The Bravery

At the Maxim Style Awards

The Avalon, Sept 18th

By Tatiana Simoneon

I always feel bad for bands playing at big sponsored parties, which is ironic considering they make more in 35 minutes than I do in a month (or ten years, if you're Prince). But these days bands can crank out a dozen hits as a one-night soundtrack to a swag-hungry crowd and make more than they do for weeks of touring.

The willing victim tonight was the Bravery, and the venue was the Maxim Style Awards. Now, what exactly they mean by “style” is beyond me, since Maxim's the quasi-upscale, mom-friendly version of a titty magazine. What I expected was a night full of Hollywood’s finest wannabe celebutantes, free-booze-loving members of the press (ahem) and corporate sponsors angling for a larger toehold on a cooler demographic. And boy, was I right.

To be fair, as far as sets go, the Bravery played their hearts out. Frontman Sam Endicott wasn’t half-assed in the least. Even though the jam-packed Avalon crowd was half filled with sex tarts on their BlackBerries feverishly typing while he worked the mic, Endicott and gang gave their all. The one downside of their performance, however, was the giant screen behind them, which played commercials the whole time. We expect to see branding all over a corporate event, but couldn’t Maxim at least allow a band the opportunity to play without a L’Oreal commercial behind them?

After the show, the boys retreated not to a rousing after-party but into the Avalon’s shower upstairs. Apparently, they’d been on the road awhile and were well, dirty. So I guess in a way, the Bravery gets props for making a wad of dough and getting a shower out of Maxim. I never did figure out what the awards were about, but I did enjoy the free booze and have a sudden unexplainable urge to go buy L’Oreal.

— Tatiana Simoneon

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