A Dirty Dozen with CHAD JENSEN from BRIDGE THE GAP – March 2025

Photo credit: Eric Cannon

According to a recent press release: “Melodic punk group Bridge The Gap has teamed up with Punk News to premiere their brand new music video “Brothers” – streaming now. An emotional track about loss and grief, “Brothers” is the latest single from Bridge The Gap’s forthcoming sophomore album. Gainsayer is to be released on April 11th via Double Helix Records, in concert with their global distribution partners SBAM Records and Pee Records. Bridge The Gap is a group of friends who’ve been making music together since the 1990s. After putting their instruments down for a time to start families and pursue careers outside of music, the guys rekindled their connections around 2020. Vocalist/guitarist Chad Jensen went on a demoing binge with songs he’d been stockpiling during the intervening years, and when the other band members – bassist/vocalist Shon Foster and drummer/vocalist Ryan Thompson – heard them, everyone was inspired to start something anew. Thus, Bridge The Gap was born.” We get guitarist / vocalist Chad to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

It’s a very dense record. Not in the sense that the songs are five minutes long (it’s punk rock, mercifully), but that there’s just a lot going on sonically. Each listen, hopefully people will pick up on the different nuances and layers, especially the vocal harmonies and backups.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

Nirvana got me into music in 1992, but when I saw my first punk show — Pennywise 1995 — that’s when I truly wanted to become a musician.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Discovering Green Day, NOFX, Rancid, and Pennywise eventually led me to my all-time favorite band and probably the biggest singular influence on me musically, Bad Religion. At the time, BR was touring on Stranger Than Fiction, and it totally blew my mind. Also, seeing Strung Out perform with Jim Cherry in the band (RIP) circa 1996, and seeing him teeter on the brink of disaster, yet never succumbing, and playing those songs for the crowd like they were the last songs he’d ever play left an indelible impression.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Ooh. That’s a tough one… I’d want to work with a vocalist who can do gnarly screams and stuff. I’d have to think about that.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

It sounds boring but I read a lot. I’m usually reading a book to unwind.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

We’re a 90’s melodic punk band. Yeah, we can get a little technical, but never too metal, and we focus more on the songs than gnarly virtuosity. A reviewer once compared us to No Use For A Name, which is, of course, an honor, but I honestly don’t get the comp. Who doesn’t dig No Use? RIP Tony Sly, a legendary songwriter. As great as NOFAN was, they weren’t a big influence on us. Definitely not a cringe comp, but it was a head-scratcher.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Our bass player Shon is a chef, so he’ll always be the first one to cook. You should see the spreads he puts together when we’re at the studio. And he always makes sure we’re eating at the right places when we’re on the road. He’s got the inside intel on the great restaurants.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Being backstage at Punk In The Park in 2024 and Keith Morris walked past me to take the stage with Circle Jerks. That was radical.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

The best part of being a musician, to me, is the creative process, which includes the collaboration with bandmates. I write songs whether I’m in a band or not. And thankfully, being in Bridge The Gap gives me the opportunity to collab with my brothers, who always have suggestions to make a song better and put the BTG stamp on it.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

I’ve always wished an interviewer would ask me what kind of underwear I have on presently. None. J/k. I’m not really tired of answering questions. It’s a privilege to have any publication take an interest in our band, and we approach it thusly. So, thank YOU.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Yeah, I wish I could go back in time and re-do the vocals on our old band’s first album. We were called UNFOLD and our first album was called Breakaway. I lost my voice on Day 1 of vocals (we only had a day and a half before we ran out of studio time), so my vocals sound thin and reedy. Wish I could have had more time to do those vocals the right way. But we were young and broke and recording out of state, so we went for it.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Pennywise’s Unknown Road. That record gave me a road map for life at 14 years old. I still listen to it regularly and consider it the best punk rock album of all time. It literally changed my life.

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Category: Interviews