Shut Out The Sky

Collection Contents

#		Title	Length
1		Dallas	3:45	Play
2		Binge	4:00	Play
3		Sarbanes-Oxley	4:47	Play
4		Toxic Tornado	4:03	Play

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Description	Amount
Bitmunk Marketplace Service	USD $0.39
CD Baby Artist Royalty	USD $2.39
CD Baby 9% Digital Distribution Cost	USD $0.22
Bitmunk Download Service	USD $0.22
Bitmunk MicroPayment Service	USD $0.01
Total	USD $3.21

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Description

"The indie pop rock stylings of Victor Bravo are aurally addictive anecdotes that get right to the point. The reckless up tempo jaunt 'Binge' weaves through its disregard for normalcy with stabbing guitars fueled by Collin Frendz's proud, declarative, Bacchanalian reveling. Dan Collins on drums finds a tight pocket of rhythmic balance with the bass on the snappy rant 'Sarbanes-Oxley' while the juxtaposed moments of 'Dallas' recall bursts of early Imperial Teen with its confrontational rawness."
-Aaron Simms, Freelance Music Reviewer, New York, NY

Victor Bravo may be new on the New York indie scene, but just the formation of this fledgling group has already been quite a journey for its members. Vocalist/Guitarist Collin Frendz and Drummer Dan Collins, friends since the first grade and both originally from the same town in Maine, attended different schools as teenagers but met up again in college at the University of Maine. They played together in their first band there and sensed that they were destined to do something creative together.

But after graduation they took different roads and began living separate lives, geographically and vocationally. After a few years, they at least got closer on the map when Collins was living in Boston and Frendz moved from Cincinnati to New York City. Victor Bravo then began when Frendz started taking the bus to Boston on weekends and jamming with Collins and a couple of friends.

The rag-tag group of weekend rockers began working on several songs by Frendz and a few by Collins, the two being influenced by such bands as Sugar, Foo Fighters, Hole and L7. The makeshift band combined elements of punk, lo-fi garage, grunge, pop and hard rock into a distinctive, heavy and catchy sound, with Frendz on guitar and Collins on drums. Soon the two realized they loved playing music together more than anything they had ever done and became consumed with taking it further.

Collins picked up his life and made the trek to New York City, in part to be with his long-time girlfriend, who had already moved there, and also to help make the band a reality with Frendz. United in New York but left without a singer and a bass player, Frendz added vocal duties to his guitar work. Determined to keep the journey moving forward, the duo started work on their debut self-released EP, Shut Out the Sky, without a bassist. Enlisting long-distance aid from the west coast, they asked their long-time friend and former bandmate Scott Mason, living in the San Francisco area, to help out. Mason jetted into band meetings on his cell phone and co-produced the record. And to solve the no-bass player problem, Mason wrote, played and recorded the bass tracks himself.

"We were surprised," says frontman Frendz. "Dan and I had been playing those songs over and over for months with no bass. Scott's bass lines added a new energy we hadn't even contemplated, but it fit perfectly and we were certainly thrilled with it."

Since finishing work on the CD, Frendz and Collins met young bassist Dani Read. An aspiring fashion designer, she had just moved her entire life from her home in the Indianapolis area to New York a couple of years earlier. The guys invited her in to jam and she hit it off musically and personally with the two long-time friends. As a trio that is finally complete, the journey of Victor Bravo now truly begins.