Brakesbrakesbrakes Embrace Their Mistakes

As the saying goes, you never really know a band until you've seen -- or heard -- them live. With that in mind, UK rockers Brakesbrakesbrakes are giving fans a chance to get better acquainted with them by touring the US for the first time in more than two years and releasing their first live album, 'Rock is Dodelijk,' digitally on Oct. 6.

"We have played over a thousand gigs, and we haven't made a single mistake yet," frontman Eamon Hamilton tells Spinner. "Not one chord or note or beat has gone wrong, we are perfect, we're like machines. If we were playing ourselves on Guitar Hero, we'd be at 100% accuracy."

He's joking, obviously, but the point is that Brakesbrakesbrakes aren't dependent on auto-tune and man-behind-the-curtain backing tracks like Top 40 acts. "We don't have the money or the inclination to do that," says Hamilton.

Like many non-mainstream bands, Brakesbrakesbrakes feel these hidden sonic manipulators take away from the attraction of a live show rather than enhance the experience of it. So 'Rock is Dodelijk' is an honest document of the band in concert, warts and all. But, according to Hamilton, they had another reason why they didn't patch up the blunders: "We don't want people coming to the shows saying, 'Hey, on your live album you didn't make any mistakes, but tonight you sucked."

It's an understandable motivation. Fans can watch Brakesbrakesbrakes make mistakes throughout October as they tour across America, first with the Twilight Sad and We Were Promised Jetpacks on the East Coast, and then out on their own in the wild, wild West.