The Brazen Hearts

ORIGINS: Wollongong, NSW

GENRE: Street Punk, Ska Punk, Punk

YEARS ACTIVE: 1999-2006

 

MEMBERS:

• Cohen Brown - Vocals, Guitar
• Steve Whiting - Drums
  
• Paul Delaney - Guitar (2002-2006)
• Luke 'Moley' Malone - Bass (2002-2006)
  
• Ian Whiting - Bass (1999-2001)
• Adam 'Dima' Young - Bass (2001-2002)
  
• Daniel 'Woody' Woods - Guitar (1999-2001)
  
• Paul 'Billy' Demos - Guitar (2000-2001)
• 'Little' Chris Sears - Guitar (2001-2002)
  

RELEASES: 

 

• Better Days (1999) [as Tenfold] - Download Here.
  
• 1. Rebound Girl
• 2. Ska One
• 3. Weather or Not
• 4. Knee Deep
• 5. No Rights
• 6. Wall Street
• 7. Punk Rock Riot
• 8. Drop Kick
• 9. Pig Patrol
• 10. Tenfold
  

• Live (2001)
• 1. Clenched Fist
• 2. Bridges Burning
• 3. Mind Control
• 4. Rat Race
• 5. Fallen Kid
• 6. Brazen Hearts and Broken Souls

• Demo (2002)

• Tragic Heroes (2005) - Download Here.
  
• 1. '99'
• 2. Forgotten Generation
• 3. Tragic Heroes
• 4. A New Energy
• 5. Brave New World
• 6. Season of War
• 7. Under Attack
  

SUMMARY: The Brazen hearts began as Tenfold but changed their name after a couple of years. They released two EPs and appeared on a couple of compilations, garnering some airplay on Triple J and supports for international bands such as Horrorpops, No Use for a Name, and Strung Out. The band solidly gigged with a range of other Australian punk bands and eventually broke up in 2006 after all their gear was stolen from the band's rehearsal room.

 

SHOWS: 

• Kiama Community Centre, Kiama - 26th May, 2001
  
• Punx Picnic, Sydney Park, St Peters - 21st December, 2003
  

ORAL HISTORY:

IAN: It started with me and my brother Steve. We played a few different instruments growing up and he was learning drums and I was learning guitar. Cohen lived about five houses down the street and went to our school. He was friends with Steve so brought his guitar over to play. We needed a bass player so I moved to bass. Rancid were probably our biggest inspiration but I remember in the early days playing Offspring, Green Day, that kind of stuff. Local band Topnovil was also a big influence. 

Ian Whiting (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

COHEN: We were a bunch of school mates that started out around age 14, playing Rancid and Operation Ivy covers, before writing our own songs in a melodic street punk/ska style. 

Cohen Brown (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

IAN: My parents had a little room behind the garage where we practiced. Our first show was in a hall at Albion Park. I think it was a battle of the bands. We were only kids so we would take whatever show we could get and my dad would drive us around in the back of his milk truck. We played our high school social - it was a night show and I don't think it was what the school was expecting. We threw water on people and one of the teachers wasn't happy! We didn't get detention or anything but the teachers regretted having a band play rather than the usual DJ!

Ian Whiting (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

COHEN: We started out playing high school house parties in garages, backyards and, once, even a barn. There were also plenty of youth centre gigs all over the place. Our early gigs were basically a bunch of teenagers from the suburbs getting drunk and having fun. As Tenfold, we released a 10-track album called Better Days... the cover featured a punk as a victim of police brutality, so I guess there was some attempt at social/political commentary. But overall, I think the lyrical content was more your typical angsty teenage kind of stuff. We got this first album reviewed in These Boots zine and landed some shows at Green Square's Tartan Heart Ska Nite Club with The Last Hemeroids when we were still very young, like 15-years-old. And from there we were playing more pub shows and punx picnics. 

Cohen Brown (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

IAN: Recording the Tenfold album was fun. None of us had ever done anything like that. 

Ian Whiting (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

COHEN: We changed our name because we discovered there was already a band called Tenfold. They were a Californian alt/punk band. I felt the name 'The Brazen Hearts' sounded like what we were going for in terms of style, that melodic oi/streetpunk sound AKA Street Dogs, Swingin' Utters, Bombshell Rocks, etc. 

Cohen Brown (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 

 

IAN: Cohen came up with 'The Brazen Hearts' and we all loved it. 

Ian Whiting (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 

 

 

CHRIS: Cohen saw me at a show and asked if I would be keen to play for Brazen Hearts. I told him I already had a band (Clenched Fist) but needed a drummer. He said if you play for Brazen Hearts, I'll drum for Clenched Fist. Clenched Fist later finished up as me and Cohen kind of just focused on Brazen Hearts for a bit. Playing in The Brazen Hearts was great. I was already a fan of the band before they changed their name from Tenfold to The Brazen Hearts... playing in The Brazen Hearts was a privilege. I was not much of a guitar player, Cohen and myself hung out a lot back then and Cohen taught me so much about being in a band and how to play guitar. It was just four friends in a band hanging out, playing music we wanted to hear. 

Chris Sears (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 

 

ADAM: Cohen renamed Tenfold as 'The Brazen Hearts' not long before I joined. I started in the band the same time as Little Chris. We played a really good show at the Punx Picnic, and another memorable one was a band comp at Thirroul.   

Adam Young (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

CHRIS: The best thing about the Wollongong scene is definitely not the venues - we've only got a couple of places to play so a lot of the time bands will go up to Sydney to play. It's only 1 and a half hours away. The best thing would have to be all the support from the bands and punks. It's a pretty tight knit scene and everyone will always come to the shows, even if it's to see the same bands for the 100th time or whatever.

Chris Sears (Guitar), Unknown Perth Zine, 2001

 

COHEN: Shows were organised usually in the DIY approach. Either I'd get a bill together and approach a venue, or we'd get asked by another band or promoter if we wanted to play a bill. There was definitely a strong sense of community amongst bands in the punk scene. If we wanted to play elsewhere, we'd get in touch with a band from that city or suburb and they'd hook us up, and vice versa when they wanted to play locally. 

Cohen Brown (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

CHRIS: I always loved the song 'Brave New World'. I remember the day Cohen brought it to practice and said he didn't know if it was going to be a good song. We played it through as a band a few times and the rest of us love did a lot.  

Chris Sears (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 

 

 

ADAM: I moved on from the band because I had a partner who lived further down the south coast and I was studying full time at TAFE. I couldn't fully commit to Brazen Hearts and I didn't want to let Cohen down. But it was fun playing. I loved playing bass in that band, and it's definitely my style. We all got along. Being in a punk band in Wollongong back then was fun, there were always shows on at the Youth Centre on a Thursday or Saturday night and it was somewhere to hang out, watch bands, and skate. 

Adam Young (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

CHRIS: I got kicked out after a year or two as the band were heading in a direction that surpassed by skill set as a guitar player. They got a great guy and great guitar player to replace me. They had a few months off to regroup and played their first show with the new lineup, and I was front and centre to watch a band and mates I'd always loved. 

Chris Sears (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024  

 

COHEN: Both The Brazen Hearts releases were professionally recorded. The demo was done by Rob Specogna at Mainstreet Studios. The Tragic Heroes EP was recorded at Studio 313 by Aussie music legends Al Wright, who has worked with everyone - Rose Tattoo, The Angels, Chisel, etc. Drums and bass were tracked in a live studio set up, then guitars and vocals were overdubbed. 

Cohen Brown (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

LUKE: Cohen Brown is an absolute legend and still a great friend. I was playing in another band and we became friends and then he asked me to join The Brazen Hearts. I'm fairly certain my first show with the band was at The Oxford Tavern. We played there every month. 

Luke Malone (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

COHEN: We played a show in Lithgow and it was a classic Brazens road trip. For whatever reason, our friends in Against All Odds had booked us both a show at Lithgow's Grand Central Hotel. Our bass player, Luke, had access to a minibus through his construction job, and so both bands and a few of our crew piled aboard and left for the 3-hour trip around 10am. Some of the guys started on the red goon bag and before we'd even arrived one of them had thrown up on himself. Things only descended from there. I went missing in action before we were due on stage and the search party found me passed out atop a dumpster in an alleyway. Nonetheless, we played the show, albeit shambolically. Our guitarist, Delaney, spent the set shouldered up against the wall in an effort to stay upright. A fight broke out between myself and the drummer onstage mid-set, which culminated with us throwing guitars at each other. We were basically heckled off stage by the five locals who watched us. Later that night, two of the guys in the band got into a drunken argument with one another and this ended in a broken angle. Apparently the hotel common room was also damaged, we were accused by management of stealing a painting, and were ordered to pay a bill of $5000 (which never happened). Needless to say, The Brazen Hearts were not welcome in Lithgow after that. 

Cohen Brown (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

LUKE: Any show we played with Run for Cover was always good. The 'No Use for a Name' support at Shelly Workers was a stand out too. I was very young and didn't appreciate it at the time but it was good. I met some good guys and got loose. We played shows literally all over NSW, travelling to every small venue... from Wollongong to Lithgow,      

Luke Malone (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

 

COHEN: Our gear getting stolen was the catalyst for the band breaking up but it was really a combination of a few things. We had a punk house at No. 1 Beach Street in Wollongong, which was a party house with a mini halfpipe skate ramp out back. We'd put on gigs there and other local bands used our garage as a rehearsal space. We were evicted from that place after one too many parties, and right before leaving all the band gear was (suspiciously) ripped off from the garage. So The Brazen Hearts were left with no gear and no rehearsal space. Plus, our drummer had just finished his degree and was heading off overseas, so that was the nail in the coffin. It kind of just fizzed out. We did play a short one-off reunion set a few years later at the 'Save the Bus' gig, which was a fundraiser for our mate, sound guy and bus driver Wayne Ardler, who toured South Coast bands all over the country for many, many years. That was a backyard gig at the AWOL punk house on Burelli Street and Val (Kamikaze Harry, Lost in Line, Steel City Allstars, Dog Shot) played drums for us. The years playing in The Brazen Hearts were some of the best times of my life - we were fortunate to share the stage with amazing bands from all over the country and the world, and make lifelong friends through our shared love of punk rock.   

Cohen Brown (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Topnovil, Steppin Razor, Under the Influence, Maggot, Reason Strikes, Not OK, Clenched Fist, Thought Crime, Physt, Only Response, The Flagrants, Darkest Day