Little Brave
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Little Brave

Austin, Texas, United States | SELF

Austin, Texas, United States | SELF
Band Alternative Singer/Songwriter

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Music

Press


"Little Brave on Daytrotter"

Little Brave's music exhibits some form of intensity that you don't hear all over the place. It's strange because it's not really all that intense in the way you might think of intensity in a traditional sense. It's intense because it's so individual. It's so personal and it really seems to be coming from a place that people just don't let other people see all that often. It's emotional. It's naked - sometimes literally. It's calling for blood and it seeks to make people pay for it when they make others hurt, or when they are just plain lousy. - Daytrotter.com


"The Little Brave Interview"

"...lyrics that pack the punch of a woman past the previous heartbreak and dusting herself off for another round." - Chris Fullerton for Ryan's Smashing Life


"Track Review: “Say So” – Little Brave"

"With several releases under her own name, and one as Little Brave, Briggs’ contributions to the Austin music scene are substantial, but “Say So” is one of my favorite songs they’ve ever recorded.... The track is pop gold." - Bryan Parker at Pop Press International http://www.poppressinternational.com


"Listen Now: Little Brave"

All of these elements combined with the blunt, honest vocals of Briggs into a sonically delectable course, which left me salivating for more. - Andrew McMillen, http://www.robotsforhire.com


"I want to be a bitch, I want to live with all my heart -- Little Brave"

Remember when "Girl Power" was all the rage, but all we got was bubble-gum pop stars and the Spice Girls? Thankfully, our patience for a good girl fronted band has paid off, our reward: Little Brave. Mix one part Meredeth Brooks, one part Kate Nash and one part A Fine Frenzy with a dash of bitter bitchiness thrown in, and you get Stephanie Briggs, AKA Little Brave. - Top Hats by Jennifer


"Little Brave"

Little Brave tags itself petite, but that bouncing pop packs a punch. Under her alias, Austinite Stephanie Briggs and her threepiece band have filled Frank’s June residency with hand claps, stage stomps, and a ukulele. After the 2011 release of third disc Wound & Will, Briggs has thrown her energies into Downtown promotion. Her confessional lyrics are backed by a mélange of piano, uke, and the occasional guitar shred, all bound by endearing touches of bitchiness. K Phillips & the Concho Pearls, plus Joanna Barbera open. – Abby Johnston - http://www.austinchronicle.com


"Little Brave Plays Frank Tonight 6/20/12"

Briggs’ emotional intensity is unmatched. With amazing performance skills, a wide vocal range and unwavering honesty in her song lyrics, she goes to great lengths to develop and refine her art. Just to give you an idea: To celebrate her third album’s release, she took things a step further by producing the entire release show as a full-blown musical. - Austin Music Minute - KUT.org


"Top 10 Albums of 2011 - 1. Little Brave, Wound and Will"

1. Little Brave, Wound and Will (folk/alternative) – I first heard Stephanie Briggs’ music when she played at G.I.G. on the Strip this summer, and was blown away. Never in a million years would I have guessed such a powerful sound could come from the vocal chords of this small-framed woman. Since that night, I’ve had Wound and Will in constant rotation in my car’s CD Player. Her lyrics are heavy, her voice is intense and her live performance is incredible. Little Brave’s Wound and Will is without a doubt my #1 album of 2011.
- Theodora Setterbo, SATX Music PR Consultant


"Memories of 2011 (Best New Acts of 2011)"

One of my 'best new acts of 2011' - and there's just two on the list - is Little Brave, the performance moniker for Stephanie Briggs. She took on the name earlier this year, and later moved to Austin proper from nearby New Braunfels. True, Stephanie has been making music in other bands and under her own name for a few years now, but the new name - and band - represents something of a new beginning, and I am pleased I got to see it from the outset.

What makes Little Brave so bloody good is the combo of Stephanie's songwriting, the range of her delicate-to-belting voice, and the powerful performances of the band, as she pushes out her pop/rock, biographically-influenced, album Wound & Will. There is surely more to come in 2012 - and I urge you become a patron and enjoy it all. - Peter Harris for Harris Radio New York & Austin


"2011 Best Regional Album & Show"

Little Brave’s Wound & Will and Little Brave at Sam’s Burger Joint. Originally from New Braunfels and now living in Austin, the artist formerly known as Stephanie Briggs didn’t have a CD release party: she had an art installation. Dance, theater, lights, first-class sound (per Sam’s usual), and even confetti. It was a fitting tribute to one of the best break-up albums I’ve ever heard. - Enrique Lopetegui for San Antonio's The Current


"2011 Best Regional Album & Show"

Little Brave’s Wound & Will and Little Brave at Sam’s Burger Joint. Originally from New Braunfels and now living in Austin, the artist formerly known as Stephanie Briggs didn’t have a CD release party: she had an art installation. Dance, theater, lights, first-class sound (per Sam’s usual), and even confetti. It was a fitting tribute to one of the best break-up albums I’ve ever heard. - Enrique Lopetegui for San Antonio's The Current


"Best Songs of 2011"

22. Little Brave – It’s Coming Out Tonight (Wound & Will) – The worst thing you could say about Stephanie Briggs newest project was that it got a little twee at times, even if she has the artistic gusto to make that kind of thing work. Still, the full-throated kick of this one breaks away from the pack with bluesy, smoky conviction. - Mike Ethan Messick for Texas Music Scene with Ray Benson


"Music - September/October 2011 Issue"

Where most artists would be content just to release an album as well done as her latest, Wound & Will, she went the extra mile several times over. It's not just an album, it's an entire musical. Not only that, but she produced it as a live show, replete with actors, dancers, fantastical costumes, a string section, theatrical lighting, and a full band. And she did that all at a bar where the rest of us mortal musicians normally set up an amp and go to work. - John Pointer for Origin Magazine Austin


"Little Brave, Wound & Will: Album Review"

"Rich in melody and subtle with its layers — which include everything from chamber-music strings to dizzy synthesizers to what sounds like plucked violin strings — Wound & Will wins one for the broken-hearted." - Mike Ethan Messick for Texas Music Magazine E-Zine


"Live & Local: Little Brave at Sam's Burger Joint (with video)"

After her superb CD Wound & Will, reviewed in last week’s Current, my expectations of Little Brave presenting her album in concert where high. But nothing could have prepared me for what I saw Saturday night.

See, Little Brave (formerly known as Stephanie Briggs) can’t do anything simple. Don’t get me wrong: her music — which jumps from folk ballads to indie rockers to Beatlesque melodies to jazzy atmospheres — and confessional lyrics are direct, catchy, and simple enough to be embraced by your mom. But we’re talking Little Brave here, and with her it’s all about execution and arrangements — both visual and sonic.

The show started in complete darkness, except for a spotlight following a ballerina on the floor doing both modern and classic dance routines, while Little Brave (sporting a horizontal pink mark across her forehead) pounced on her electric piano the somber notes of “The Invitation,” and Mark Williams (cello) and Andy Tindall (violin) added haunting magic to an attention-grabbing intro. The whole eight-piece band had their faces painted as skulls.

Then, with each band member covered by silk-like pink sheets (mosquito netting?) and Little Brave wearing a crown of ribbons, the band picked up the pace with a rousing rendition of “Cut & Paste” while two women gradually cut the ribbons with scissors as the song went on.

Each song was separated by a few seconds of special sound effects, and each had a distinctive setting: eye masks and school marching band uniforms figured both onstage and at the club entrance, with a tuba player and drummer walking through the crowd towards the stage at one point. Guitarist Luke Leverett switched to a banjo on “Time to Forget”; the band sang backup chorus on the minimalist folk of “Ruin Mine” (“the most honest song I ever wrote,” Brave said); and a troupe of puppeteers from Austin (the Puppet Improv Project) danced and clowned around until the puppets “fainted” as Little Brave touched their heads (“Blame”). Little Brave showed off her pipes in a power-ballad version of “You Didn’t Mean It,” perhaps her best song.

Yes, the night started in complete darkness, but it ended with a proper confetti fest and a rocking version of “Mercy,” the album’s opening track. Not a single song from her fine previous two albums was shared. None were needed. The Little Brave we saw at Sam’s has healed whatever needed to be healed, and she was full of the confidence of someone who knows exactly what she wants to achieve as an artist.

This was easily the best show I’ve seen so far this year, and it wasn’t about the confetti: it was about the songs and the vision of a top-notch all-around artist the regional music scene should be proud of. - The San Antonio Current


"Briggs releases CD 'Wound & Will'"

"Songwriters must walk a fine line on whether to write a song in hopes it will get radio airplay or to write a song that comes from the heart.

With this album, Briggs accomplished both."

- Dale Martin - Herald-Zeitung


"Local review of Little Brave's Wound & Will"

Little Brave’s Wound & Will comes off as a debut (it is, sort of), but it also bears the refinement of an artist whose talents have matured (they have). Little Brave is Stephanie Briggs, a New Braunfels-ite with 11 years in the biz. Wound is her third solo release, but the first two bore her married name. Whatever her moniker, Wound is a polished piece of not-quite-indie that’s far thornier than adult alternative. The album plays it deceptively straight. Shrugged-off guitar licks spring the verses along, then wait for the band to join in for rockin’ bridges and choruses. In the eye of it is Little Brave, who’d rather sneer melodiously than all-out sing. Her voice channels the warbly vinegar of Ani DiFranco delivered with the smoothness of Matthew Sweet. The result is mature, layered, hard rock with confrontational lyricism. “[You] starved a home/and all the bodies in it,” she accuses on “You Didn’t Mean It,” a song about sticking to one’s word. This is a confident (and smug) work by an artist done proving herself. Savor it, and check her out at Sam’s Burger Joint on March 5 (read our interview with Little Brave here). - San Antonio Current


"The will of the Brave: Little Brave “kills” Stephanie Briggs and takes charge of her career"

BY ENRIQUE LOPETEGUI

New Braunfels’ Stephanie Macías likes to hide.

She first hid as Stephanie Briggs, her married name, which she performed under and used in her first two albums: Spark (2007) and Birds Barely Know Us (2009). Now single again, she hides behind the name Little Brave and, instead of a photo, uses a painted self-portrait for the cover of Wound & Will, the new album she will present with a show at Sam’s Burger Joint on March 5.

But for those who know where to look — in her music, especially her lyrics — Macías is not hiding. Everything you need to know about her is there. The name thing is not such a big deal.

“I feel there are so many ‘so-and-so bands’ that I didn’t want to be another name,” she told the Current last week.

Wound & Will (read our review here) is her best record, a gorgeous-sounding jewel of confessional singer-songwriter magic by a woman who shed her skin and found her true voice.

“I’ve been playing for a while, but nothing like what I’m trying to do now,” she said. “Before, I had a management company that didn’t know what to do with me, but now that everything’s in my hands I feel I can accomplish what I want. This new album is all me.”

All divorces are tough, but the relationship she was in after the divorce was a lot tougher. Those 12 months were more intense and ultimately more painful than six years of marriage.

“This guy didn’t even have the decency to end anything in person or a phone call,” she said. “He used a text message.” By the time she was ready to record last May she was too depressed to enter the studio. The ordeal turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as virtually every song on Wound & Will is about that break-up.

“I had to postpone [the recording] and I ended up writing the majority of the album in May and June,” she said. “So it worked out for the best, because I got the best material I could get for this album.”

It’s a carefully written and produced album, but three tracks stand out: “You Didn’t Mean It,” a perfect ballad and one of the best regional songs of the year (“But you didn’t mean it/You didn’t mean it/Cut the crap/Tell the truth/Everybody knows it’s not what you say/But what you do”).

“When I write a song I don’t really know how people will react to it until I play it for them,” she said. “But, almost immediately, I knew [‘You Didn’t Mean It’] would strike a chord in a lot of people. People would come to me after any show and they would talk about that song.”

The other key tracks are the Beatlesque “Blame” (“I don’t have a lot to say/No, I don’t have a lot to say about/The way you left in such a hurry/Like God condemned this town/And I’m left with only music/And these inefficient words to say that/I am so unhappy/And I’m closer/To ending it everyday”); and the acoustic folk of “Ruin Mine” (“Just because you gave them life/Doesn’t mean you have the right/To ruin mine”).

“I used to cloak stuff in a lot of metaphors,” she said of her first two albums. “When I wrote these songs so much was happening, and I wanted to say it all.”

Little Brave has a hands-on approach concerning everything related to her recordings, from the production to the art. This time, she co-produced with Pat Manske and let the songs speak for themselves.

“My favorite thing to do is produce the albums, but this time I had so much to say I didn’t want the music to be overwhelming,” she said. “I wanted very simple parts for each instrument, and not too many instruments. And to each person that played on the album I said, ‘Play it like it matters.’ I didn’t really add a lot of harmonies. This one was about saying something, not decorating.”

The album is the typical example of great art produced by pain, but she has reservations about the whole idea.

“The whole pain-equals-creativity thing has some merit to it, but I don’t subscribe to that thought exclusively because I just don’t think that’s a healthy way to look at it,” she said. “A lot of artists are fuck-ups because they think that’s what they’re supposed to do. I don’t buy into that.”

Even though she still performs solo acoustic sets, she’s focused on developing her band side for the first time in years.

“You can be great on record, but performing is a whole different ball game,” she said. “I still play acoustic but it bores me. I want interaction with people onstage. The difference is that before I used to play because I had recorded an album and I had to do it. Now I’m out there and I want to be out there.

“I’m finally at a great place in my life and I’m enjoying it, but I can’t tell you how many times people tell me I’m in the wrong place, the wrong city. Sometimes I believe it, but sometimes I think it shouldn’t matter. If the music’s good, it’s good.” - San Antonio Current


"Spark by Stephanie Briggs"

I could go into my favorite songs on this record, but I would just end up naming them all eventually. This is a very solid record that is going straight into my personal rotation.
- Amy Lotsberg - www.collectedsounds.com


"Spark by Stephanie Briggs"

Newcomer Stephanie Briggs easily avoids the trap of playing it too safe and smiley, instead echoing of adventurous indie explorers such as Ani DiFranco. While some ears only accustomed to cookie cutter choruses and verses may not appreciate Briggs' audacity, this young indie pop rocker is clearly poised to gain wide appreciation for her clever craftsmanship.
- Kathleen O'Keefe-Braun - LoneStarMusic presents Mavrik Magazine


"Stephanie Briggs: Spark - New Texas Indie Release"

Spark is undeniably hip, rad, boffo, sick, off the hook - insert your favorite term for "cool and exciting" here. More than that, though, it's a firm reminder that "pop" does not necessarily mean "mindless." Stephanie Briggs has put her mind on full display with Spark, and I like what I see ... and hear.
- Steve Circeo - Texas Music Times


Discography

Wild (EP) - August 2012
Wound & Will - March 5, 2011

Under the name Stephanie Briggs:
Birds Barely Know Us - March 31, 2009
Spark - January 30, 2007

Photos

Bio

"Little Brave's music exhibits some form of intensity that you don't hear all over the place... It's intense because it's so individual. It's so personal and it really seems to be coming from a place that people just don't let other people see all that often. It's emotional. It's naked... It's calling for blood...." - Daytrotter.com

*Spent 17 weeks on the Alternative Charts in Doha, Qatar including two weeks at #1.

* Artist of Ryan Spalding (of Ryan's Smashing Life) and Adam Duritz's (of The Counting Crows) SXSW Showcase The Outlaw Roadshow 2013

*Featured Artist on Band of the Day App.

* Featured Artist on Season 1 (2011 - 2012) of Troubadour, TX, a national television program dedicated to telling the story of songwriters and their path.

* Finalist of Formula Expo's Band of The Year 2012 Competition

* Sonicbids Artist of the Week August 1-7, 2011

* 2011 Best Regional Album & Show: "Dance, theater, lights, first-class sound (per Sams usual), and even confetti. It was a fitting tribute to one of the best break-up albums Ive ever heard." - Enrique Lopetegui, San Antonio's The Current

"Her confessional lyrics are backed by a mlange of piano, uke, and the occasional guitar shred, all bound by endearing touches of bitchiness." - Abby Johnston, AustinChronicle.com

"Briggs emotional intensity is unmatched. With amazing performance skills, a wide vocal range and unwavering honesty in her song lyrics, she goes to great lengths to develop and refine her art." - Laurie Gallardo, KUT.org

"With several releases under her own name, and one as Little Brave, Briggs contributions to the Austin music scene are substantial, but Say So is one of my favorite songs theyve ever recorded.... The track is pop gold." - Bryan Parker, PopPressInternational.com

"Where most artists would be content just to release an album as well done as her latest, Wound & Will, she went the extra mile several times over. It's not just an album, it's an entire musical. Not only that, but she produced it as a live show, replete with actors, dancers, fantastical costumes, a string section, theatrical lighting, and a full band. And she did that all at a bar where the rest of us mortal musicians normally set up an amp and go to work." - John Pointer, Origin Magazine Austin

"Brutally honest. Sonically sublime. Achingly beautiful. One very powerful album from an artist in every sense of the word." - Mike McClure, Songwriter

Little Brave is the alias of Stephanie Briggs. Stephanie has been performing since 2000, first in Rodger Wilko releasing 3 albums, then as Stephanie Briggs releasing 2 albums, and now as Little Brave. She released her third album, "Wound & Will," on March 5, 2011, under the moniker Little Brave. She released her EP "Wild," produced by Matt Noveskey of Blue October, in September of 2012.

To celebrate the release of the "Wound & Will," Stephanie decided to create an event unlike any other. She called it "Wound & Will: The Musical." The San Antonio Current said, "This was easily the best show Ive seen so far this year, and it wasnt about the confetti: it was about the songs and the vision of a top-notch all-around artist the regional music scene should be proud of."

She is an award-winning graphic artist as well, winning the Lonestar Music Awards Best Album Art in the year of 2010 for Cross Canadian Ragweed's "Happiness And All The Other Things." She also co-wrote several songs on that album.

Stephanie is featured on the first season (2011 - 2012) of Troubadour, TX, which will airs nationally on the CW Network. The show follows Texas songwriters on their journey in music and writing.

Little Brave has performed with Heartless Bastards, Rubblebucket, Shawn Mullens, Bob Schneider, Quiet Company, Suzanna Choffel, Dan Dyer, and many more. She has graced such venues as Austin City Limits at The Moody Theater, Mohawk, and Stubb's BBQ in Austin, TX; Texas Music Theater in San Marcos, TX; Granada Theater in Dallas, TX; Sam's Burger Joint Music Hall in San Antonio, TX; Smith's Olde Bar in Atlanta, GA; Elbo Room in Chicago, IL, The Basement in Nashville, TN; The Satellite in Los Angeles, CA; TRiP in Santa Monica, CA; Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco, CA; and Plush in Tucson, AZ.

Band Members