Braver Since Then
The band started out as an extra outlet of creativity for John Lutzow while he was chest deep in the Progressive Metal Scene of the 90’s. He was a member of the band Leviathan. In addition to writing material for Leviathan’s many critically respected albums he was creating other music . This music was at first considered too strange or not in the vein of Progressive metal by his band mates. These unclaimed treasures needed a home. By 1994 he had accumulated enough of this orphaned music to compile a full length album. “Braver Since Then” was born.
All” Braver Since Then” music starts out as abstract individual pieces found during euphoric trips in dimly lit studios. Most of which are located in questionable parts of town. This might add to their charm. The musical styles and influences are boundless. There is no limit to the instruments and genres explored. There are no rules when you are giving birth to art. Some of the musical clips are only a few minutes or measures and others will eat an hour or crash a hard drive. These ideas were born from simple foundations or single instruments begging to be layered upon. The tasty tidbits are then gathered up and sorted out, strung together to make a soundscape worthy of putting words to. “Words and lyrics have always been the most important part of contemporary song writing to me”, states John Lutzow. “I am a huge movie fan. I grew up quoting movie dialog. My interest in film production is what gave me the idea to use words from movies as my own building blocks to tell a story. I will cut up dialog from 20 different movies and edit it together to form one sentence.” I will write a basic script and then go through movies to gather words or phrases to complete my story”, continues John Lutzow.
“Braver Since Then” released its first album in the fall of 1995. It was called “Naming my Pain.” It was mostly an instrumental album with dialog but contained a number of traditional songs with vocals. John called in the help of a few friends to record this album. His long time friend from school Derek Blake came in to record the vocals. From that point forward Derek became a permanent member of “Braver Since Then”. Some of the songs on this album turned out so well that the members of Leviathan wanted to re-record them for the upcoming “Leviathan” album, “Riddles, Questions, Poetry and Outrage”. These songs were “Are First Love’s Forgotten?” and “Passion Above all Else”. Derek also impressed everyone with his musicianship and became the bassist for “Leviathan”.
In 1996 “Braver Since Then” released its second album. Titled “Stanza Tripoli” It was all instrumental with 2 bonus tracks. “Born Unto” and “Legacy Departing”, these songs were later used on the Final “Leviathan” Album, “Scoring the Chapters”. Once “Leviathan” disbanded John focused all of his musical efforts on writing for “Braver Since Then”. Within the next 3 years he released 2 albums. One As the self titled,” Braver Since Then” and an instrumental dialog album named, “ Threading the Stone Needle” comprised entirely of dialog from the Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back Radio Dramas. This album had very ambitious underpinnings consisting of a movie script, law suit, obsessed Star Wars cult members, and world wide news system manipulation. Needless to say only the album every really happened. Or did it? During this time John began his work with PC based recording. He built his first home computer and recorded both albums in his studio apartment. The Self Titled “Braver Since Then” album consisted of a more straight forward blend of music. Demonstrating the level of alternative music influences John has always had. He also co-wrote 3 of the songs with a long time friend, John Sellers.
In 2000 “Braver Since Then” released “Wonderful Stories Faintly Remembered”. For this Album John took it upon himself to record, engineer, write and perform all instruments including vocals. This was something that he always wanted to do but says he will never do again. “It was something every song writer should do once in their life. It is very rewarding from a self absorbed stand point but reminded me of why music is fun. The act of playing music and the sport of improvisation is more fruitful with the interaction of others. It is like an orgasm. You can achieve it on your own but is always better with consenting adults.” laughs John Lutzow.
Over four years went by before enough material was found to start building a new album. “Venerable Spark” was released in December of 2004. This album really started to display the great connection between John and Derek. They began refining their skills and pairing vocals up to make harmonies that blend together with a unique identity. Maturity in songwriting is clear. Musicianship continues to ascend beyond the norm without going over board. This album also featured musical contributions from John’s family. Joseph McGirr performed the Viola and Melanie McGirr performed the clarinet parts.
In 2007 “Braver Since Then” released their newest album, “Adorned Weakness”. This album was slightly different from the inception. having found a drummer to work with changed the dynamic of how the songs were written. John met Dave Rumbold and began jamming a few times a week to see if they could lay down some quality pieces. Strangely enough most of the songs began with a bass line Derek would bring to the table. The band wanted to approach this album with the intent of being able to play as a 3 piece. Derek Blake would Sing and play bass, John would play guitar or Keys at any particular time and Dave would drum. We would use a sequencer to support all of the other critical musical pieces not physically possible to simultaneously be performed by 3 humans.
