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March 18, 2005 > Arts & Entertainment > NYC’s Bravery rock Engine Room

NYC’s Bravery rock Engine Room

By Julia Bursten | Thresher Editorial Staff

New York City’s next big thing in indie rock, The Bravery, made its debut appearance in Houston this Monday. The band, co-headlining with Ash at Engine Room downtown, gave the club’s small stage a workout and the audience a thrill with an energetic, showy performance that began shakily but ended all too quickly.

The concert opened with a forgettable track full of indistinguishable lyrics and offensively overbalanced bass — a remnant of the heavy-metal opening act, The Crimea. Lead vocalist/guitarist Sam Endicott has wailing vocals that can border on falsetto under normal circumstances, and listening to him fight to be heard over Anthony Burulcich’s drumbeat was masochistic. But the band and the bass line improved thoroughly as the next number began, and the standing-room-only floor coalesced into an enthusiastic crowd before long.

Unfortunately, the band played one of its better-known songs, ‘Unconditional,’ early in the set. The track, which is recognizable mainly for its distinctive keyboard riff — a genius effort by keyboardist John Conway — and wailing vocals, was drowned in the noise of the crowd and unbalanced amps. The result was a much more punk-rock, less interesting live performance than the cleaner studio cut. While the bass stayed heavy throughout the night, the instrumentation got tighter with each song.

The concert’s visual experience also improved over time. The biggest hit of the night was undoubtedly ‘An Honest Mistake,’ The Bravery’s single that was digitally released in February. The song exemplifies the band’s musical style with dark, garage-rock lyrics; upbeat, Euro-techno intro riffs; and instrumentals that pull directly from The Foo Fighters but faintly echo back to Jeff Buckley. This juxtaposition of grunge and glam also describes the band’s strangely appealing wardrobe of vintage shirts, tight jeans, chunky boots, posh hair and bright blue eye make-up.

The style is great, but the choreography could have been improved even in the group’s limited space. Engine Room’s stage is small, and Endicott, as well as bassist Mike H. and guitarist Michael Zakarin, used every inch of it to dance, stomp and pump up the crowd. However, their rocking occasionally looked more like tiptoeing to avoid unplugging amps and lights. What they lacked in footwork, though, they made up in energy. The crowd responded in kind, but the 55-minute show ended before the scene could get out of control, to the chagrin of some of the audience’s more enthusiastic music lovers. The Bravery has been performing together for less than two years, and it is obvious the band measures its original material in quality, not quantity.

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