Bray & The Dens Announce the Release of 'Be Your Own Surgeon'

Eclectic alternative rock artists Bray & the Dens are proud to announce the upcoming release of "Be Your Own Surgeon" on February 28. This is the first single and video from the band's upcoming full album Stingray, due out on March 20. Stingray is Bray & the Dens' fourth studio album.

"Be Your Own Surgeon" illustrates that we're the "surgeons" of our own lives. According to the band's front man and principle, Bray Gurnari, "Sometimes we look to someone else to fix our issues, but it always comes back to us. We are the architects...the surgeons. It's serious business, but the irony is that we might have the best luck if we don't take it so seriously." Thus, the vibe of this video, directed by Noelle Boring, is partly tongue-in-cheek: Bray lies on an operating table, cuts his own chest open, then pulls out an array of items, some of them symbolizing what we all hold on to (a clock, a feather), and some of them left to our imagination (a Slinky, bubbles, and other random objects). Bray continues, "I really enjoyed working with Noelle on this. We laughed a lot, thinking of things to pull out of my chest. There are tons of little winks and Easter eggs for the viewer to discover." Sample lyric: "It's a wonderful life...once you've been under the knife."

Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Bray Gurnari is the principal of his band, employing a rotating array of musicians to round out the Bray & the Dens trio. San Francisco-based Bray's unique brand of alt pop rock is a mix of Bowie-esque hooks and crisp, driving grooves à la Queens of the Stone Age.

The band's music is a blend of syncopated propulsion, sly hooks and poignant lyricism. It's rhythmic, hooky guitar-driven rock, to be sure...but it's also cinematic and clever, with funky beats and lush pop sensibilities thrown into the mix. Bray's music is heavily influenced by David Bowie and Prince, and has been compared to the Foo Fighters and Arctic Monkeys. "Our sound is more sensual than the Foo Fighters, yet still packs the punch. Perhaps more accurately, it's the Arctic Monkeys-meets-Matisse; it's The Police-meets-Zoolander," he laughs.

Bray and his band the Dens have entertained audiences in ten countries and have played live for crowds in excess of 7000. Bray's songs have been featured on 11 national TV shows to date, including MTV's "Road Rules," VH1's "Old Skool" and the syndicated reality series "Bad Girls Club," among others. His videos have garnered more than four million YouTube views...in fact, two of Bray's recently released videos, "Long Gone" and "Clone Me," have each garnered over two million views on YouTube to date. Bray tours Europe extensively on a regular basis, and these tours are always quite successful, especially for an unsigned artist. Bray also performs regularly at San Francisco's top venues and just returned from another successful European tour. He's performed to over 500,000 at San Francisco's Pride Festival, and has shared stages with Slash, Scott Weiland, Joe Satriani, and members of the Doors and The Sex Pistols. Bray has been noted asan "Artist to Keep an Eye On" by the San Jose Mercury News, "Best Live Band" by the San Francisco Herald, and voted in the Top 100 Unsigned Bands in the Nation by Music Connection, among many other press accolades. Tracks from two of Bray's previously released studio albums, Independent Film and Pins and Needles, have enjoyed heavy rotation on over 150 CMJ stations nationwide, charting as high as #3.

When all is said and done, Bray wants to inspire his fans to look at the world in a new way. "I hope they feel hope and inspiration, so that maybe the colors of the world are more vivid, and the spirits of others are more valued."

Be sure to check out "Be Your Own Surgeon" on February 28, then full album Stingray out on March 20. Stay tuned for U.S. touring news to be announced soon!

Photo Credit: Noelle Boring

To post a comment, you must register and login.