BRAVE'S NEW WORLD
LONELY THE BRAVE ARE RARING TO GO WITH NEW SINGER JACK BENNETT, AS THEY TELL JEN THOMAS
IT’S NEVER easy for a band when there’s a line-up change, let alone when they’ve been together for more than a decade and the frontman has to leave for mental health reasons. But that’s exactly what happened to Lonely The Brave, when singer David Jakes announced his departure in early 2018. It could easily have been the end of the group, but they have moved on with a new singer, Jack Bennett, and their third album, The Hope List, comes out next Friday with a tour planned (hopefully) for April.
Jack, who has previously performed solo as Grumble Bee, has been keeping busy during lockdown with his menagerie of animals (he’s vegan and adores our furry friends). He pans his camera around the room to show a cat he’s rescued: ‘Look, it has thumbs!’ and later his beloved dog wanders into the frame.
Somehow, he also found the time to help Lonely The Brave create the new record and put his stamp on their much loved sound. ‘The guys put down as much as they could in January, and we managed to finish the whole thing,’ says Jack. All this with two of the band being NHS key workers, too.
And he’s not just the singer, he’s also the band’s engineer, mixer and producer, working from his home studio in Walsden, West Yorkshire. Guitarist Mark Trotter explains: ‘We obviously knew what Jack was capable of, but there was still an excitement about hearing what he would do with the songs. That must have been quite daunting for him, but Jack coped with it admirably.
‘We all have our moments throughout the process, but that’s just being human. If anyone claims otherwise, I don’t believe them. There’s always pressure.’
Jack says that his priority has always been making the band happy with their decision: ‘When it came to writing lyrics there was no point trying to copy what was done before. Those lyrics mean so much to the fans and I have a very different style of writing. I just decided to sit down and write about what I care about, and I think all of us are just really happy with the response.
The fact the band loved what I’ve done is the best thing, and then to have their fans welcoming me, too, and loving what we’ve released so far, that was the main goal.’
Lonely The Brave have released four new songs so far — Bound, Distant Light, Open Door and Bright Eyes. Jack won over many of their fans by showing off his vocals in stripped-back piano versions on their social media. ‘I was wary of putting the videos out of me singing solo on the piano because I’m very much part of the band and I didn’t want people thinking it was me saying, “Hi, welcome to the Jack show!” But in lockdown, what can we do? People seemed to really love Bright Eyes.
‘A lot of the older music has synths and piano and acoustic elements so I can still make it work, and as long as the band like it then happy days.’
With the country now in a third lockdown, the band are crossing everything that their tour in April will still go ahead. Jack is aware that he’s stepping into big shoes.
‘I’m fully prepared for the comparisons,’ he says. ‘I’m just trying to do justice to the music. With the tour, we’re still going to play the old songs, this is music that people have resonated with for a long time. I want to make them sound as good as possible.’
The forthcoming album will allow them some creativity with the setlist to show what Jack can do live. ‘Now we’ve released some music I feel less pressure in having to end on one of the big favourites like Backroads. We could end on a new song like Bound instead. We have ten full new songs that we can play and we’re working on new stuff as well.
‘It’s given us a bit more freedom to make our mark and see what happens. Obviously it’ll take a few shows to settle in but I’m excited.’ Fingers crossed it can happen.
Lonely The Brave’s tour starts at the Hope & Ruin, Brighton on April 11, lonelythebrave.com
‘I’m fully prepared for the comparisons. I’m just trying to do justice to the music’