[Locals Only] Brave Citizens Are From Wherever You Want Them to Be

Christie Hemm

Brave Citizens showcase their facial-expression range

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More About

• Andrew Capra
• Long Beach (New York)
• Brave Citizens Lydia
• Alex Jones
• Adam Bialik

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Home(s) of the Brave

The play on words is obvious yet inevitable: Brave Citizens are citizens of where, exactly? Depending on the source, it’s either San Francisco (where singer/guitarist Andrew Capra and guitarist Adam Bialik are originally from), or the considerably less specific “California.” Drummer Alex Jones lives in LA. Yet, whether they’d admit it or not, they’ve got just as much OC street cred: Bassist Jarred Dooley resides in Anaheim, and Capra went to UC Irvine (he now dwells in Long Beach), where he fronted now-defunct Orange County band Hopefield.

Brave Citizens may be all over the place geographically, but their music is tightly focused. Their four-track EP Revolutions (released in late 2007) showcases a fleeting glimpse of a band more than capable of assembling anthemic chargers just waiting to be embraced by mainstream-modern-rock fans. The choruses of songs such as “All Or Not” (“’Cuz the sun, yeah the sun, the sun hurts my eyes”) seem built for rowdy sing-alongs.

And for an as-yet-unsigned band, Brave Citizens appear to be doing a swell job of working up to that point. They played the Bamboozle Left festival last month in Irvine, and they launch a tour this week with Arizona’s Universal-signed Lydia and fellow (er, kinda) Orange County act Eye Alaska.

The slickness of Revolutions—”The Same Way” sounds like a synthesis of various hit songs and genres from the past 10 years—may turn some off, but it’s clearly winning over at least as many. What’s not so clear, with only a few songs to their credit at this point, is where Brave Citizens are heading musically. The “deluxe edition” of Revolutions includes a stripped-down, alternate version of “All Or Not” that’s a good deal less bombastic—and more sincere—than anything on the proper release.

Brave Citizens with Lydia, Eye Alaska and Play Radio Play at Chain Reaction, 1652 W. Lincoln Ave., Anaheim, (714) 635-6067; www.allages.com. Thurs., May 28, 7 p.m. $12; $10 in advance. All ages.

Hey, Orange County/Long Beach musicians and bands! Mail your music, contact info, high-res photos and upcoming show dates for possible review to: Locals Only,OC Weekly, 2975 Red Hill Ave., Ste 150, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Or e-mail your link toaching@ocweekly.com.