It’s been a long time since Lonely the Brave have seemed lonely. Long since a cherished secret here in Cambridge, slowly but surely the world has been catching up. Their powerful, stadium-sized songs possess a sincerity and pathos all too rare in commercial rock, and those inclinations have paid off. Support slots have turned into headline shows, live favourites have turned into singles and audiences of few have turned into huge, pulsating crowds.
Like Alt-J, Lonely the Brave are no longer just a local band but a national prospect, and their place in the alt-rock firmament is all but assured. The five-piece consists of the usual suspects; two guitarists, bass, drums and vocals, and it’s a format that never tires when it falls into the right hands. Debut album The Day’s War surpassed all expectations, a masterpiece for fans of big guitars and bigger choruses.
Vocalist David Jakes is known for his intense and brutally earnest lyrics, full of a yearning that lends the songs their emotional charge. Despite the soul-searching in Jake’s voice, Lonely The Brave never feel like a band without optimism. You can’t escape the feeling that their music is life-affirming in its angst – that somehow one aspect comes hand in hand with the other.
I catch up with the group en route to Zurich, the signal dipping in and out of reception as the tour bus approaches the tunnel. Despite their success, there isn’t an ounce of aloofness about them.
Guitarist Mark Trotter, fielding my call, is affable and delighted to chat about all things LTB. It’s the kind of conversation where you realise that whether a band plays to audiences of 5 or 5,000 they’re still just people doing something they love.
“I don’t think we feel any different as a band – we’d still be playing the same way however many people that were there,” begins Mark. “Everyone’s got to start somewhere, and we’ve been fortunate enough that the hard work has paid off… Every night there are crowds singing the songs back to us; it’s just incredible. You can’t replicate that feeling.”
‘Cambridge is our home and always has been. We all grew up there, it’s where the band developed’
Days before our interview, Lonely the Brave announced the aptly titled Victory Edition of The Day’s War; a varied collection of reworked songs, live mixes and new tracks that were eager to be heard.
“We took the songs apart and put them back together in completely different forms, which was really good fun”, they say with genuine enthusiasm. “It’s really exciting to be able to get new stuff out there earlier than if we waited ’til the second record.”
There are four new songs that’ll be brand spanking new to fans’ ears, while some of the debut album’s best loved tracks have been stripped down, repainted and re- interpreted to their very cores.
“Personally I love film scoring, and to try and put that spin on some of it was really rewarding,” says Mark. New structures and arrangements illustrate how much they’ve grown as musicians, and the songs they’ve lived with for so long are stretched into new shapes.
“The original record is the way it is, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. If we recorded them now this is how some of them would have been; we’re very different people from when we wrote those songs.”
Their current tour lands them in The Tabernacle in London, for a launch party proper on 3 June. It’ll have strings and everything; a chance to see the band do something very rare. Later in the year, they’ll be heading to Reading and Leeds for main stage performances.
“If you’d told me that five years ago I wouldn’t have believed you! That’s a real honour. It’s probably the festival we go to most. Even if we weren’t playing we’d be there anyway. It’s definitely a tick off the bucket list.”
All this success must make it hard to still feel like a local band, no? “No not at all actually! Cambridge is our home and always has been. We all grew up there, it’s where the band developed. The Portland was always our place, y’know? Cambridge has a real, healthy music scene. We’re lucky to be able to do what we love – it’s the best thing in the world. The promoters, the venues and the people… It’s that support that’s helped get us this far.”
The Victory Edition of A Day’s War is released 1 June.
