Like a friendship which unites two distinct personalities, the Bridge has used the years of familiarity between Cris Jacobs and Kenny Liner as the foundation to construct a sound that’s home to rock, blues, bluegrass, hiphop and much more. The informal jams between the two grew into something more cohesive as members Dave Markowitz, Patrick Rainey, Mike Gambone and Mark Brown joined, and they expanded from their Baltimore homebase and began performing in other cities, states and across the country.
Now, like many other bands that have come through the jamband scene, the Bridge wants to be known not just for its dance-laden grooves and ferocious improvisations dished out during opening stints, headlining gigs and dates at festivals, but to be taken seriously as songwriters and recording artists. The group found a sympathetic soul in Steve Berlin of Los Lobos whose years as a writer, musician and producer (Jackie Greene, Angélique Kidjo, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Michelle Shocked, Rickie Lee Jones, Faith No More and Buckwheat Zydeco among others) has helped in the creation of their most cohesive, best album-to-date, National Bohemian. The album is streaming at the group’s website.
Of course, for a band that earns its keep one crowd at a time, I catch the Bridge’s Cris Jacobs right after a record release concert celebration in their hometown and just before the group heads back out on the road, sharing dates with Galactic, Tea Leaf Green and Trombone Shorty then heading off on their own.
JPG: You played in your hometown the other day for a record release party. Did you perform the whole album?
CJ: We did, actually. Yeah, first set we did the album, start to finish. Actually, had Steve Berlin, who produced the album, he was at the show playing with us. He sat in for that whole set and then sat in for the second set as well, which was some other Bridge music.
JPG: Nice. Was Steve playing sax or percussion or…?
CJ: Both and keyboard, depending on the tune. He was switching it around. He is a pretty versatile guy. Whatever he does, usually works. It always works as far as I heard.
JPG: One of the tunes on National Bohemian has a Los Lobos vibe to it.
CJ: Are you referring to “Sanctuary?”
JPG: I’m thinking more so “Big Wheel.” Are there people hitting you with that?
CJ: People have heard the general Lobos comparison, but I certainly don’t mind at all. I love Los Lobos. I love their recordings, which is why we wanted Steve because of all his production work. He had a huge hand in a lot of the arrangements, and, obviously, the instrumentation and the tones that everybody was getting. He even helped me write a couple tunes on there. That’s why I mentioned “Sanctuary” because he helped me finish that one up and write another section to it and all that.
JPG: You produced past albums prior to this, was it that you felt you hit a wall and that you wanted an outside voice and Steve Berlin was available?
CJ: No, it’s not exactly that way. You say it was like we ‘hit a wall’ but it was more like we wanted to try something new. Every album we’ve done up to that point it was done the same way and the same place and the same studio. So we were like, ‘Let’s see if we can try something new.’ We tried to get a producer and Steve was the first person that came to mind. I’m a huge of his production work, as is Kenny. So, we contacted him and told him we were interested in working with him and sent him a few older tracks and happened to be passing through his town a few weeks later. He’s in Portland. We were on tour at the time. He came out to the show, checked it out and after the show said he was intrigued enough to want to do it.
JPG: Now, working with someone there’s usually some degree of expectation, what did you have and did he live up to that or what else did he bring that you didn’t expect?
CJ: As far as the expectation, we’ve never worked with a producer before so certain expectations were impossible to have. We didn’t know what it was going to be all about. I can say he lived up, far surpassed any, far and beyond any expectations I could have had of the experience.
Basically, what I think he brought to the table also was such a great comforting vibe on a personal level that was allowed us to be comfortable and be ourselves the whole time. There was never this, “we got this big shot, we’ve got to change our personality and act different.” It was like one of the guys, just hanging out. He was like our Jewish uncle from Philly that we never knew, you know what I mean? We got along on a real personal level like that. I would definitely say I was also surprised at how involved he was. He wasn’t just a phone-it-in guy that just showed up and started barking out orders. From day one that we met him, he was having us send him demos and critiquing them and sending him edited versions and critiquing them. He was hands on with the song arrangements and everything. He showed an interest and a passion in the project. It didn’t seem like he was bullshitting or just getting a paycheck at any point, which was great.
JPG: It’s always interesting to hear something like that as far as terminology because in films someone who would do all that would be considered the ‘director’ whereas in music it’s the ‘producer.’
CJ: I didn’t even know what a producer did, to be honest with you. We finished all of our albums ourselves. I guess you can call that producing. It’s really about bringing out the best, making sure the best comes out of the project. It’s the general summary of what I gathered out of producer. And he definitely did that.
JPG: When you said that Steve helped you write the song “Sanctuary,” I read a previous Jambands interview with Randy Ray where you said how it’s difficult for you to write on the road. So, for a band that does tour a lot what do you do for motivation? Do you just force yourself to write on the road or wait until you get home and then let inspiration hit?
CJ: When we’re on the road and there’s some of those long van rides, I definitely start to break out a tune and start riffing to see what comes out. Never really trying to be too perfectionist about it. I come up with a lot general ideas that I take home and dig more into when I have more focus and quiet around me. That’s how I get my ideas when I’m out on the road. It’s sketch pad stuff.
And then as far as working on the inspiration, it depends on the tune. A tune like “Sanctuary” ended up being more heavy content just based on things that were going on in the life of a family member at the time and feelings that I was feeling from him and just thinking about it. Generally speaking, I get inspiration from life. Sometimes, when it’s not as heavy and more lighthearted content, it’s stuff I feel like writing a song about. On our last album I wrote a song about moonshine, just for the hell of it. Sometimes, you are just having fun. Sometimes you’re waxing poetic. Sometimes you’re philosophizing. It’s all whatever what kind of mood you’re in.
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