The Winter Brave

The Winter Brave are a rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Dave Grohl recently did a Reddit AMA, and the roommate of one of the band members asked Dave to listen to their music.
Dave Grohl recently did a Reddit AMA, and the roommate of one of the band members asked Dave to listen to their music.
Mike Lawrie / Getty Images
And Dave was into it!
And Dave was into it!
Just so you know, “totallynotdavegrohl” was, in fact, Dave Grohl. The user name he used was just a joke.
Here’s the story from one of the members of The Winter Brave. Things really picked up for them immediately after the AMA was done.
Here's the story from one of the members of The Winter Brave. Things really picked up for them immediately after the AMA was done.
Via reddit.com
Here’s “Metaphors,” the song that impressed Grohl and everyone else on Reddit.

w.soundcloud.com
Watch the comments as they go along – it’s mostly Foo Fighters fans and Redditors getting very excited about the music.
…and this just a taste of what their Facebook page looks like in the wake of the Grohl AMA.
...and this just a taste of what their Facebook page looks like in the wake of the Grohl AMA.

Here’s their Bandcamp page.
- Buzzfeed.com

Alternative garage-rock duo The Winter Brave are set to release the EP, The Hand You Never Seem to Lend, on July 28, 2015, but Crave's got the jump on the release with an exclusive stream a week ahead of time. You may recognize the band from Dave Grohl's recent “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on Reddit, which put them squarely on the exposure map: their Metaphors EP became the #1 best selling album on Bandcamp.

Founded by identical twin brothers Jake (vocals/guitar) and Sam (drums/vocals) Scarpino in Pittsburgh, PA, The Winter Brave have been playing and writing songs together since 2007. The two relocated to Portsmouth, NH in the past year to write/record the upcoming album, with influences ranging from The Black Keys to Cage the Elephant, Silversun Pickups to Band of Skulls.

From the galloping jangle of "As You Once Were" to the explosive buoyancy of "You Got It" and the stripped rhythm of "Meet You There," there's plenty of high-charged intensity to go round on The Hand You Never Seem to Lend. Check it out for the first time anywhere exclusively on CraveOnline:

"Most of The Hand You Never Seem to Lend was first written as a three piece band," the guys explained of the EP. "After our bass player left, we faced the decision to either simplify our songs to fit the two piece format, or go all out in the studio to make the biggest sound we could imagine. As we began demoing, we found that we really loved expanding the songs by adding keyboards and multiple guitar tracks to each song.”

“All our past releases had a three-piece arrangement in mind while recording, so it was liberating and exciting to be able to go all out,” they continued. “Because of this, we were able to incorporate tons of different influences to each song. To us, each song has its own unique flair, which makes the EP our most eclectic and adventurous release yet. But even with that said, these songs still have a backbone of high energy rock that we love and feel is underrepresented today. " - Crave

The Winter Brave already have something going for them. During an Aske Me Anything segment on Reddit, a roommate of someone in the band asked Dave Grohl to check out the music. His response was just six words, “We just blasted it in 606!” and the entire internet flocked to their Soundcloud profile. With this seal of approval, Winter Brave gained a small following in which they’re humble for, and found their way opening for this co-headlining show.

Lead singer Jake Scarpino is adorable, as is the interaction between him and band mates Sam Scarpino and Chris Beaulieu. In fact, their chemistry is of epic proportions that is not even able to be described in words; you simply need to see them to believe it. Scarpino’s smile is as infectious as the band’s set, which included a deliciously funked out cover of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)”. [The Winter Brave's Facebook] - 2020k

You could say South by Southwest is the perfect place to be for a band like The Winter Brave. After achieving a respectable number of plays for its EP, Metaphors, the band earned a spot in the top 100 of the Jansport Sonicbids Battle of the Bands competition, even breaking the top 10 before losing out to fellow Pittsburgh rock band White Like Fire.

The band, composed of two brothers (Jake and Sam Scarpino) and a best friend (Chris Beaulieu), have come a long way from meeting in the junior-high lunch line in Upper St. Clair. Their hard yet melodic sound is akin to early Fall Out Boy and Foo Fighters, whom they cite as influences. By the time the band was accepted as a SXSW showcasing artist, it had been praised by the likes of Dave Grohl himself, in a Reddit AMA session last year.

But as much as SXSW is now focused on apps and communication, at its core, personal interaction is most important, and The Winter Brave attended the festival with that in mind.

"We're trying to build more of a physical following, instead of an Internet following," says bassist Beaulieu.

Guitarist Jake Scarpino agrees. "Being in a band and playing music was something that we all kind of wanted to do, as a living, but [the SXSW showcase] gave us the confidence to go ahead and do it. It was a golden opportunity; you can't just let that go to waste."

Jake is a power crooner — maybe as well suited to a disco club as a rock band — and at the festival showcase, his voice reached pitches likely only known to SXSW. One audience member from Australia said the band sounded like the rockers back home, "a lot of sound for just being a three-piece." The Winter Brave played music from its EP as well as new material, filling the Irish pub with classic '90s-style grunge pop.

Jake, Chris and Sam, all in their early twenties, now pursue music full time, and hope to provide an inspiration to teenagers playing in suburban basements everywhere. From the bar you could see, just outside of the open windows, a growing crowd of underage Austinites snapping pictures and bobbing their heads. - Pittsburgh City Paper

The Winter Brave is a youthful band with a true rock sound. Something many other bands looking to make it big these days can’t match. With a full sound, flowing bass lines, and soulful rock vocals, The Winter Brave (TWB) is looking to power forward as a touring force and command attention of music lovers.

Naming the band “The Winter Brave” came as a bit of an accident. While camping together the Pittsburgh trio saw the words “The Brave Winter” written on a rock. That evening resonated with the three friends who have been playing together since middle school, so much so that they named the project in its honor.

I got the chance to catch up with The Winter Brave for a short interview and ask them about their recent success and where they hope music takes them.

winter brave

TA: You recently got a huge amount of exposure through a Reddit thread, how big of a boost did that give you?

TWB: We don’t think words describe what Reddit has done for us exposure-wise. The love and support we’ve got from that website is unbelievable. So the exposure we got from them was HUGE! Our couple hundred listens have turned in to a couple hundred THOUSAND. We’re all amazed by the support from the website. There are some really good people on there.

TA: You have a really cool sound, somewhat of a callback to what people now call “classic rock,” What do you attribute your unique sound to?

TWB: We’re influenced by a myriad of different bands and artists. Some can be considered classic rock, but we also love a ton of modern bands and everything in between. Our collection of influences allows us to create a sound that we love to play and that we hope people can appreciate.

TA: What do you have on your iPod that you wouldn’t want your friends to know you listen to?

TWB: As a band, we love the Korean pop group Orange Caramel. Don’t ask us how we found them, but they’re actually amazing.

TA: If you got the opportunity to work with anyone in the music industry, who would it be?

Jake: Obviously, we’d love to work with Dave Grohl (front man of Foo Fighters, former drummer of Nirvana) because he’s kind of a god. But other than him, I really like what Good Old War is doing and Paul Simon.

Chris: Jon Paul Jones is an idol of mine. Cage the Elephant, Jack White, and Sufjan Stevens would also be really cool to meet.

Sam: I’d love to work with Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, or Grizzly Bear.

TA: What are your plans for this year? Any tours? New releases?

TWB: We’re planning to keep on writing and recording and eventually play as many shows as we can. Other than that, who knows where our music will take us?


With their newest EP “Metaphors” available on Amazon and Bandcamp, The Winter Brave is focusing on recording a new full-length album for their new and loyal fans. Gaining a large following after receiving the Dave Grohl stamp of approval during an
metaphors album AMA on Reddit.com, the band looks to continue building a fan base and recording music, but really it comes down to one thing. “…at the end of the day, we just like to play rock music that you don’t see to often these days.” - Tieattack.net

If you're going to up your game to get noticed on the internet, you will have to do a lot more than a couple of "hey guys!" Twitter updates every now and then. Every social network user is a needle in a very tangled, very competitive haystack. Here's our favourite top five moments when musicians boosted their profiles online.
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Turn yourself into a meme
With over 120 million hits on Youtube, as the total sum currently stands, OK Go's knack for creating interesting music videos inadvertently helped the Chicago pop-rockers hit the big time back in 2005.

The elaborate dance routine on treadmills was created in a single, continuous take. (It took around 17 attempts to get right) - and boy, did it pay off.

One Grammy award for Best Video later, the idea was exemplified as a chief example of how to use internet promotion cleverly. Once the video was crystallised on The Simpsons, the rest was history.
Raise the profile of someone else!
During one of Reddit's now infamous AMA'a (Ask me Anything; an extensive question/answer session between a high profile figure vs. the entire of the internet) The Foo Fighters gained brownie points when the famous "nice guy of rock" Dave Grohl gave someone else a boost instead of his own band.

Struggling Pensylvania-based band The Winter Brave were certainly not given the cold shoulder, and a slick mention from Grohl in front of thousands of web-users meant that the band's song Metaphors found itself with over 100,000 plays - just like that. Good form.

Other Reddit revelations have included Vampire Weekend getting into a full-scale row about the Oxford Comma, and sunny French pop singers Phoenix joking that they 'sext' Daft Punk every day. Blush.

Image from gettyimages
Make an album through Vine
Arab Strap musician Aidan Moffat found a very unique way of promoting his new work - and it only took six seconds.

Through the magic of lickety-split video service Vine, Moffat recorded his 2013 album The Eternalist entirely through it. Accompanied through serene images, Moffat very cleverly uses Vine's looping feature to blend together his music, and also give the listener the option to stop listening whenever they like.

Write a response song
Sometimes, you may not always relate to the lyrics of a song. Take for example, The Beatles' We All Live in a Yellow Submarine. We've never set foot in a yellow submarine in our lives, let alone lived in one. Sometimes, when musicians hear a song they have some choice feelings about, they have to answer back - precisely what a 'response song' is for.

Several of these are dotted all over pop history, including 2004's rather famous example "FURB", an answer song by little known pop singer Frankee to the current No.1 song "(Fuck it) I don't want you back" by pop/R&B singer Eamon - using the same tune.

The song gathered excitement like wildfire that we could be in the midst of a pop spat between two ex-lovers. Alas, Eamon spoke out that he had never heard of Frankee, let alone breaking her heart.

Another good example of a musician taking another's song from a new perspective, was Marina and the Diamond's approach to Justin Bieber's hit Boyfriend. Marina took to the Radio 1 Live Lounge to record an acoustic cover version, but altered the lyrics, turning the saucy pop stylings of Bieber's, to the dark lament of the 'girlfriend''s point of view instead.

"When I was your girlfriend you always let me go/Kept me on your arm boy, so you weren't left alone/You could have been a better man, anytime you want/But when I was your girlfriend, I always felt alone."
Have a Twitter spat
Obviously, we fully advise you let your music do the talking when you're promoting your record - but in the case of some of our favourites, a quick Twitter argument can generate very quick attention indeed.

One particularly well documented row, was between dance-artist Calvin Harris, and pop sensation Rita Ora. Oddly enough, the row was over who had 'first dibs' on Cheryl Cole's record 'Call My Name' - with Ora taking to Twitter to announce it had been offered to her first, with Harris accusing her of telling porkies. Ora then hit back with the classic zing: "‘See what I dn’t understand is y dn’t people @ your name when they talk about u?" Feel the burn, Calvin. - Virgin Music

You don’t need us to tell you that social media has revolutionized the way musicians have found success and good marketing techniques. But, something truly remarkable is happening right now.

Let us introduce you to the The Winter Brave.

A month ago, the band had barely a hundred likes on their Facebook page. It was at this time that legend Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) did an IAmA on Reddit – that is, he signed on to the popular social media/link sharing site, and began a thread where people can post questions, and he will (try to) post responses to the ones he likes. Well, this happened:

dave grohl



That link was to the The Winter Brave. Since then, the band’s popularity has exploded. As of this posting, the band is number 4 in popularity on the bandcamp network. That is HUGE. The band’s Facebook page gained 3000 likes (give or take a few) in a month – this is a dream come true for most tiny bands.

As for the music? People dig it. I think it rocks too. The production of the Metaphors release ain’t too shabby, and it is pretty freakin’ catchy. Since it’s only $1 on bandcamp I’d buy it. I definitely hear the garage rock influence that probably caught Grohl’s attention. A bit grunge-y as well, but the band doesn’t overdo the 90s sound.

We at I AM TUNED UP love coming across stories like this, and we’re happy to spread the word. - IAmTunedUp.com