The Brevet & The Unlikely Candidates

The Brevet
One listen and it’s immediately clear that The Brevet have undergone a dramatic evolution on their explosive, ambitious new album, LEGS. Synthesizing the raucous energy of their live show with sonic precision of their extensive studio history, the collection is the California five-piece’s most deeply personal and lyrically sophisticated yet, tackling perception and identity in the digital-age with both subtle nuance and blunt force. The songs remain as cinematic as ever, full of rousing choruses and sing-along hooks, but they carry more weight here, propelled inexorably forward by thunderous percussion and blazing electric guitars that blend rock and roll snarl with R&B swagger.

The Brevet’s roots stretch back to college, when frontman Aric Chase Damm first began writing scores for student films and discovered he had a knack for crafting the kind of evocative music that yields unforgettable on-screen moments. Those early songs led to a licensing deal, and tracks from the band’s two independent albums (2013’s Battle of the Heart and 2017’s American Novel) would go on to be featured in a wide variety of films and television shows, in addition to racking up more than nine million streams on Spotify.

With all of The Brevet’s success on-screen and online, the group—Damm, drummer David Aguiar, guitarist John Kingsley, and bassist Julian Johnson—was more than ready to get out of the studio and onto the stage. Over the course of the last year, they hit the road for the most intense touring of their career, performing a slew of headline shows alongside support dates with Magic Giant and festival appearances from BottleRock to Firefly.

Recorded at the band’s own studio in their native Orange County, California, LEGS insists on a relentless optimism, a defiant belief in the power of positivity in the face of darkness and doubt. The album’s title actually stands for “Like Every Great Story,” and the record indeed contains all the elements of any memorable tale: struggle and success, tension and release, conflict and resolution. Every great story has a hero, after all, and heroes never give up, even when the going gets tough. That’s what The Brevet is all about.

The Unlikely Candidates
Based out of Fort Worth, Texas, The Unlikely Candidates are an indie rock band initially formed in 2008 as an acoustic duo by childhood friends Kyle Morris and Cole Male. Eventually expanding the lineup to include guitarist Brenton Carney, bassist Jared Hornbeek, and drummer Kevin Goddard, the band was also able to expand its sound in bigger, more sweeping directions. In 2013, they signed with major-label Atlantic and released their debut EP, Follow My Feet. In early 2016, the Unlikely Candidates returned with the hooky new single “You Love Could Start a War,” which made a strong showing on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart.

www.sub.iastate.edu/mshop | www.thebrevet.com | www.theunlikelycandidates.com 

TICKETING NOTES: All sales are final | A 3% processing fee is applied to online purchases | All tickets are subject to a non-refundable $2 MidwesTIX service fee | Each and every ISU student ticket will require a valid, unique ISU student ID at the door to avoid an upcharge to the public price.