does for The Bravery, which has seemingly lost the momentum it enjoyed around its self-titled debut. More so, Endicott admits the group’s image as a party band with a penchant for drama — they had a high-profile quarrel with The Killers — hasn’t helped.

“It felt like especially in the U.K., how we were received had nothing to do with the band,” Endicott said. “They were like The Bravery is raging hedonists, and we’re just crazy partiers and just [messed] up all of the time and didn’t give a [damn] about anything.

“There is some truth to that but that’s 10 percent of it and we don’t view ourselves like that as well. Most of the time, we’re working hard at our music.”