The Bravery will be busy at this week's South by Southwest music festival in Austin. The group will play three shows in three nights beginning, Wednesday, March 14, at Stubb's. The Bravery will play songs from their upcoming sophomore album, The Sun and the Moon, currently slated for a May release. Guitarist Michael Zakarin recently answered questions from 210SA.

210SA: Have you ever played SXSW? If so, What are your thoughts on it?
MZ: We did, back in 2005, in promotion of our first record. It was overloaded, two or three shows a day, but it was exciting, too. I never felt such camaraderie between all the people that were going to the shows and the bands. I feel like they're real music-lovers.

210SA: Is it tough to stand out at such a big event like SXSW?
MZ: Honestly, until now, I've never even thought of it as a competition between groups. You always want to play your best show, so it's not like it changes for anything like a festival. We feel strongly that our new stuff is strong enough to speak for itself.

210SA: Were you prepared to handle the success that followed your 2005 self-titled debut?
MZ: The first album was made very amateurish. It was done for nothing at all, like 10 grand or something. It was our homemade album, the way we wanted to make an album, and somehow people found out about it. We went out and supported it and played those songs, and people liked those songs for what they were.

210SA: Are you expecting the backlash from fans that usually follows a sophomore album?
MZ: I don't know. I would hope we would have established a strong enough fan base last time for people who liked us and see where we're going. I don't think at all that we're going to alienate anyone because we didn't go drastically in a new direction. At the same time, we'd love to grow with the fan base.

210SA: Was it tough not to get lumped in with other bands in your genre, like the Killers or Franz Ferdinand?
MZ: I didn't really realize that was going on until way after the fact. I try to stay away from it, and I'm still wide-eyed about it all. I guess everyone does it. I do it, you do it. Some people compare bands to other bands, but that doesn't mean they're right. It's just what people do, but you've got to focus on the people who see you for your band.

210SA: What can people at SXSW expect from the live show?
MZ: I think they're going to see a group that has gotten better with instruments, better as players. I'd say the music is a little more mature, a little more complicated now. It's not just standard structure anymore.

210SA: What is the key to capitalizing on your early success and sustaining it in the future?
MZ:  There's no secret. The goal for us is to do what we do as well as possible. There's no plan on how to get people to like us. We don't focus on that. We focus on keeping intact with what our goals are, what our vision is, which is why we came out again and did the same thing as last time. We spend hours and hours doing our own (album) artwork and (music) videos, creating all our own merchandise, doing it all ourselves. It's keeping with what our vision is. People who latch on clearly are kind of similarly minded, but it's not like we're going after anyone. We're just looking to attract people who have an interest in what we're doing.

Clint Hale | 210SA