The Bravery formed in New York City in 2003, led by singer Sam Endicott alongside John Conway, Michael Zakarin, Mike Hindert and Anthony Burulcich. They arrived in the slipstream of the Strokes and Interpol, with a sound that took the angular guitars and synths of early-1980s new wave and gave them a glossy, dancefloor-ready finish.
In Britain they broke through almost instantly, topping the BBC’s Sound of 2005 poll. Their self-titled debut album came out on Island Records that year, and ‘An Honest Mistake’, the song featured here, became a UK top ten hit, a crisp blast of keyboards and jittery rhythm that remains their best-known song.
Their arrival also sparked one of the era’s more entertaining spats. Brandon Flowers of the Killers suggested the Bravery had been signed off the back of his own band’s success, which led to a public war of words between the two groups, and the British music press revelled in it.
The Bravery went on to release The Sun and the Moon (2007) and Stir the Blood (2009) before going quiet in 2011. Endicott also became a successful songwriter for other artists, co-writing Shakira’s 2009 hit ‘She Wolf’.
