CK: First of all I just wanted to say congratulations on ‘Monuments’ – it’s a very impressive piece of work. After spending four years on the writing process and nine months recording are you happy with the final results of all that work? Did you achieve everything you set out to?

Suvo: Thanks for the kind words. (Read: We’ll send you the cheque immediately.)

Michelle: Thank you so much! We definitely put our blood, sweat and pregnancy hormones into this one and we could not have been happier with the final results. This one really exceeded our expectations.

CK: For the uninitiated, how would you describe your musical output? And who or what has inspired you musically? Listening to the album I felt I picked up echoes of an interesting blend of influences, perhaps most strongly Anathema, although the overall sound was most definitely individual and original.

Suvo: I can’t believe you heard our entire album and missed our biggest influence. Avrill Lavegne. We’re such huge fans that we don’t even care that we don’t’ know how to spell her name. (It’s ‘Lavingne’ or something, right?)

Michelle: Although Suvo is into Avril and other various boy bands, we all bring a wide range of influences to the music. Anathema is a big influence of ours, along with Tori Amos, Rush, Genesis, Lacuna Coil, Pink Floyd and The Gathering to name a few.

CK: Can you tell me a little bit about the band’s origins and a few of the major events in your career to date?

Michelle: Based in the Washington DC area, we formed under the band name Arise From Thorns back in 1997 and recorded 2 CD’s under that band name. We changed the name to Brave in 2000 and have recorded 2 EP’s and 2 Full length CD’s in the past 8 years. We were briefly signed to and independent label for a few years but for the most part we have been flying solo without a label. We have also done a few tours in the US but we mostly play live in and around our home town.

CK: I believe you began under the name Arise From Thorns – why did you make the change to the name Brave? What does Brave mean to you?

Michelle: We decided to change the name because we felt that the name AFT was a bit too dramatic and not necessarily memorable. Also, we changed our style a bit as well. AFT was largely acoustic and more ethereal that the heavier sound that we have today. We’ve always been fans of one word titles, so after a few serendipitous events, Brave seemed to be a good name for us. It’s especially meaningful to me because I’ve always been very shy and would never sing in front of anyone. I never dreamed in a million years that I’d be performing in a band. Quite often I have to remind myself to be “brave” whether it be singing in front of crowd, or in any situation really where I don’t feel confident.

CK: How has the sound of the band developed since its beginnings? And how do you envisage things developing in the future? Are there any boundaries to your sound or is it pretty much a case of anything goes?

Suvo: In the future, Brave will slowly evolve into a boy band. We plan to limit the tweaking and tinkering so the change will be seamless. You know – 6 part vocal harmonies one year, a full-on choreographed outer space scene the next. But we’ve already gone ahead and ordered all of Lance Bass’s old metallic vests and codpieces.

Michelle: Ha ha..see Suvo really does love boy bands! Seriously though our main goal has always been to write passionate and melodic music. Anything does go, the majority of what we write is what we feel and we generally don’t worry about how our music will be perceived, or if something doesn’t really fit. Now with that said, we do occasionally jam something crazy like a serious death metal song, or a jazz fusion song and that likely won’t make it into a recording, but we try to remain very honest with our music.

CK: Switching back to the album, the lyrics all feel intensely personal. Are they based in real experiences? If so, is it difficult to open up and expose these experiences to the scrutiny of the outside world?

Michelle: Definitely the lyrics are very personal and I got some help from a few people on this CD. Kimberly Kelly, our bass player Ben’s wife wrote the lyrics for “Hurt” and Michelle Loose, our guitarist’s Scott’s wife (ha ha, yes there are 2 Michelle Loose’s…lol) helped out with “Hero” and “Here”. Also, some friends of ours, Keith & Dena Lemelin shared with me some of their emails while Keith was serving in Iraq and Dena was here. A few lines from those emails/letters found their way onto “Without You”. Most lyrics are based on personal experiences or observations. I never really think about what to write about, it more just comes out in a stream of consciousness and I try to match lyrics to the proper music. We almost always will have the music before the lyrics.

CK: How does the album title, ‘Monuments’ relate to the songs and lyrics?

Suvo: Every song is actually a highly intellectual homage, or “monument” to some of histories greatest men and women. For example:

* ‘There’s no one to help me, hold on’, Hold On – for Margaret Thatcher

* ‘I see you again, walking hand in hand, in our garden, with you by my side’, Without You – for Joseph Stalin

* ‘It’s time now to pay for this senseless tragedy’, Hero – for Ben Affleck, Miley Cyrus, and Carrot Top

Michelle: Yes, what Suvo said…..and we feel like that a “monument” represents events and experiences from the past, so this is our version of documenting our experiences.

CK: Having invested so much time and effort in ‘Monuments’ do you think it will be difficult to start the writing process all over again and begin the journey to the next release? Or are you already underway?

Suvo: Nah – we’ll just do what we always do. Pay someone to write all the music then have them killed.

CK: Going on the fact that I find it impossible to imagine myself and my sister collaborating on any kind of creative project without killing each other I was wondering how Scott and Michelle found working together? Am I right that you both play together with While Heaven Wept as well?

Suvo: You are correct when you say that both Scott and Michelle worked together on WHW projects. And you’re also correct in saying that working with sisters can be a complete and utter abomination. I think mine would demand a separate band room (complete with Mel Gibson posters and Ghirardelli chocolates), a separate tourbus (jewel-encrusted), and her own stage (also made out of chocolates and jewels) from every club we’d play at. The fact that Scott and Michelle have been making it work over the years deserves us 6…no 10 extra Grammies.

Michelle: Hah! Yes, we have not managed to kill each other yet, but I’d say we get along better than most siblings. I’m married to our drummer Trevor as well, so it’s definitely a family affair. All of us get along fantastically, we always have so much fun together!!

CK: You’ve been lucky enough to play with some fantastic bands over the years – do any of those experiences stand out in particular for either positive or negative reasons?

Suvo: We caught Russell Allen from Symphony X trying to steal all of our gear from the band trailer. You heard it here first. Oh and don’t follow Devin Townsend into a shitter. You’ve been warned.

Michelle: We have been so fortunate to have the opportunity to play with some great bands. We played several times with Lacuna Coil, Symphony X, Fates Warning, Opeth and many others. We’ve been so grateful for those opportunities and hope that they will continue.

CK: Are you positively searching for a label to support the band? Or are you content with the way things work at the moment, not having to answer to a label?

Suvo: The funny thing about labels is that they’re all extremely honest, utterly loyal, and always looking out for the very best for their bands. And all the wonderful piles of money and touring options they’re willing to share with bands! Oh wait, I’m high again. So yeah, no.

CK: Finally – what’s coming up for the band in 2009?

Suvo: More booze, more drugs, and probably fewer groupies. And how!

Michelle: I hope we can play more shows in 2009. We love to play live. I’m sure we’ll start working on new material again soon as well. I didn’t think I would say this but I miss the recording process already, but I do… even though this last one took so long!

Thank you so much for the interview! For more information, please check us out on myspace;

For more on the band check out http://www.myspace.com/braveband

Interviewed by Chris Kee

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