Brave is a progressive rock/metal band with female vocals and violins. The members are Michelle Loose (vocals, keys), Scott Loose (guitars), Trevor Schrotz (drums), Ben Kelly (bass), Suvo Sur (violin, keys) and Matt Kozar (guitars). 　　 　　The roots of Brave began in 1997 when brother and sister duo Scott and Michelle Loose began writing diverse, acoustic-based, dark progressive music with their childhood friend and drummer, Trevor Schrotz. The original band was called Arise From Thorns (AFT), and the trio wrote and recorded 2 CDs with world-wide distribution and played numerous shows around their hometown of Dale City, VA, a suburb of Washington, DC. After several lineup changes, the music of AFT morphed into a much heavier sound while retaining the atmospheric and diverse qualities of AFT. With this evolution in style came a change in name, and in 2000, Brave was born. 　　 　　Brave continued to write music and began playing shows that expanded into mini-tours throughout the United States. They recorded their debut full-length album Searching for the Sun, which was released in 2002 through Dark Symphonies records. The album received international praise from underground and mainstream music publications and fans. Shortly after this release, Brave won 2nd place in a Washington, DC “Battle of the Bands” that spanned over 6 months and included over 250 competing bands. Brave used the winnings from this competition to record a follow-up EP entitled Passages in 2004. 　　 　　After the success of their initial albums and growing fan base, Brave began headlining many local shows and opened for touring national bands including Fate’s Warning, Opeth, Savatage, Devin Townsend, Asia, Lacuna Coil, Moonspell, Katatonia and many others. 　　 　　The next 4 years (2004-2008) were spent creating the foundations for what would become Monuments. After years of writing and 9 months of recording, the new album was independently released on May 1, 2008. This album is their pinnacle work, with a refined depth and musical texture that previous recordings merely foreshadowed. Monuments contains 12 new songs and is Brave’s most accurate musical expression to date.