Wellington four-piece Brave New Void consists of Carl Mann on guitar, Joe Harrison (vocals), Matt Coplon (bass) and drummer Chris Hart. The band launched their first video for The Flesh Is Willing (see below) on YouTube earlier this year and, quickly building a following for their distinctive brand of rock, have since completed production of a debut album, ‘‘BNV’.
Atmospheric guitars underpinned by a solid and articulate rhythm section, Brave New Void’s music can best be described as pop music, clothed in the beguiling sonic textures first explored by bands like My Bloody Valentine and the Creation label bands of that era.
“Yeah, a lot of people have related us to Interpol. I’d say my big influences are early ‘90s shoegaze stuff. A friend of mine asked if we had got into the goth crowd yet because they would like the album, and I said, ‘I know a couple of goths, but no,'” laughs Carl.
“When I met Carl I was like, ‘What the hell is shoegaze?!’ remembers Joe. “I didn’t even know the term. As a singer, I’m much more inspired by the likes of David Bowie and Brett Anderson from Suede.
The members of Brave New Void have been in various bands in the past, but the most impressive set of musical circumstances surely belongs to Carl.
“I had a record deal, and publishing deal with my first band in the UK called Westpier, but that all went pear-shaped. I went on to do session work for a few years, most notably playing guitar for Kylie Minogue for a while (tours/studio/writing sessions). I was a touring guitarist with Sleeper for some time, and I did some studio sessions with Guy Chadwick, from The House of Love, among others.”
Forming in January 2014, the band has made considerable progress in the 20 months since.
“We’ve gigged a hell of a lot in the last year or so,” says Carl. “We did lots of three-men-and-a-dog pint nights, but as our name got out there we got some bigger gigs. We played at Valhalla here in Wellington, where they asked us to headline and get a couple of bands behind us.”
Support slots for the likes of Pop Will Eat Itself, The Lemonheads and locals Ghostwave were indeed very well received. The band credits that hard work in the live setting for giving them a leg up when it came time to record.
“We started off with the idea that we were going to record two tracks, and they were going to be a single. That was at Munki Studios with James Goldsmith. In the end, we tracked eight songs – that was our live set at the time and bagged all the drum and bass parts, Carl reveals.
Brave New Void are planning to record more newly written tracks and tour the country over summer, looking at a NZ tour in February and hoping to have a new EP out around March next year.
