Behold the Brave is a band whose sound is hard to ignore. Beyond the heavy, fuzzed-out guitars, there’s the beauty in the beast: Southern rock, blues, and psychedelic melodies at its finest. As vocalist and guitarist Clayton Davis explains, “We want every song to create a different vibe and feeling that adds the right ambiance for every occasion.”
And with that goal in mind, the Nashville band, consisting of Davis along with Zack Randolph (guitar), Jeremiah Thompson (drums) and Joel Parks (bass), incorporates a slew of genres and influences: Soulful Southern vocals ala Stax, West Coast psych haziness, James Brown bravado, Mudhoney bass fuzz, and the best of 60s and 70s pop and RnB, from the Beatles to Motown.
That’s a lot for a young band to be referencing but when one digs deeper, it only makes sense. “Many forms of art can be influential; films, commercials, paintings, theories, science, nature, religion,” Davis points out. “Life experiences influence us to feel differently about songs or certain types of music.
Behold the Brave started in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a city that embodies “picturesque,” as it’s surrounded by mountains and ridges, complete with the Tennessee River running through it. “It affected our writing,” Davis recalls. “We wanted to write heavy, fun shit that you would jam out to if you saw a band play your favorite bar.”
In early 2015 came a move to Nashville, the “Music City,” a city that has had its own unique influence as well. Surrounded by a more robust music industry and having put in more studio time, they are maturing as a band. Having developed a relationship with local studio, Gold Cassette, the band is developing and refining its take on Southern rock. “Our thoughts go beyond just the songwriting itself and a lot more into production,” Davis says, recalling one of their influences, The Beatles, who used the studio as another instrument rather than just a tool.
You’ll hear more of their musical growth on their debut release slated for release July 2017 via WITHYN Records.
