Singled Out: Bridge The Gap's Brothers

02-18-2025

Melodic punkers Bridge The Gap just delivered their new single "Brothers" (from their upcoming album "Gainsayer") and to celebrate we asked vocalist/guitarist Chad Jensen to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

"Brothers" is a very special song to Bridge The Gap, and to me personally. I grew up with my two cousins - Bryan and Jimmy. Bryan was two years older and Jimmy one year older, and we had a very close relationship, more like brothers than cousins. We experienced a lot of the same challenges in our family lives growing up and we often lived near each other, so we were always together. We had a lot in common, especially music and were best buds. Bryan exposed me to punk rock for the first time, with "Waiting Room" by Fugazi. I had a close relationship with both of them, but they had an extremely tight bond as actual brothers. No matter what was happening in their personal lives - marriages, divorces, or individual struggles - Bryan knew he'd always have Jimmy and vice versa.

But tragedy struck in 2017 when Bryan passed away unexpectedly. It was a devastating loss to our family and Bryan's kids. Everyone dealt with it in their own way, but it hit Jimmy particularly hard. I originally wrote this song the week that Bryan passed away. I had the initial structure and chord progressions, and a version of the lyrics. It was a contender for Bridge The Gap's first album, Secret Kombinations, but I ultimately passed it over because I felt there was something missing from the song, and because of the subject matter, when I presented this song to the band and Bridge The Gap fans, I wanted it to be perfect, so to speak.

Cut to the summer of 2023, our first record is out and doing its thing, and I started playing with the arrangement of "Brothers." And what I realized was that it needed a bigger chorus. Originally, the 'pre-chorus' was going to be the chorus, but the song needed something more melodically and to offer the runway for a fuller fleshing out of the lyrics. So that summer, I wrote a new chorus, and from there, I rewrote a lot of the lyrics, and when it was done, I knew it would be a lock for the record. When I presented it to the band, the guys really liked the song and felt there was something special about it, too. Lyrically, it's written from Jimmy's perspective, or my interpretation of his perspective.

Recording it at the Blasting Room, once again, Bill Stevenson produced what would become our forthcoming album "Gainsayer." Bill seemed to recognize the special attributes and meaning of "Brothers," and he and our bass player Shon spent a lot of time and creative juice to complement the song with awesome harmonies and backing vocals. That, combined with the perfect drumming performance from Ryan to add power, depth, and complexity to "Brothers," and the emotional, melodic guitar solo from Jeff, made the song what it is. We knew it had to be a single. It's one of the best songs I've ever written, or maybe a less-douchey way of saying it is that it's one of the songs I'm most proud of.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here