
Five years on and Brave Rival are the fast-rising, rip-roaring, rock and blues juggernaut ready to take their place in the upper echelons of British Rock hierarchy.
Since their inception in 2019, Portsmouth based Brave Rival have delighted fans and critics alike with their modern take on classic rock vibes. This culminated in the release of their 2022’s debut ‘Life’s Machine’ featuring a dozen nuggets of sharp melody and emotive playing, topped off by the delightful, hypnotising interplay of co-vocalists Chloe Josephine and Lindsey Bonnick. ‘Life’s Machine’ drew strong praise across the board, also bringing the group (completed by guitarist Ed ‘the Shred’ Clarke, bassist Billy Dedman and drummer Donna Peters) to the attention of the American guitar superstar Joe Bonamassa, who rated them among his “favourite discoveries” of that year.
Armed with a relentless work ethic, the band’s 2022/2023 itinerary saw them perform at the Isle of Wight Festival and London’s famous 100 Club among other venues. Mixing headline dates with opportunities alongside Elles Bailey, former Mountain drummer Corky Laing, Kingfish and Dom Martin, they performed 86 concerts in 2023 alone, including a barnstormer at the Maid Of Stone Festival in Kent.
Loath to derail a winning formula, Brave Rival created their second album, Fight or Flight, with hotly rated Tarrant Shepherd returning as producer, engineer and mixer. Once again, the project was crowdfunded by their loyal Bravians and the sound was filled out by the warm, fruity Hammond organ of Jonny Henderson. In contrast to their debut album, the band were able to write and refine together instead of remotely during the pandemic. Scrupulous standards of composition were observed and their roadwork saw Brave Rival enter the session armed with an even keener sense of musical telepathy. Further embellishment came from a string quartet, harmonica virtuoso Will Wilde who rips up a storm on ‘Stand Up’, plus the 15-strong Kickstarter gang choir that added boisterous backing vocals to their Rock Anthem ‘Bad Choices’. Suffice to say that if you found pleasure in ‘Life’s Machine’ then ‘Fight Or Flight’ is going to blow your mind.
“To me, there’s a different energy,” muses Lindsey. “Lyrically, just about every song can be viewed in different ways. There’s a strong thread around mental health, whether we were writing about things we’d gone through ourselves or experiences picked up from meeting people on the road.”
With 36 song ideas prepared, there was plenty of material to choose from. It helped that almost half of the album’s contents – including ‘Fairytale’, ‘Insane’, ‘Sink Or Swim’ and ‘All I Can Think About’ – had been thoroughly road-tested, though some key selections were held back to foster a sense of surprise.
Lindsey, Chloe and Donna began as a folk trio and it’s the push and pull between Lindsey and Chloe that really elevates the Brave Rival sound into bold, exciting areas. Just like their bandmates, both are masterful performers that take obvious delight in hitting a perfect note onstage.
“Chloe and I have sung together for eleven years, so things are now instinctive,” Lindsey explains. “We are very much in tune with one another.” Chloe agrees: “Singing with Lindsey is one of my favourite things to do. There’s trust between us, it’s become effortless.”
Expanding on the point, Lindsey adds: “It’s quite unusual for two lead vocalists to front the band; instead of one of us taking a back seat, it’s something that we do together, and we’re happy that people are now starting to think of what we do as special. The five of us have a lot of fun together onstage and the audience knows that it’s not fake.”
With comparisons to the Wilson sisters from Heart, as well as legends like Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac, the DNA of the aforementioned bands flows through Brave Rivals veins. “Each of us draws influence from different artists and various genres,” Ed comments. “Chloe adores Aretha Franklin and Lindsey is into the Tedeschi Trucks Band, but I’m a fan of Guns N’ Roses. Those acts don’t typically belong together, but each is part of Brave Rival’s sound.”
Brave Rival will tour extensively throughout 2024, including ‘special guest’ spots on several dates from the 40th anniversary tour of British hard rock legends FM in April. They also have multiple nominations in this year’s prestigious UK Blues Awards.
“We are massively ambitious, and we can’t wait for people to hear ‘Fight or Flight’,” Lindsey concludes.
Donna Peters smiles: “This year we want more of everything – more radio play…”
“…Bigger venues, too,” interjects Billy ‘Danger’ Dedman.
It’s going to happen. Just watch.
Book a table for pre-concert dining
Acapela Studio provides pre-concert dining between 6.00pm and 7.30pm from our pizza oven. To view the current menu visit here.
Please purchase your concert tickets first before booking a table. We will not accept any table bookings that do not have a corresponding ticket purchase.
Then return to the event page to book your table, by selecting the date of your event, number of diners and time you require table. The times shown are the only vacancies left. Please complete your email and phone number as this is required to ensure your table is allocated. You will receive confirmation of your booking by email and text.
If on the date you have chosen no tables are available - no times will be shown and the booking system will revert you back to todays date - PLEASE ENSURE YOU BOOK THE CORRECT DATE!
PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE RELIES ON THE INCOME FROM DINING TO ENSURE WE CAN BOOK ALL THE GREAT ACTS PERFORMING.
Income from the provision of pizzas is very important to the venue and if you have booked a table it is a requirement that all people sat at tables order food - a salad alternative is available to pizzas. Please do ensure that all individuals will be ordering on your table - if this is not the case please cancel your table so others who are looking to dine can do so. Our apologies to raise this but recently we have had many tables (some very large) where less than 50% of those sat at tables have ordered food. Financially this is a real problem to the sustainability of the venue.
- All seating at tables must purchase a pizza - so please do not book a table if everyone is not eating.
- Please ensure that you arrive 10 minutes before the time slot allocated to order your pizzas prior to your booking time.
- Tables not seated within 15 minutes of the allocated time may be lost and allocated to other audience members wishing to order pizzas.
- If you wish to book a table for 6 or more please email info@acapela.co.uk
Please note that all of our pizzas are made fresh to order and cooked in an authentic wood-fired oven. It may take up to 45 minutes to be served during busy periods.
IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO BOOK A TABLE YOU CAN STILL ORDER PIZZAS ON THE NIGHT (USUALLY ON BUSY NIGHTS NO LATER THAN 7.15PM) AND WE WILL SERVE THEM TO YOU WHEREVER YOU ARE SAT IN THE VENUE - IN A PIZZA BOX.