The Bravery Interview with Sam Endicott
Saturday, April 19, 2008, 4:28 p.m. CST
I had the opportunity to sit down backstage with vocalist Sam Endicott of The Bravery at Metro in Chicago, Illinois. One of the things we discussed was their genre classification, which was finally answered! The Bravery is a rock & roll band first with electronic influences. Other items we discussed were Sam’s directorial debut, their debut album The Bravery, The Sun and the Moon Complete, acoustic music and The Bravery’s musical influences.
AARON KEKER: Hey everyone! This is Aaron Keker from Always Acoustic™, backstage with Sam Endicott from The Bravery. How you doing dude?
SAM ENDICOTT: Good man! Good to see you!
AARON KEKER: Good to see you too! Has The Bravery performed at the Metro before?
SAM ENDICOTT: Yeah. We …played the Metro a long ass time ago. I don’t really remember when it was but it was a while ago. [laughs]
AARON KEKER: Probably when you first started out?
SAM ENDICOTT: Possibly but I’m not sure.
AARON KEKER: Probably that Arlene’s Grocery kind of time?
SAM ENDICOTT: … It was after that. It wasn’t that long ago but it’s really a good club. So, were glad to be back.
AARON KEKER: Yeah, I’m glad that you guys are actually playing here – –
SAM ENDICOTT: Yeah.
AARON KEKER: because I like this venue too.
SAM ENDICOTT: Yeah. Everybody says that.
AARON KEKER: I’ve seen online that The Bravery has been classified as various genres like Alternative, Electronica, Indie and Rock. What genre of music best describes The Bravery?
SAM ENDICOTT: I guess we think of ourselves as a cross between … Well we think of ourselves as a rock band that incorporates a lot of like dance elements, like electronic elements. So, you know we’re definitely like a rock and roll band first but we take a lot of influence from electronic music.
AARON KEKER: Who handles most of the songwriting for The Bravery?
SAM ENDICOTT: I usually do it … I’ll do the basic stuff like usually on acoustic guitar first and figure out like the vocal parts or the basic groove of the song. And then we do everything in the computer like you know … how people make electronic music. So, we’re much more as far as the way the music is created it’s much more like how DJ’s do it than how normal rock bands do it.
AARON KEKER: Kind of using the Apple computer?
SAM ENDICOTT: We use a lot of laptops. [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs] Yeah.
SAM ENDICOTT: You know, the first record we did it on an [laughs] iMac.
AARON KEKER: … I’ve heard that you play numerous instruments in the studio. Besides guitar, what other instruments do you play?
SAM ENDICOTT: Well I play bass that’s – –
AARON KEKER: Right.
SAM ENDICOTT: probably best at bass. And… that’s my favorite. And I play keys. I’m not a like great you know [laughs] piano – –
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
SAM ENDICOTT: player or anything but I can play. And… I do programming, electronic programming.
AARON KEKER: That’s cool.
SAM ENDICOTT: I cannot play drums.
AARON KEKER: No?
SAM ENDICOTT: Unfortunately.
AARON KEKER: [laughs] What are some of your favorite songs from The Bravery’s debut album The Bravery?
SAM ENDICOTT: From the first one?
AARON KEKER: Yeah.
SAM ENDICOTT: I don’t know… I would say… It’s hard, you know. I mean, I like them all in different ways like a lot of times you know the ones that are the least favorites with the fans are like [laughs] the bands most favorite. Cuz you get attached to certain things. You know, you’ll be like ah I love this song because the snare sounds so good or something like that no one else would care about.
AARON KEKER: Right.
SAM ENDICOTT: So, you know I like them all in different ways.
AARON KEKER: One of my favorite songs on your debut album is “Give In.”
SAM ENDICOTT: Ah, yeah.
AARON KEKER: Yeah. Any chance you’ll be playing it this evening?
SAM ENDICOTT: I will say there probably is no chance of us playing – –
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
SAM ENDICOTT: that tonight. [laughs] We have not played that in a long time.
AARON KEKER: I purchased The Sun and the Moon when it was released back in May 2007 at Target. Besides, the music, I purchased it because it contained a bonus DVD – –
SAM ENDICOTT: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: of acoustic versions of “Time Won’t Let Me Go,” – –
SAM ENDICOTT: Right.
AARON KEKER: “This is Not the End” and “Angelina.” By the way, they sounded awesome! – –
SAM ENDICOTT: Thank you!
AARON KEKER: Do you think The Bravery would ever release an acoustic album?
SAM ENDICOTT: … We’ve you know thought about doing that. I think… at this point I would say I wouldn’t wanna release just totally acoustic. I would wanna… Like it wouldn’t be like a live thing, you know. It would be like maybe take the songs and record them in a studio. Like in a more quiet like mellow way. But it would have to be kind of unusual and weird – –
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
SAM ENDICOTT: It wouldn’t be just straight acoustic. Like straight unplugged.
AARON KEKER: Right.
SAM ENDICOTT: But yeah, maybe someday.
AARON KEKER: Okay. The Bravery released The Sun and the Moon Complete on March 18th. What are some of your favorite songs on that album?
SAM ENDICOTT: … We’re really proud of it. Like it a lot… You know I like “The Ocean.” We were just working on that… running an acoustic version of that today… I like “Believe” you know the way we redid it. “This is Not the End.” I don’t know, “Tragedy Bound.” [laughs] “Bad Sun.”
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
SAM ENDICOTT: I like a lot of them.
AARON KEKER: Artistically, which side is your favorite?
SAM ENDICOTT: … I mean it’s a tough question. The first side was us like experimenting and trying something totally crazy and new for us which was recording the way bands normally do [laughs] – –
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
SAM ENDICOTT: which is like going into a studio with a producer and recording… We’ve never done that before. The moon side is you know us doing it the way we normally do it and I would say that… I am definitely more comfortable doing it the moon way. The way we normally do it. I’m more at ease… but you know it is cool to be kind of shaken out of your normal way of doing things and that’s why the sun was exciting for us.
AARON KEKER: Right. That’s cool. I read somewhere online that you directed your first video for “Believe.” Do you enjoy directing?
SAM ENDICOTT: … I hate making music videos. [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
SAM ENDICOTT: It’s the worst… I mean they are important, you know and if it comes out good it’s exciting… But just the process is so tedious and so many fucking people involved, it like ah… So you know it was an experience. It was a cool thing. I’d like to do more of it in the future… But generally I don’t really like making videos.
AARON KEKER: Well, if you were not in a rock band, what would you do instead?
SAM ENDICOTT: Ah man! I don’t know…
AARON KEKER: Tough question.
SAM ENDICOTT: Being in a country band. [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
SAM ENDICOTT: No, I don’t know. I probably… I’ve always been really into music, so I don’t know. Hard to say.
AARON KEKER: I noticed watching The Bravery’s performance last December and you guys were awesome – –
SAM ENDICOTT: Thanks.
AARON KEKER: and the video for “Believe” that you have similar footwork to Elvis Presley. – –
SAM ENDICOTT: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs] Is Elvis an inspiration to you?
SAM ENDICOTT: Wow! … People told me I look like him a little bit which is weird…
AARON KEKER: You know I sat there and watched it and I noticed that you did have similar footwork.
SAM ENDICOTT: That’s really funny. I never thought about that… When I had shorter hair people would tell me that I looked like him sometimes… But never the footwork before… Elvis is great. We just went to Graceland recently and it was pretty amazing.
AARON KEKER: What other bands or musicians inspire The Bravery?
SAM ENDICOTT: …Let’s see. I mean, you know we… Like the five of us we all like classic rock stuff like The Beatles, The Stones… Kinks its popular. Like The Animals… And then for me a lot of punk rock stuff. Like when I was a kid I was like Rancid and Operation Ivy. I was into all that stuff. The Queers is one of my favorites. Fugazi is big… and then… John was from Santa Barbara, so he listened to a lot of that skateboard punk stuff too. And then when we moved to New York, we started listening to the electronic underground stuff that was coming out of the dance music. Coming out of their and so that was big for us. And that would like you know the electro Clash thing was going on then and… like the DFA that production team. And… they worked with like Rapture and The Tigre and that stuff was all really big for us.
AARON KEKER: Would there be any bands or musicians you’d love to tour with?
SAM ENDICOTT: To tour with… I don’t know. You know, hard to say… We always tour with bands that are kind of different from us. So, its kind of fun to do that. And so… I don’t know. I will have to get back to you on that.
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
SAM ENDICOTT: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: You can just email me then?
SAM ENDICOTT: Okay.
AARON KEKER: We have all heard or read about The Bravery’s feud with vocalist Brandon Flowers from The Killers. Has the feud ended or is it still ongoing?
SAM ENDICOTT: It’s you know, old news. [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs] Yeah, I know.
SAM ENDICOTT: [laughs] Yeah, we haven’t dealt with that in a long time.
AARON KEKER: Well The Bravery has entertained us creatively with music videos like “An Honest Mistake,” “Time Won’t Let Go” and “Believe.” What additional videos are you considering releasing on iTunes?
SAM ENDICOTT: Well… they’re all on iTunes.
AARON KEKER: Right. Anything from the new album?
SAM ENDICOTT: From the new album? Well…
AARON KEKER: Like “Split Me Wide Open” or anything you thinking about releasing?
SAM ENDICOTT: Well “Believe” is out.
AARON KEKER: Yeah.
SAM ENDICOTT: And “Time Won’t Let Me Go” is out.
AARON KEKER: Yeah, those two.
SAM ENDICOTT: So, those two. You mean, any more? I don’t know. I’m not sure what would be next.
AARON KEKER: Well, final question. With all of the dominoes falling in “An Honest Mistake,” how many hours and retakes did it take to complete that video?
SAM ENDICOTT: Yeah. The domino guy’s fucking crazy. He’s like this guy… I guess to do that a big part of it is just being able to be really mellow and not freak out… Cuz that’s just part of it he takes for granted that his stuff is going to get knocked over all the time – –
AARON KEKER: Right.
SAM ENDICOTT: And so, it doesn’t even faze him. You will see him set stuff up for hours and then someone will trip over and knock it over. And then okay that’s another hour right there. You know, just constantly… So… they shot for like two days before we showed up. And then shot us and a bunch of other domino stuff that day. So, the whole video took three days and that guy was just setting up dominoes the whole time. He’s the Guinness Book you know world record domino master.
AARON KEKER: Right. How about “Fearless,” were you guys scared being in front of those boats?
SAM ENDICOTT: … It was, yeah really scary but then they gave us Dramamine.
AARON KEKER: [laughs] Right.
SAM ENDICOTT: There were like Navy Seals there like watching. They were like the safety guys and they gave us Dramamine. And… he was like if the boat flips over just try not to breathe and we’ll try and get someone out to you. [laughs] – –
AARON KEKER: [laughs] Wow!
SAM ENDICOTT: Great!
AARON KEKER: All right dude! Well thanks a lot and see you guys later this evening.
SAM ENDICOTT: Right on! Thank you!
AARON KEKER: Thanks dude!
SAM ENDICOTT: Yeah, no problem!
