Rising blues-rockers from Portsmouth Brave Rival to play biggest headline show to date at The Wedgewood Rooms

The five-piece have been constantly on the road, playing shows across the UK in support of their debut album, Life’s Machine, and winning fans everywhere they go with their distinctive dual-vocal blues-rock.

Then in autumn they launched a campaign through the online crowdfunding platform Kickstarter for their forthcoming second album and swiftly hit their target, going on to nearly double it.

Lindsey Bonnick, who shares vocals with Chloe Josephine, says: “We were tentative about setting it at £15,000 because the first album Kickstarter we did was for £3,000. When we got that total we had vastly underestimated how much it did cost to make the album. This time we were a bit more realistic in terms of what we actually needed and £15,000 was the bare, bare minimum, which sounds mental, but we made the total in 37 hours.”

The speed with which they hit the target left the band stunned: “It's been a bit surreal. I know we have the most incredible fans and we are so lucky and always so thankful for all of their support, but even knowing that, we never thought it would happen like this. It was such a shock that we not only made that total in such a short amount of time but we exceeded it to the extent that we almost doubled it. Even Kickstarter gave us special recognition because it was doing so well, which felt good.”

Special crowdfunder rewards

As well as standard rewards like signed copies of the album on CD or vinyl, T-shirts and other merch, there were also some exclusive opportunities for their fans – including joining in on backing vocals on the new album, or having them play a gig in your home.

“We put a lot of time and effort into the project,” says Lindsay, “a lot of care went into how we framed it and what the money would ultimately be used for and what everybody would get in return.

“We'd like to think this is a group project – it's not just the band, it's all our fans too, who are involved from the beginning right through until the end. And some of them are going to be singing on the album! Some of them have said they can't sing, but it's all gang vocals, and their names will be on the credits and they get to say they're on the album. We completely sold that reward out, it went down so well. We're really looking forward to doing that day.

“We were trying to come up with rewards and what people might want – we've got a listening party which will be a small number of us getting together once it's done and they'll be the first people to hear the album.”

They will head into Mayfair Studio near Farnham on January 2, working again with “the amazing” Tarrant Shepherd, who also did their debut, behind the mixing desk. As Lindsey says: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it.”

The band have been busy road-testing several of the potential songs for album two at their gigs.

"A lot of the new stuff is well received – there were a couple of exceptions that we thought maybe didn't fit our sound as well as others. Then we had a band meeting and sat down with the producer. There were some songs that stood out more than others – it's not necessarily about which songs we like best, it's what works best on the album.

“But we've raised enough money to not only do a 12-song album – the minimum had been for 10 songs, now that we’ve raised even more we can do more – we're also recording three B-sides which are going to have a very special vibe about them but I'm not at liberty to tell you about that yet..." she teases. “It's all very exciting, we've got lots of plans.”

While they have played bigger crowds at festivals, when they play The Wedgewood Rooms later this week, it will be their biggest headline show so far.

The live album

But if anyone not yet familiar with the band wants to find out more ahead of the show, they have just released a live album on CD and streaming services of their gig from June at the legendary Half Moon in Putney.

”We recorded quite a few of our live shows throughout the summer and the plan was to take the best bits from all the different places, but because we had such an amazing time at the Half Moon, we decided that was the night to release.

"Not only did we have a great show, we also had so many Bravians there”, the name for their growing legion of fans, “and it was a few days before (bassist) Billy got married to his lovely Sarah. He's from Australia so all of his family were over and at the gig. The atmosphere was just electric.

“It's a real fun album with loads of energy and loads of passion – it's basically what we're all about.”

As to the gig itself, Lindsey adds: “It will be five per cent Christmassy, 95 per cent Brave Rival-y, and there's going to be a few surprises in there too. It means a lot to us because we've got a lot of support around here and we're a Portsmouth band. It's so nice to come back and play on our home turf with family and friends.”

They play The Wedgewood Rooms in Southsea on Thursday, December 21, supported by Olivia Stevens and Co. Doors 7.30pm. Tickets £16. Go to wedgewood-rooms.co.uk.